REL 253-4 : Foundations of Mission

"Mixed Blessings transforms our understanding of the relationship between Indigenous people and Christianity in Canada from the early 1600s to the present day. While acknowledging the harm of colonialism, including the trauma inflicted by church-run residential schools, this interdisciplinary collection challenges the portrayal of Indigenous people as passive victims of malevolent missionaries who experienced a uniformly dark history. Instead, this book illuminates the diverse and multifaceted ways that Indigenous communities and individuals--including prominent leaders such as Louis Riel and Edward Ahenakew--have interacted, and continue to interact, meaningfully with Christianity."-- Provided by publisher.

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or out-of-print) including religious magazines, scholarly journals, and native periodicals, along with one previously unpublished manuscript.

In his visit to the shrine of the North American Martyrs in 1984, John Paul II declared that it is important that we all recognize that not only is Christianity viable for Native Americans but that "Jesus Christ in the members of his Body is himself Indian." This book is an extended meditation on the Pope's pronouncement and its consequences for Christian life and mission.

Presents the history of Christian missionary influences among the Indians of Canada from 1534 to the present day.

Tracing the history of Native American schooling in North America, this book emphasizes factors in society at large  - and sometimes within indigenous communities - which led to Native American children being separate from the white majority. Charles L. Glenn examines the evolving assumptions about race and culture as applied to schooling, the reactions of parents and tribal leadership in the United States and Canada, and the symbolic as well as practical role of indigenous languages and of efforts to maintain them.

Responding to pressures from missionary societies, governments, and scholarly institutions, missionaries became government advisors and secular authorities on Indian affairs and portrayed Indians to fulfill the eastern expectations.

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.Twiss gives voice to the stories of Native followers of Jesus, with perspectives on theology and spirituality plus concrete models for intercultural ministry.

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? 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.