Native American Studies: Christianity

Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices come together in this volume to discuss both the wounds of colonial history and the opportunities for decolonization, reconciliation, and hope in the relationship between the church and Indigenous peoples across the Americas. Scholars and pastoral leaders from Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, and Canada, and Indigenous peoples of Mapuche, Chiquitano, Tzeltal Maya, Oglala Sioux, Mi’kmaw, and Anishinaabe-Ojibwe reflect on the possibility of constructing decolonial theology and pastoral praxis, and on the urgent need for transformation of church structures and old theology. "The Church and Indigenous Peoples in the Americas" opens new horizons for different ways of thinking and acting, and for the emergence of a truly intercultural theology.

In this captivating chronicle of the Native American story, Richard Twiss of the Rosebud Lakota/Sioux sifts through myth and legend to reveal God's strategy for the nation's host people. With wit, wisdom and passion, Twiss shows God's desire to use the cultures of First Nations peoples--in all their mystery, color and beauty--to break through to those involved in New Age mysticism, Eastern religions, even Islam. "One Church, Many Tribes" is a rallying cry for the Church to work as one so that the lost may learn to walk in life with beauty, along the path of the Waymaker.

This dissertation was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament at California Graduate School of Theology by James L. Boulware in 1984.

Why are Navajo churches growing? The author maintains that certain conditions must be met in evangelistic work with minorities.

You cannot discover lands already inhabited. In this prophetic blend of history, theology, and cultural commentary, Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah reveal the damaging effects of the "Doctrine of Discovery." In the fifteenth century, official church edicts gave Christian explorers the right to claim territories they "discovered." This was institutionalized as an implicit national framework that justifies American triumphalism, white supremacy, and ongoing injustices. The result is that the dominant culture idealizes a history of discovery, opportunity, expansion, and equality, while minority communities have been traumatized by colonization, slavery, segregation, and dehumanization. Healing begins when deeply entrenched beliefs are unsettled. As other nations have instituted truth and reconciliation commissions, so do the authors call our nation and churches to a truth-telling that will expose past injustices and open the door to conciliation and true community.

"The Christian Faith in the American Indian World; A History" is the gripping story of God's passionate pursuit of a people for Himself from among the 600 + tribes (most with a distinct language and culture) of the U.S.A. and Canada across 500 years of history. The pursuit continues today! The historical episodes that are related present clear pictures of God's love for the American Indians through the dedication and sacrifice of God's chosen servants who faithfully took the message of eternal life to them despite unimaginable hardship. Stories of great challenges faced by the Indians in response to the message are also included. This is a collection of stories that confirm the ongoing working of God's Spirit among American Indians throughout the history of the United States despite the forces that are opposed to the truth.

In this book a distinguished authority in the field presents an account of United States Indian policy in the years 1865 to 1900, one of the most critical periods in Indian-white relations. Francis Paul Prucha discusses in detail the major developments of those years—Grant's Peace Policy, the reservation system, the agitation for transfer of Indian affairs to military control, the General Allotment Act (the Dawes Act), Indian citizenship, Indian education, Civil Service reform of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the dissolution of the Indian nations of the Indian Territory. American Indian Policy in Crisis focuses on the Christian humanitarians and philanthropists who were the ultimate driving force in the "reform" of Indian affairs. The programs of these men and women to individualize and Americanize the Indians and turn them into patriotic American citizens indistinguishable from their white neighbors are examined at length. The story is not a pretty one, for reformers' changes were often disastrous for the Indians, and yet it is a tremendously important work for understanding the Indians’ situation and their place in American society today. Prucha does not treat Indian policy in isolation but relates it to the dominant cultural and intellectual currents of the age. This book furnishes a view of the evangelical Christian influence on American policy and the reforming spirit it engendered, both of which have a significance extending beyond Indian policy alone. Thorough documentation and an excellent bibliography enhance its value.

Over the last 20 years, Indian Life newspaper has published a column of readers' questions. A council of Native elders has answered these questions on life, tradition, culture and practical issues. These may have been questions you have had, but were afraid to ask. Join the circle and listen to the answers. It may change your life! You may not agree with the answers; you may not even like some of them. One thing is certain. You will find honesty, insight, and wisdom - all from a Native North American perspective and based on the Bible.

"Native and Christian" is an anthology of essays by indigenous writers in the United States and Canada on the problem of native Christian identity. This anthology documents the emergence of a significant new collective voice on the North American religious landscape. It brings together in one volume articles originally published in a variety of sources (many of them obscure or out-of-print) including religious magazines, scholarly journals, and native periodicals, along with one previously unpublished manuscript.

Key First Nations leaders who follow Christ address the critical role and function of leadership in Indian American communities.

