The Church Militant and Iberian Expansion 1440-1770

Abstract

The distinguished historian C. R. Boxer devoted years of research and reflection on European expansion overseas into Americas and Asia. In The Church Militant and Iberian Expansion, 1440-1770, his analytical survey of role of Portuguese and Spanish missionaries of Roman Catholic Church in overseas expansion of Iberian powers, he finds that lasting results vary enormously. They range,he writes, from enduring mass conversions in some regions, of which sixteenth-century New Spain is prime example, to total failure in other countries, such as Cambodia, where number of indigenous converts could be counted on two hands. Considering church as human as well as a divine institution,the author focuses on four types of organizational problems: relations between regular and secular clergy; mission as a frontier institution in many climes and many cultures; close and inseparable connection between Cross and Crown; and role of Inquisition overseas. Boxer finds that the mere survival of these Christian minorities through vicissitudes of over three centuries is a tribute to work of dedicated missionaries of Church Militant in times past.