They force the change of paradigms, and often a changing of the guard. Existing Paradigms have never been more challenged or changed then by the Discovery of the New World, and especially the people inhabiting it. At the time, the Bible served as both the universal and heavenly paradigm, it was both the science and the religion. More accurately, the Bible was the religion at the time and religion was both science and morality. Religion can and did then explain life on two levels: the big LIFE—life on an evolutionary (for lack of a better word) timescale, and the life of the individual—life on an ontogenetic time scale. Since the discovery of the New World, and because of the discovery, there has been a movement, long resisted by the Church, de-emphasizing the big LIFE side of Christianity while emphasizing the life of the individual and how to conduct life morally.One of the main challenges, or questions to the Church's big LIFE authority was: Where did the "Cannibals" come from? The church had to find a place for the "Cannibals" in their existing biblical paradigm. A first response was paradigm mapping; Mendieta found a place for the "Cannibals" in a parable from Luke 14. As the end of the world neared, a man invited three guests to his meal symbolizing the Jews, Muslims, and the Gentiles. The "Cannibals" definitely weren't Jews or Muslims so they must be Gentiles. However, at a time when reason ruled the day, the stretch Mendieta made was easy to see. Why would the Jew and Muslims be so clearly defined by God and not the Gentiles? And didn't the apostles preach to the Gentiles the middle east. Jose de Acosta offered a better place for the "Cannibals" through reason. If the Bible says that all men descended from one man, then the "Cannibals" reached the Indies by land or by sea—probably by land, for it could not be disproved with 16th century geography. This explanation was good; It did not hurt t...