The gospel of Jesus has not always been good news for Native Americans. The history of North America is marred by atrocities committed against Native peoples. Indigenous cultures were erased in the name of Christianity. As a result, to this day few Native Americans are followers of Jesus. However, despite the far-reaching effects of colonialism, some Natives have forged culturally authentic ways to follow the way of Jesus. In his final work, Richard Twiss provides a contextualized Indigenous expression of the Christian faith among the Native communities of North America. He surveys the painful, complicated history of Christian missions among Indigenous peoples and chronicles more hopeful visions of culturally contextual Native Christian faith. For Twiss, contextualization is not merely a formula or evangelistic strategy, but rather a relational process of theological and cultural reflection within a local community. Native leaders reframe the gospel narrative in light of post-colonization, reincorporating traditional practices and rituals while critiquing and correcting the assumptions of American Christian mythologies. Twiss gives voice to the stories of Native followers of Jesus, with perspectives on theology and spirituality plus concrete models for intercultural ministry. Future generations of Native followers of Jesus, and those working crossculturally with them, will be indebted to this work.

As Protestantism expanded across the Atlantic world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most evangelists were not white Anglo-Americans, as scholars have long assumed, but members of the same groups that missionaries were trying to convert. Native Apostles offers one of the most significant untold stories in the history of early modern religious encounters, marshalling wide-ranging research to shed light on the crucial role of Native Americans, Africans, and black slaves in Protestant missionary work. The result is a pioneering view of religion's spread through the colonial world. From New England to the Caribbean, the Carolinas to Africa, Iroquoia to India, Protestant missions relied on long-forgotten native evangelists, who often outnumbered their white counterparts. Their ability to tap into existing networks of kinship and translate between white missionaries and potential converts made them invaluable assets and potent middlemen. Though often poor and ostracized by both whites and their own people, these diverse evangelists worked to redefine Christianity and address the challenges of slavery, dispossession, and European settlement. Far from being advocates for empire, their position as cultural intermediaries gave native apostles unique opportunities to challenge colonialism, situate Indigenous peoples within a longer history of Christian brotherhood, and harness scripture to secure a place for themselves and their followers. Native Apostles shows that John Eliot, Eleazar Wheelock, and other well-known Anglo-American missionaries must now share the historical stage with the black and Indian evangelists named Hiacoomes, Good Peter, Philip Quaque, John Quamine, and many more.As Protestantism expanded across the Atlantic, most evangelists were not Anglo-Americans but were members of the groups that missionaries were trying to convert. Native Apostles reveals the way Native Americans, Africans, and black slaves redefined Christianity and addressed the challenges of slavery, dispossession, and European settlement.

In this interdisciplinary collection of essays, Joel W. Martin and Mark A. Nicholas gather emerging and leading voices in the study of Native American religion to reconsider the complex and often misunderstood history of Native people's engagement with Christianity and with Euro-American missionaries. Surveying mission encounters from contact through the mid-nineteenth century, the volume alters and enriches our understanding of both American Christianity and indigenous religion"--Provided by publisher"The essays here explore a variety of post-contact identities, including Indigenous Christians, 'mission friendly' non-Christians, and ex-Christians, thereby exploring the shifting world of Native-white cultural and religious exchange. Rather than questioning the authenticity of Native Christian experiences, these scholars reveal how Indigenous peoples negotiated change with regard to missions, missionaries, and Christianity. This collection challenges the pervasive stereotype of Native Americans as culturally static and ill-equipped to navigate the roiling currents associated with colonialism and missionization.

Christian evangelism was the ostensible motive for much of the early European interaction with the indigenous population of America. The religious orders of the Catholic Church were the front-line representatives of Western culture and the ones who met indigenous America face-to-face. They were also the primary agents of religious change. In this book, Nicholas Cushner provides the first comprehensive overview and analysis of the American missionary activities of the Jesuits. From the North American encounter with the Indians of Florida in 1565, through Mexico, New France, the Paraguay Reductions, Andean Perus, to contact with Native Americans in Maryland on the eve of the American Revolution, members of the order interacted with both native elites and colonizers. Drawing on the abundant documentation of and scholarship about these encounters, Cushner examines how the Jesuits behaved toward the indigenous population and analyzes the way in which native belief systems were replaced by Christianity. He seeks to understand how and why the initial European-Indian encounter changed not only the religion of the natives, but also their material culture, economic activity, social organization, and even their sexual behavior. Always sensitive to the influence of European "cultural filters" on Jesuit accounts, Cushner attempts as far as possible to discover the authentic voices of the Native Americans with whom they interacted. The result is a fascinating and highly accessible introduction to the earliest colonial encounters in the Americas.

