Native American Religions

[ReformedChristian]

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

 

[Claudiu]

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

Do you mean "presuppositionally"?

 

[ReformedChristian]

yes

 

[Guido's Brother]

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.

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

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.

 

[ZackF]

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.

 

[jwithnell]

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.

 

[arapahoepark]

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.