# Native American Religions



## ReformedChristian (Oct 10, 2013)

Can someone point me to some material on how to prepositionally deal with Native American Religions? or some sources?


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## Claudiu (Oct 10, 2013)

ReformedChristian said:


> Can someone point me to some material on how to *prepositionally* deal with Native American Religions? or some sources?



Do you mean "presuppositionally"?


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## ReformedChristian (Oct 11, 2013)

yes


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## Guido's Brother (Oct 11, 2013)

Christopher, 

I spent several years working as a missionary to Native Americans/First Nations here in Canada. Unfortunately, last time I looked there was nothing written from a presuppositional perspective on Native American religions. That "last time" was a few years ago now, so maybe things have changed. Maybe someone else knows of something. I was working on a presuppositional approach to the people that I was working with, but most of them lost their traditional religious beliefs and had become (mostly) nominally Roman Catholic.


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## Jerusalem Blade (Oct 11, 2013)

This is from Lighthouse Trails Publishing (Dispensational, but good discernment of aberrant spiritualities in our time): Native Spirituality. A number of books on American and Canadian Indian spiritual beliefs.


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## ZackF (Oct 11, 2013)

ReformedChristian said:


> yes



Sometimes you have to just listen. I remember what presuppositionalism teacher Michael Butler said in a lecture, "just ask what that person believes and listen." The good thing about presuppositionalism is that you don't have to know so much or be that smart....of which I am grateful.  Even for those of us without the mental powers of John Warwick Montgomery can be confident of "giving a defense for the hope that is within us." In one-on-one situations Francis Schaeffer(not a presup purist I know) would spend the vast majority of time listening to a person's beliefs and so forth before seeking to speak in to his life. Just because someone calls himself a modernist, existentialist or even a Christian doesn't mean he is closely allied with a plumb line version those beliefs. You could also go to a "service" of their worship or read some stuff they have written also to give you a better idea.


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## jwithnell (Oct 11, 2013)

It would be hard to put all Native American religions under one umbrella. You'd have to know the group you are addressing, then look for common themes: pantheism? panentheism? animism? that can be addressed presuppositionally. It would also help to know about the social issues involving the local group, not from a social gospel viewpoint, but so that you can speak with some empathy and understanding.


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## arapahoepark (Oct 11, 2013)

I have a book called American Colonies. I think it goes into some stuff. I had to write a research paper on a few tribes a couple years ago. Let me locate the bibliography (if I still have it). There was plenty of stuff in there.
Found it:
Fagan, Brian M. The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient America. New York: Thames and
Hudson, 1987.

Kehoe, Alice B. North American Indians : A Comprehensive Account. Englewood Cliffs, N.J:
Prentice-Hall, 1981.

Josephy, Alvin M. America in 1492 : The World of the Indian peoples before the arrival of
Columbus. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.

Richter, Daniel K. Facing East from Indian Country : a Native History of Early America.
Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2001.

Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. The Conquest of New Spain. Translated by J. M. Cohen. Baltimore:
Penguin Books, 1963.

Strom, Karen M. Accessed September 26, 2011.
Index of Native American History Resources on the Internet.


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