A Native American leader once said, "Christianity has wonderful answers to questions Indians aren't seeking!" Author Craig Smith seeks to answer the questions they are asking or ought to ask. His experience has led him to believe that change is desperately needed in both Native and ecclesiastical communities. "We see Native Americans need to look at ourselves," writes Smith, "and see where our people have been wrong in our perceptions of Christianity. Native people have often hidden behind the notion that Christianity is the Whiteman's Gospel." Craig Smith writes out of his own experience as a Native American growing up in a white man's world. He tells what it's like to be a member of a group of "underdogs." Then he relates why God has chosen to work with underdogs to fulfill His purposes in the world today. Craig Smith is not afraid to answer these difficult questions Native Americans have been asking. But he also seeks to provide answers that are true to the Word of God. This book seeks to build bridges, not walls. The North American Church and Native Americans need to be willing to cross over to each other's sides, and begin the process of healing, reconciling the past, making right the present, and planning for better days of ministry and growth in the future.

In the desolate Artic tundra of Alaska's North Slope, the wind chill factor can plunge 100 degrees below zero. One small miscalculation, one seemingly insignificant oversight, can mean death by freezing. Thus, when the hardy Inupiat Eskimos stop on the trail to pass around a cup of broth heated on a Primus stove, it is more than just nourishment. It is a symbol of their reliance on one another for survival. Into this close-knit culture came Don Webster. He had the burden of bringing the Inupiat people a kind of "broth" - the New Testament in their tongue. Could he survive the bitter nine-month journey? Would he ever be accepted by these remaining people who had learned to wrest a living from perhaps the most desolate place on earth? Here is the thrilling story of how Dom Webster, with the help of the legendary Roy Ahmaogak, was able to overcome seemingly impossible hardships - to bring the life-giving broth of God's Word to warm the hearts of these Alaska Eskimos.

In this absorbing history, Henry Warner Bowden chronicles the encounters between Native Americans and the evangelizing whites from the period of exploration and colonization to the present. He writes with a balanced perspective that pleads no special case for native separatism or Christian uniqueness. Ultimately, he broadens our understanding of both intercultural exchanges and the continuing strength of American Indian spirituality, expressed today in Christian forms as well as in revitalized folkways.

This book is a document of great significance to missions and anthropology. It reveals a great movement of the Holy Spirit in Navajo land and an amazing development of indigenous leadership and congregations.

W. Deloss Love's biography of Samson Occom is a work of in time. Long out of print, this classic account reveals one of the most unusual actors to step on stage in the eighteenth-century American colonies. Mohegan yet Christian, a native speaker of Mohegan and fluent in English-and literate in Greek, Latin, and French-Occom strode across the cultures of his time and place. Occom was a man passionate about his advocacy for Native Americans in education and religious training. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he was a spiritual and educational broker among cultures immersed in an era of tumultuous change. As a businessman, he secured the funding necessary for the creation of Dartmouth College. He proved to be a dominant and influential presence in the eighteenth-century world of the Great Awakening of the 1740s, the War of Independence, and the emergence of the Young Republic.

"Choosing the Jesus Way" uncovers the history and religious experiences of the first American Indian converts to Pentecostalism. Focusing on the Assemblies of God denomination, the story begins in 1918, when white missionaries fanned out from the South and Midwest to convert Native Americans in the West and other parts of the country. Drawing on new approaches to the global history of Pentecostalism, Angela Tarango shows how converted indigenous leaders eventually transformed a standard Pentecostal theology of missions in ways that reflected their own religious struggles and advanced their sovereignty within the denomination. Key to the story is the Pentecostal "indigenous principle," which encourages missionaries to train local leadership in hopes of creating an indigenous church rooted in the culture of the missionized. In Tarango's analysis, the indigenous principle itself was appropriated by the first generation of Native American Pentecostals, who transformed it to critique aspects of the missionary project and to argue for greater religious autonomy. More broadly, Tarango scrutinizes simplistic views of religious imperialism and demonstrates how religious forms and practices are often mutually influenced in the American experience.

In this groundbreaking study, Cheryl Bear-Barnetson presents an approach to First Nations ministry from the foundations of indigenous worldview and values. She begins with an overview of First Nations theology, which includes the Native views of Creator, the Holy Spirit, the Incarnation, a theology of land, and a theology of missions. Various Native practices, traditional gatherings, and ceremonies are also described. Bear-Barnetson argues that leaders who are more fully informed about Native beliefs, values, and practices will see a dramatic increase in their effectiveness in ministering to indigenous people in the United States and Canada. Furthermore, the practical missiological and theological principles discovered here can be implemented in any cross-cultural ministry context. The study concludes with specific recommendations to The Foursquare Church and the Canadian Foursquare Church for the purpose of advancing the ministry among First Nations people.

