Native American Church history

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That is a great question, is there a particular tribe you want to focus on? I know I would want to read a piece tha would focus on the Hopi and Navajo.
 
arap said:
Is there a history of Native American missions/church history? Preferably, a Protestant view.
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RJ Rushdoony was a missionary to native Americans. You might check and see if he authored anything on it.
Terry
 
I took a Native American history class last semester. In my studies I did not come across a book that gives a broad overview.

The prevailing Native American viewpoint as taught in my class, is that white "Christians" forced their customs and religion on Native Americans, who wanted nothing more than to preserve their traditional way of life, including their religion.

However, this view fails to make a distinction between the Catholic missionaries and later protestant efforts. Many of the Catholic missions were constructed by their new "converts" - who were essentially a slave labor force. After contact with the white settlers, Native Americans died in epic proportions, mostly due to diseases to which they had no immunity.

These factors combined to create a lingering negative impression of Christianity among many modern Native Americans. Even so, there remain many believers today, scattered across many tribes.

You should be able to find some info on what Indians called "praying towns," in the New England area. The Methodists also worked among some of the Great Lakes tribes.
 
The definative history of the Christian Reformed Church's missionary efforts with the Navajos is "Flourishing in the Land" by Scott Hoezee and Christopher Meehan. That's probably more focused on that one particular effort than what you're looking for, but it was a particularly Reformed effort and the Navajo story is surely one of the most important in the grand scheme of Native American church history. The book itself suffers a bit from the more mainline-ish perspective of today's CRC that's used to look back on the truly Reformed days, but it's still a good read.

If a more overview-type book on Native American missionary efforts existed, I think I'd of heard about it. But perhaps not. I hope someone chimes in and can prove me wrong.
 
CuriousNdenver said:
The prevailing Native American viewpoint as taught in my class, is that white "Christians" forced their customs and religion on Native Americans, who wanted nothing more than to preserve their traditional way of life, including their religion.
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The truth, of course, is far more nuanced. Over the years, some Native Americans have been forced or pressured to adopt a more European lifestyle and culture. Far fewer have been coerced into Christian "conversions." Many have been marginalized by the dominant, land-hungry white culture and, in some cases slowly and in other cases quickly, have chosen to change their lifestyle. The amount of enculturalization varies from person to person.

The well-meaning scholars who insist that one narrative explains each Native American's story are, in some ways, just as overbearing as the 19th and 20th Century white people they rail against. These scholars too have a mold they want every Native American to fit into. They push an attitude they insist every Native American ought to adopt.

It has long been the case that Native American believers are some of the most persecuted Christians on our continent, with most of the persecution coming socially from their own people. This is only getting worse. The growing sentiment that to be a Christian is to be a traitor to their heritage puts significant pressures on these believers.
 
Jack K said:
The definative history of the Christian Reformed Church's missionary efforts with the Navajos is "Flourishing in the Land" by Scott Hoezee and Christopher Meehan. That's probably more focused on that one particular effort than what you're looking for, but it was a particularly Reformed effort and the Navajo story is surely one of the most important in the grand scheme of Native American church history. The book itself suffers a bit from the more mainline-ish perspective of today's CRC that's used to look back on the truly Reformed days, but it's still a good read.

If a more overview-type book on Native American missionary efforts existed, I think I'd of heard about it. But perhaps not. I hope someone chimes in and can prove me wrong.
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Thank you Jack, I think I would be extremely interested in this book.
 
Many of the tribes that were in the Southeast (aka the "Five Civilized Tribes") were "Christianized" to varying degrees prior to being forced out during the Trail of Tears in the 1830's. As one might imagine, key components of being civilized included adopting white man dress and white man religion. The history of those tribes is rather different than the Natives from the Great Plains, the Southwest, and so on.

I will try to ask some professors of church history that I know about resources on this question. If I don't post anything more here within the week, please remind me.
 
Jack K said:
It has long been the case that Native American believers are some of the most persecuted Christians on our continent, with most of the persecution coming socially from their own people. This is only getting worse. The growing sentiment that to be a Christian is to be a traitor to their heritage puts significant pressures on these believers.
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My guess is that this mainly occurs with natives on larger reservations like Pine Ridge or and perhaps moreso with certain tribes such as some in the Southwest. (I know Baptists who have engaged in mission work at Pine Ridge but don't know that much about it.) A good many natives are Christians in the Southeast (whether real or nominal.) The most notable one is undoubtedly Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist in Woodstock, GA and former President of the Southern Baptist Convention. Jack, I'm sure you know this. But not all native Americans live on reservations. In some parts of the country, that tends to be the impression that people have, however, especially those who have never to their knowledge met one.

