Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Anabaptist Reformation

The Anabaptists were people who claimed to be carrying out the teachings of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli.Anabaptists did not believe in infant baptisms.They believed that a person should not be baptized until they were an adult.Anabaptists believed in a separation between the church and the state.Also Anabaptists did not take an oath when they entered a public office.They were not open to outsiders and did not seek to convert many people.The church elders could shun nonbelievers from the church.The Anabaptists led a simple life and advocated for social and economic reforms.Thomas Muntzer(picture to the left) was an Anabaptist who believed in divine salvation from dreams and visions.Munzter took control of a city in North Germany for sixteen months.But after the pope recaptured the city a hundred men, children, and women were dead.Because of this event and the Anabaptists being know as extremists two groups broke off and formed in groups.The Mennonites founded by Menno Simons and the Moravian Societies by Jakob Hutter.To this day some Anabaptist or a form of Anabaptist can be found.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Columbus was a villain

I believe that Christopher Columbus was a villain. Columbus invaded New Lands and took advantage of the Natives friendliness. The natives gave Columbus and his crew food and the information to survive the difference in conditions of the New World. Columbus started his explorations to gain fame and further his job position. He wanted to become a admiral of the sea and the royality promised him the position if he conquered the New World for Spain. Columbus later explorations he continued to take control of advantage of natives. Columbus was a villain because he started exploring for all the wrong reasons. Columbus and his crew brought different kinds of diseases that the natives were not use to these. So hundreds of natives died from this because they were not able to become immune diseases like Smallpox. Columbus wanted to find a shorter route to India so Europe can get silks and spices back faster. This is greedy because Columbus did not care about people the people that will suffer and he thought about what was best for the Europeans. Columbus was a villain because he wanted to gain wealth because he came from a poor background. Columbus wanted to fame and wealth through the suffering of others. Hundreds of natives died and some of his crew members died on the voyages too. Columbus like most explores only wanted to take voyages so they can gain fame and money. Also many explorers wanted to take voyages only to gain fame and new land for their countries.