This important study examines the significance of traditional Native American practices in Pentecostal worship and observes how members of the Native American Contextual Movement integrate these practices. Alexander suggests missiological implications of traditional Native American practices in Pentecostal worship and church life. He addresses the development of the powwow movement and pan-Indianism as an important sociological phenomena paving the way for inter-tribal ministry. He surveys the history of Native American ministries in the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) and traces the development of a pneumatological Pentecostal theology of religions and the use of sacred objects in Pentecostalism. By using participant observation, personal interviews, and case studies, Alexander investigates examples of active contextualization and discovers how contextualized traditional practices enhance Native Pentecostal worship and mission. The study focuses on six traditional practices that are being contextualized in Native Pentecostal churches: language, smudging, drums and rattles, dance, talking circles, and ceremony. Alexander argues that implementing these contextualized practices in Pentecostal worship reduces syncretism and moves people closer to God.

Cherokee teacher, missiologist, and historian Randy Woodley encourages us to reject the many problematic aspects of the Western worldview and to convert to a worldview that is closer to that of both Indigenous traditions and Jesus. Written in an accessible, conversational style that incorporates numerous stories and questions, "Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview" exposes the weaknesses of a Western worldview through a personal engagement with Indigenous theology. Randy Woodley critiques the worldview that undergirds the North American church by dismantling assumptions regarding early North American histories and civilizations, offering a comparative analysis of worldviews, and demonstrating a decolonized approach to Christian theology. Woodley explains that Western theology has settled for a particular view of God and has perpetuated that basic view for hundreds of years, but Indigenous theology originates from a completely different DNA. Instead of beginning with God-created humanity, it begins with God-created place. Instead of emphasizing individualism, it emphasizes a corporateness that encompasses the whole community of creation. And instead of being about the next world, it is about the tangibility of our lived experiences in this present world. The book encourages readers to reject the many problematic aspects of the Western worldview and to convert to a worldview that is closer to that of both Indigenous traditions and Jesus.

"Coming Full Circle" provides a working constructive dogmatics in Native Christian theology. Drawing together leading scholars in the field, along with elders and practitioners, this volume seeks to encourage theologians to reconsider the rich possibilities present in the intersection between Native theory and practice and Christian theology and practice. This innovative work begins with a Native American theory for doing constructive Christian theology and then illustrates the possibilities with chapters on specific Christian doctrines. Although not a full-scale systematic dogmatics, this "theology in outline" offers the theory and constructive initiative to encourage further explorations in Native American Christian theologies.

Materialism. Greed. Loneliness. A manic pace. Abuse of the natural world. Inequality. Injustice. War. The endemic problems facing America today are staggering. We need change and restoration. But where to begin? In "Shalom and the Community of Creation" Randy Woodley offers an answer: learn more about the Native American 'Harmony Way,' a concept that closely parallels biblical shalom. Doing so can bring reconciliation between Euro-Westerners and indigenous peoples, a new connectedness with the Creator and creation, an end to imperial warfare, the ability to live in the moment, justice, restoration -- and a more biblically authentic spirituality. Rooted in redemptive correction, this book calls for true partnership through the co-creation of new theological systems that foster wholeness and peace.

This collaborative work represents a pathbreaking exercise in Native American theology. While observing traditional categories of Christian systematic theology (Creation, Deity, Christology, etc.), each of these is reimagined consistent with Native experience, values, and worldview. At the same time, the authors introduce new categories from Native thought-worlds, such as the Trickster (eraser of boundaries, symbol of ambiguity), and Land. Finally, the authors address issues facing Native Americans today, including racism, poverty, stereotyping, cultural appropriation, and religious freedom.

During his 1984 visit to Canada, Pope John Paul II declared, Christ, in the members of his body, is himself Indian. Who is this native Christ? What is his place in the spiritual universe of native people? Achiel Peelman examines these questions in this timely and groundbreaking book, which is the result of research he has carried out since 1982 in native communities across Canada. While Peelman's book is a work of theology and Christology, it is also a work of profound friendship that will help its readers know more deeply the Amerindian experience.

First published in 1973, Vine Deloria, Jr.’s God Is Red remains the seminal work on Native American religious views, asking the reader to think about our species and our ultimate fate in novel ways. Celebrating five decades of publication with this new edition, Deloria’s classic work reminds us to understand “that we are a part of nature, not a transcendent species with no responsibilities to the natural world.” It is time again to listen to Vine Deloria, Jr.’s powerful voice, informing us about a spiritual life that is independent of Western religion and that reveres the interconnectedness of all living things. This new edition includes critical essays engaging with the original material by well-known Indigenous thinkers - Philip Deloria, Suzan Shown Harjo, Daniel Wildcat, and David E. Wilkins. Inside, the book covers a wide variety of topics including the problem of creation, the origin of religion, Death, and Human personality.

Great resource for those interested in using alternative liturgy or hymns. Hymns include known tunes with words in a native tongue; known words with a different tune; and words and music from different traditions.

A hymnal with approximately 100 hymns in Navajo.