Spirit and Resistance: Political Theology and American Indian Liberation

by George E. Tinker

Writing from a Native American perspective, theologian George Tinker probes American Indian culture, its vast religious and cultural legacy, and its ambiguous relationship to the tradition-historic Christianity-that colonized and converted it. After five hundred years of conquest and social destruction, he says, any useful reflection must come to terms with the political state of Indian affairs and the political hopes and visions for recovering the health and well-being of Indian communities. Does Christian theology have a positive role to play?Tinker's work offers an overview of contemporary native American culture and its perilous state. Critical of recent liberal and New Age co-opting of Native spiritual practices, Tinker also offers a critical corrective to liberation theology. He shows how Native insights into the Sacred Other and sacred space helpfully reconfigure traditional ideas of God, Jesus' notion of the reign of God, and our relation to the earth. From this basis he offers novel proposals about cultural survival and identity, sustainability, and the endangered health of Native Americans.

Genres: Theology, Indigenous, Native American, Philosophy, Politics, Religion

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2004

Reviews

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Tinker has written a fascinating book that helps non-Indians get a glimpse at why it is so hard to assimilate or integrate euro-american and Indian cultures. Rarely have a I read a book that has so opened my eyes to the distinctness of Western culture and how foreign it is to peoples of other backgrounds. One of the most fascinating sections was his discussion of the Kingdom of God, which he described as our community with all the creatures of creation. While the book is published by a Christian publisher, I don't know if Tinker would call himself a Christian even though he dialogues a great deal about Christianity. This is a book that will have me thinking for a while.

[Daniel Klawitter]

I was fortunate enough to study under Tink for a while. This book brought back many memories of class discussions, particularly around the New Ager consumption of Indian Spirituality as commodity fetishism and "colonial malignancy."

[Mills College Library]

973.0497 T589 2004