Anyone with a background that includes a strong cultural identity (or even a strong non-evangelical identity) that sees evangelical faith as some kind of foreign influence will have to face persecution within their own family when embracing evangelical Christianity, much less Reformed. And our Lord said as much. It's not to the same degree with everyone, of course. But you see it with Irish, Italians, Cajuns, not to mention adherents of other world religions or those from self-consciously secular humanist families. The history of shameful treatment of the natives, of course, makes it worse. The areas you're referring to may be primarily the ones that were the most radicalized by things like the American Indian Movement (AIM) a few decades ago. In that case it would be like the Black Muslims and others rejecting the religion of their ancestor's slave masters. I make no claim here to being an expert though.
 
Jack K said:
Originally Posted by CuriousNdenver
The prevailing Native American viewpoint as taught in my class, is that white "Christians" forced their customs and religion on Native Americans, who wanted nothing more than to preserve their traditional way of life, including their religion.
The truth, of course, is far more nuanced. Over the years, some Native Americans have been forced or pressured to adopt a more European lifestyle and culture. Far fewer have been coerced into Christian "conversions." Many have been marginalized by the dominant, land-hungry white culture and, in some cases slowly and in other cases quickly, have chosen to change their lifestyle. The amount of enculturalization varies from person to person.

The well-meaning scholars who insist that one narrative explains each Native American's story are, in some ways, just as overbearing as the 19th and 20th Century white people they rail against. These scholars too have a mold they want every Native American to fit into. They push an attitude they insist every Native American ought to adopt.

It has long been the case that Native American believers are some of the most persecuted Christians on our continent, with most of the persecution coming socially from their own people. This is only getting worse. The growing sentiment that to be a Christian is to be a traitor to their heritage puts significant pressures on these believers.
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Absolutely! Today's Native American scholarship fails to acknowledge distinctions in past Native American interactions with true Christianity and what they view as "white Christian culture," as well as differences between Catholicism and protestant Christianity. Then it presumes that all Native Americans share the same history and are traitors to their culture if they deviate from the modern trends their leaders set for them.

Native Americans have a legitimate gripe against how their ancestors were treated by many of the white settlers, especially by the U.S. government and military. Some of those acts were done in the name of Christ, though it is doubtful if the perpetrators were true believers. Part of this may be because of the myth of Christian culture. Many folks in the 1800's attended some type of Christian church, and the country nominally espoused "Christian" values, (at least the ones that were convenient). Thus, those outside that "white Christian culture" e.g. Native Americans, presumed they were all "Christians," without truly understanding what a Christian is. I was able to share my view on this with my professor, and she was quite receptive. She herself was forcibly taken from her family and culture and placed in a Catholic boarding school where she says she suffered physical and sexual abuse. They attempted to erase all traces of her culture and her familial ties while they indoctrinated her with a new identity, devoid of loving relationships.

Today, it seems the Evil One uses this history as an attack on Christianity. That done in the name of Christ, by those who do not know Christ, is used to prevent others from hearing the message of the gospel.

However, there are many believers among the Native Americans today, particularly among the tribes originally found east of the Mississippi. There were Jesuit missionaries, an early Protestant Missionary Society (1700's), "Praying Towns" in the north east and Baptist and Methodist missionaries who reached out to Native Americans from the 17th through the 19th century.

Trent, if there is no book that presents a survey of this effort, perhaps it is waiting for you to write it? I would be most interested in reading it! I am also part Native American.
 
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In talking with an Athabascan woman in Alaska one time, she told me the Presbyterians are remembered for bringing education to Native Alaskans and the Russian Orthodox for bringing protection: interestingly, protection from other Russians who were extremely exploitative when exploring Alaska for the fur trade. The Russian Orthodox intervened on behalf of the Native Alaskans. It was a mixed bag though, for as in many church schools, the native languages were forbidden. I at one point read a fair amount, but I don't recall the book titles. I do recall talking to people still living who recalled seeing signs that read: no dogs or Indians permitted, and also reading in the Post Office in Juneau how white settlers educated the ignorant natives. While I don't buy the Enlightenment-informed perspectives that pervade much of the interpretation of US/Native American history, I do think many in the 19th century missed the inherent dignity in dealing with anyone who is created in the image of God. The Post Office sign was really offensive and I hope, 15 years later, that it is long gone.

