Native American Religious Identity

by Weaver, Jace

• ISBN13: 9781570751813
• ISBN10: 1570751811
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-02-01
• Publisher: Orbis Books

Summary

In this ground-breaking work, some of the best contemporary Native scholars and writers examine the issue of Native religious identity today. Because the traditional Native American view recognizes no sharp distinction between sacred and profane spheres of existence, Native cultures and religious traditions are in many ways synonymous and coextensive. This intimate relationship between culture and religion makes the question of religious identity a vital inquiry. Essays range from the scholarly to the intensely personal, including Christian, traditional, and "post-Christian" perspectives. The range of topics includes a study of Nahua religion and the cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe; the role of Native interpreters in spreading Christianity; a Native writer's observations of a modern Sun Dance ritual; and an Indian elder's poignant account of how it felt, after her marriage to a white Canadian, to receive an official card from the government declaring that she was "no longer an Indian" according to the laws of Canada.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
1. From I-Hermeneutics to We-Hermeneutics Native Americans and the Post-Colonial	1	(25)
Jace Weaver
2. The European Concept of Usen An American Aboriginal Text	26	(7)
Viola F. Cordova
3. A Study of Nahua Religion after the Conquest	33	(15)
Leana Hicks
4. The Interpreters	48	(13)
Homer Noley
5. "If This Is Paganism..." Zitkala-Sa and the Devil's Language	61	(8)
Betty Louise Bell
6. No Longer an Indian My Story	69	(5)
Freda McDonald
7. Our Ancestors Were Charitable	74	(3)
Margaret Sam-Cromarty
8. A Definition of Culture Canada and First Nations	77	(22)
Dennis McPherson
9. Indian Presence with No Indians Present NAGPRA and Its Discontents	99	(18)
Jace Weaver
10. Sun Dance	117	(7)
Diane Glancy
11. Learning to Navigate in a Christian World	124	(10)
Donald A. Grinde, Jr.
12. Jesus, Corn Mother, and Conquest Christology and Colonialism	134	(21)
George Tinker
13. From Medicine Man to Marx The Coming Shift in Native Theology	155	(18)
Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston
14. Black Robes Native Americans and the Ordination Process	173	(5)
Tweedy Sombrero
15. Walking in Balance The Spirituality-Liberation Praxis of Native Women	178	(21)
Andrea Smith
16. Politicizing HIV Prevention in Indian Country	199	(18)
Craig Womack
17. Losing My Religion Native American Religious Traditions and American Religious Freedom	217	(13)
Jace Weaver
Contributors	230	(2)
Index	232