Las Casas and Authority: Rulers, Church, and Freedom

Bartolomé de Las Casas presents, for its time, an astounding claim human equality before God. Defending the native people of the New World from the violence executed by Spain and the claims to authority given voice by Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, Las Casas provides a precocious assertion of human rights and the limits on civil and church authority. In this paper I will argue that Las Casas makes a nuanced assessment of civil government, to which he gives a vital but limited authority. I further propose that Las Casas, even while holding to the traditional and scriptural authority of the church, ascribes a similarly circumscribed earthly authority. The effect of these positions is to afford to non-Christians rationality and the freedom of self-government. My assessment of Las Casas’ thought will begin with Las Casas’ view of civil authority and then move to his description of the church’s role in the world. I shall then turn to his defense of the rationality and freedom of the indigenous Americans.

Las Casas presents a nuanced view of the authority of civil government, upholding its validity while introducing a theological critique of its abuses. Las Casas’ very approach implicitly endorses the authority of the civil government within human, earthly order. Much of his intent in his Defense is to appeal to governing powers to use their authority as Las Casas’ believes God would have them. This priority is instantiated the opening summary of the Defense. Las Casas has made his arguments as a response to Emperor Charles’ call for the Valladolid Debates. In response to Las Casas’ thought, the initial summary of the Defense ascribes to Emperor Charles the pontifically decreed authority over the “Indians who live near the Ocean S...

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...time. Las Casas’ retains a basic concern for the spread of the gospel. Yet he attends to what the gospel itself means for how it should be spread. Church and state, contends Las Casas, commandeer the power of Christ when they compel conversion by violence. Thus, they abrogate the very civilization and gospel they claim to serve. For Las Casas, the true messengers of God adhere to the true message of God: they call people to Christ by the love due to equal, rational beings created in the image of God.

Works Cited

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