That said, I was equally offended when the Native American museum opened in DC 5-6 years ago. That institution flipped entirely in the other direction to let Native Americans "tell their own story." While anthropology is a pretty flawed field, I don't believe something is true just because someone from a culture has a myth that it is so. There is room for intellectual discipline, even on culturally-sensitive subjects. It reminds me of our recent Sunday School classes that contended that the Post-modernists have abandoned any hope of a meta-narrative and thus any hope for truth or freedom.
 
CuriousNdenver said:
You should be able to find some info on what Indians called "praying towns," in the New England area.
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There are a number of solid sources on this specific work, carried out most notably by John Eliot. Richard W. Cogley is perhaps the best historian of Eliot: cf. “A Presbyterian in Congregationalist New England? The case of John Eliot.” Journal of Presbyterian History 77, no. 2 (June 1999): 71-79; “John Eliot and the Origins of the American Indians.” Early American Literature. 21, No. 3 (Winter, 1986/1987): 210-225; and John Eliot’s Mission to the Indians before King Philip’s War

David Calhoun (of Covenant Seminary) has also written on Eliot: “John Eliot: Apostle to the Indians.” Covenant Seminary Review 15, no. 2 (Fall 1989): 35-38.

Cotton Mather also chronicled this history much earlier: Magnalia Christi Americana; or The Ecclesiastical History of New England http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=awp9kgAACAAJ&dq=Magnalia+Christi+Americana;+or+The+Ecclesiastical+History+of+New+England&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6wr3UfLAHIyfkgXxyoCgCg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg
 
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An interesting post I found on the American Minute by Bill Federer from yesterday . . .

The first book printed in America was the Bay Psalm Book by John Eliot, who was baptized in England as an infant on AUGUST 5, 1604.

Called "Apostle to the Indians," he sailed to America and preached his first sermon in the Algonquian language in 1646.

He translated the Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer and the Bible - the first to be printed in America, in 1663.

In a 1674 census, 4,000 "Praying Indians" were in 14 self-ruling villages with houses, streets, bridges, and their own ministers.

"Praying Indian" villages were located throughout Massachusetts, Martha's Vineyard and Rhode Island.

John Eliot wrote:

"The Word of God is the perfect System of Laws to guide all moral actions of man."

In A Brief Narrative, July 20, 1670, Eliot wrote:

"These Indians being of kin to our Massachusett Indians...received amongst them the light and love of the Truth...

On a day of Fasting and Prayer, Elders were ordained...

The Teacher of the Praying Indians of Nantucket, with a Brother...who made good Confessions of Jesus Christ...did make report that there be about ninety families who pray unto God in that island, so effectual is the Light of the Gospel."

Sadly, after the deaths of Pilgrim leader William Bradford and Wampanoag Indian chief Massasoit, tensions arose.

In 1675, Massasoit's son, known as chief or "King" Philip, was upset over encroachment on Indian lands.

The new Plymouth Colony Governor, Josiah Winslow, did nothing to quell his concerns.

Indian warriors attacked more than half of New England's 90 towns.

800 settlers died, 1,200 homes burned, 8,000 cattle lost, and the entire English population of 52,000 in Massachusetts and Rhode Island was threatened to be driven back to the coast.

Unfortunately, John Eliot's Christian "Praying Indians" were caught in the middle, not being trusted by King Philip's warriors nor by panicking colonists.

As a results, many tragically died.

A remnant of the Christian Wampanoag continued, with "Blind" Joe Amos bringing the Baptist faith to the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in the 1830's.

Mwalim Peters, a researcher of Mashpee Wampanoag history, stated that Rev. Amos "knew the entire King James Bible by heart and could recite it in both English and Wampanoag."

Peters noted that Rev. Amos: "...preached under the shade of a large oak tree every Sunday throughout the seasons."

He joined by Rev. William Apes, an itinerant Pequot minister adopted by the Mashpee tribe.

The Mashpee Baptist Church is currently led by Rev. Curtis Frye Jr., a great-great-great-grandson of Rev. Blind Joe Amos, who stated:

"Blind Joe was one of the preachers who brought the gospel to the Wampanoag people...I try to follow in his footsteps...We are still here and we are still doing what Blind Joe did, and that's preach the word of God."
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Endnotes
John Eliot, The Christian Commonwealth: or, The Civil Policy of the Rising Kingdom of Jesus Christ, 1659. Massachusetts Historical Collections, 3rd ser,. Vol. 9, pp. 133-134, 163. Benjamin Fletcher Wright, Jr., American Interpretations of Natural Law (NY: Russell & Russell, 1962), pp. 19-21. John Eidsmoe, Christianity & the Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, A Mott Media Book, 1987; 6th printing, 1993), pp. 33-34. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), pp. 125-126.
(Brought to you by AmericanMinute.com)
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