A GUERRA JUSTA NA CRISTIANIZAÇÃO DA AMÉRICA LATINA (1492-1566): ORIGEM DO CONCEITO, DESLOCAMENTOS E RESSIGNIFICAÇÕES

Sumario: In 1492, the Spanish arrived in the so-called New World, known today as Latin America, in search of wealth. For such a purpose, they quickly implemented their government system, culture and religion through war, whose historical concept was reformulated and applied. The concept of fair war in Latin America, between 1482 and 1566, was developed from the history of the Roman conquest, the Aristotelian philosophy, Augustines and Thomas Aquinas theology, the Scripture and weapons. Upon advancing in areas occupied by the indigenous peoples, the concept of fair war brought about harmful effects. Deaths of innocents, trespassing of lands, wealth possession, slavery, destruction of culture and religion of the indigenous and all sorts of violence took place against the indigenous peoples. As part of this scenario, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, the author of Democrates Alter, which embraced the concept of fair war, had the Dominican friar Bartholomew de Las Casas as his opponent, who valiantly struggled in favor of the indigenous peoples. Another theologian, Francisco de Vitoria, from the University of Salamanca, also belongs to the historical portrait. Vitoria created the Derecho Natural y de Gentes, which supported Sepúlveda and Las Casas in their doctrines. Effectively, Sepúlveda achieved his goal. Christianity was implemented through violence. In response, Las Casas wrote Del único modo de atraer a todos los pueblos a la verdadera religión, a peace-oriented form of Christianity. Both missionary projects conceived by Sepúlveda and Las Casas defined the two ecclesiastic hermeneutics in Latin America until the XIX Century, when a new mission proposal was brought forward by the protestants.