“We are well as we are” helps to shed light on the relationships between Christian missionaries and the Indians of the seventeenth-century in North America. Ronda compares and contrasts the religions, the religious leaders and how each group has viewed the opposing religion. This article challenges the norms of how we were perhaps once taught to view missionaries during this time, as there “was neither an attempt to save them from land-hungry settlers nor a guileless exercise in soul-winning.” (Ronda 1977, 66) Upon reading this article we can better understand the thought process that the Native-Americans had while being confronted with this new religion. Although it made little to no sense to them, the natives still tried to understand it and accepted that there could be more than one way of viewing the world. The missionaries only believed in their way and would not try to understand another way. “Missionaries demanded no less than cultural revolution” therefore, the “Indian who embraced Christianity was compelled, in effect, to commit Cultural suicide.” (Ronda 1977, 67) I thought this argument was very convincing as there is still proof today of this assimilation. The only challenge I had of this text is that we have to assume that the missionaries documented the information and questions from the Native community accurately. Native Americans thought that there could be more than one approach to religion and they found it absurd when asked to abandon their cultural ways. “Indian peoples did demonstrate that their traditions were dynamic intellectual systems, capable of change.” (Ronda 1977, 67) It wasn’t that Indian cultures could not change; they just didn’t understand it or see the point of it. Native Americans of the seventeenth century had many questions regarding God and hell and sins, and it seemed as though the missionaries didn’t know how to respond. “Indians found the Christian view of sin and guilt both incomprehensible and useless.” (Ronda 1977, 69) If the natives didn’t know they had sinned, and believed they hadn’t, how were they to be punished for it? Furthermore the Christian missionaries recorded all the documents of this time and the questions recorded from the natives cannot be deemed completely accurate, as the writer possibly altered the language. This article was interesting to read since the documentations and information has been the same for many years. Just the interpretations of historians have changed just as worldly views of religion have changed. As people move away from religion there is an altered my perception of the relationship between missionaries and Native Americans during the seventeenth century. There are countless valid arguments to as why the Natives wouldn’t understand the teachings of God and why they didn’t understand the push for them to abandon there long standing culture. However many “Indian comments have been ignored or dismissed… [since] Indian speeches were filtered through white interpreters, and ultimately arranged in the memoirs of white missionaries.” (Ronda 1977, 67) Ronda acknowledges that historians must be careful when trying to extract the voice of Native Americans during the seventeenth century. Bibliography Ronda, James P. “”We Are Well As We Are”: An Indian Critique of Seventeenth-Century Christian Missions.” The William and Mary Quarterly 34, no. 1 (1977): 66-82. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1922626?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
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