Pre-1600: Religion: Publications
Pre-1600: Religion: Publications
Pietro Martire d’Anghiera (Peter Martyr), De Orbe novo (New York & London: Putnam, 1912)—although Peter Martyr never traveled to the New World, this Italian cleric befriended many explorers while living in Spain. Listening to the stories of Christopher Columbus, Vasco de Gama, Hernando Cortés, and others, Martyr compiled their accounts in The Eight Decades, first printed in 1516; it was translated into English and expanded in 1555 by Richard Eden. While few people regarded diversity as the spiritual sign he suggested it to be, Martyr maintained that the variety of skin colors in the world was a source of wonder, one for which people owed gratitude to God. He also asserted that color should not determine the fate of Native Americans;
The Book of Prophecies edited by Christopher Columbus, edited by Roberto Rusconi (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997)—originally written in 1500, this compilation of essays based on biblical passages asserts among other things that the conversion of Native Americans would lead to the second coming of Christ;
John Calvin, Institutio Christianae religionis (Geneva: Excudebat Franciscus Perrinus, 1568)— The Institutes of the Christian Religion was originally published in 1536 and is the major treatise on Calvinistic theology;
Michel de Montaigne, Complete Essays (Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 1958)—written between 1572 and 1588, these essays are by a leading skeptic who criticizes European notions of Native American spiritual inferiority.