The Saints and Martyrs of the Americas

MENU

Bartolomé de Las Casas
The Saints and Martyrs of the Americas
Picture: Bartolomé de Las Casas, early human rights’ activist

Picture courtesy of Wall Street International Magazine

Europeans arrived in North, Central and South America over 5 centuries, they brought the Christian faith with them. Life on the frontier was hard, survival was a battle. A few of Christ’s frontier people:-

From the Great Awakening in 18th century New England, “revival” has been a recurring feature of North American religion. Dwight L. Moody and Billy Graham are among the great revival preachers. The 20th century Pentecostal movement spreading across the USA significantly affected the mainline churches. The tendency for revival Christianity to focus only on a conversion experience and personal faith has not gone unchallenged. Horace Bushnell claimed that a child can “grow up a Christian, and never know himself to be otherwise”. Juan Carlos Ortiz, a Buenos Aires pastor, representing the growing Pentecostal churches of South America, has recently challenged revivalism. He shared a vivid, simple message of radical discipleship of the idea that while we may be Christian and a member of the Kingdom of God that does not mean we are disciple of Christ, a disciple is a “slave of Christ” this is a strong step away from a modern Christianity of a “prosperity” or supposedly “liberation” theology and back towards the theology of the original disciples.

Naive middle class enthusiasm for all things American was challenged by Walter Rauschenbush, whose costly and prophetic ministry among the poor of New York set the vision of the kingdom alongside harsh reality. Reinhold Niebuhr soberly criticized the pious avoidance of public issues of peace and justice and delusions of national godliness amongst his fellow Americans.

The U.S.A. was founded by Christians, its Constitution based on Christian principals. Its 'Bible Belt' still stands strong for God today and the Episcopal Church (Anglican) still has a strong commitment to social work, and its witness extends to every state.

Disclaimer/
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International.
Prayer 7s Ministry, New Zealand. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.