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People of Kituwah: The Old Ways of the Eastern Cherokees
According to Cherokee tradition, the place of creation is Kituwah, located at the center of the world and home of the most sacred and oldest of all beloved, or mother, towns. Just by entering Kituwah, or indeed any village site, Cherokees reexperience the creation of the world, when the water beetle first surfaced with a piece of mud that later became the island on which they lived. People of Kituwah is a comprehensive account of the spiritual worldview and lifeways of the Eastern Cherokee people, from the creation of the world to today. Building on vast primary and secondary materials, native and non-native, this book provides a window into not only what the Cherokees perceive and understand—their notions of space and time, marriage and love, death and the afterlife, healing and traditional medicine, and rites and ceremonies—but also how their religious life evolved both before and after the calamitous coming of colonialism and Christianity. Through the collaborative efforts of John D. Loftin and Benjamin E. Frey, this book offers an in-depth understanding of Cherokee culture and society.
299 pages, Paperback
Published April 30, 2024
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May 13, 2024
Rediscovering a Native American view of creation and spiritual values
Over the past couple of years, as a journalist, I have been editing and publishing a wide range of news updates and columns by authors focusing on Native American communities. At the moment, this renewed focus is prompted by major efforts that have begun across Canada and the U.S. to come to terms with the traumatic legacy of prison-like government-backed boarding schools designed to wipe out Indian cultures.
If this is news to you, then I can say in quick summary: Lots of work by countless individuals and groups has gone into this long-delayed campaign. Australia led the way some years ago; Canada is stepping up to this national reckoning; and the United States is just beginning the process.
As we finally develop an accurate history of the traumas inflicted—and that includes, quite literally, recovering names from the anonymous burial grounds of Native children around many of these schools—it's also crucial to understand the larger world views that this government effort was trying to destroy.
That is why it's also important to highlight resources that can lead us back through the centuries of Christian conversion, genocide and boarding schools to help our nation understand the valuable spiritual and cultural traditions of Native peoples. For example, one author I have interviewed and recommended in a series of columns is Steven Charleston, whose latest book is We Survived the End of the World: Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope. Read that review to see why connecting with these sources of wisdom can prove valuable to all of us today.
And before you misunderstand what I'm saying here: While Christianity played a role in these genocides and in trying to erase Native cultures, the truth is far more complex than painting Christianity as an exclusively evil force in this history. Today, many Christian leaders are in the forefront of urging our nations to come to terms with the past. Steven Charleston is a retired Episcopal bishop. And in this new book from the University of California Press, John Loftin and Benjamin Frey accurately explain that a great portion of the Cherokee nation today identifies as Christian.
A complex tapestry has been woven of faith traditions. And that's why Loftin's and Frey's new book is so important in the overall effort to give contemporary readers—Native and non-Native—a vision of these all-but-forgotten world views. I write that phrase in plural—world views—because Loftin and Frey point out in their book a truth that runs throughout Native cultures: While there are similarities in the spiritual heritages of tribes from coast to coast, there also are significant differences—including within the tribes themselves.
Even as they describe this particular family tree of Cherokee stories, they explain: "There was truly no Cherokee orthodoxy, which is typical of Native American religions. Cherokees were not concerned with standardizing their religion as were the Abrahamic traditions. Different villages, classes, religious societies and clans generated slightly different versions of religious expression, none of which caused Cherokees any real consternation. Cherokees were a traditional, mythological people whose world-view saw continuity and parallel where historical people saw contradiction."
Now—that's a lesson feuding factions of Christians in America should learn today!
One key reason Cherokees developed this more welcoming cosmic view was that they did not view time itself as linear in the way the Christian Bible draws the line from Creation to Apocalypse. (And you can read Steven Charleston for much more on that latter question.)
Loftin and Frey tell us: "As Cherokee author Robert J. Conley writes, 'The American Indian concept of time is cyclical as opposed to the European/white American concept of linear time.' We see this connection deeply rooted in the culture, as the Cherokee word for 'eternity' is 'always.' "
All of these insights are connected throughout Loftin's and Frey's book. This notion of time as circular helps to explain why this branch of the Cherokee nation was so intent on reclaiming and protecting Kituwah, as these authors spell it, or Kituwa, as Wikipedia spells it. In a spiritual world view that is circular and always moving through cycles of renewal, the Cherokee people have a deep connection with what they regard as the "center"—the geographic area of Kituwah. The site is far more than a historical memorial in the way Christians might regard a sacred site—rather, it's still a "center" of the revolving cosmos. In the 1800s, during government attempts to relocate or, in effect, wipe out these communities—Cherokees lost control of their beloved Kituwah in western North Carolina. Finally, in the 1990s, they regained legal control of it—and later had to fight a long political and legal battle to protect it from encroachment.
Reading Loftin's and Frey's book gives us a much deeper insight into why such "land" matters so deeply to these people—and why we all should celebrate, honor and protect Kituwah as one of the world's spiritual "thin places," to borrow a phrase from Celtic spirituality.
I am giving this book 5 stars because of the painstaking efforts to document and clarify the sources, terms and nature of the stories in this book. I also need to tell prospective readers: These painstaking efforts result in a text that reads like a "university press" book. It's not a narrative "page turner," but—if you will accept my basic reasoning about the book's importance—then you'll likely find it's a fascinating "read."
Finally, this book connects powerfully with where contemporary spirituality is moving across North America. Each week as a journalist, I find myself reading and publishing columns about a vast cultural and spiritual movement to take our connections with the natural world more seriously. If that describes your journey, then you will meet like-minded people in this volume.
After sharing 200 pages of history and lots of traditional stories, the authors conclude their book this way:
"These few brief examples may seem fantastic to some outsiders, but most Cherokees would readily embrace them as credible and convincing. For example, when discussing the Cherokee winged serpent, Uktena, Sandra Muse Isaacs writes that, 'belief in Uktena and other wondrous creatures is as strong today among the People as it ever was.' For most Eastern Cherokees, spiritual power is mysterious but very real. Indeed, it would be fair to say that their natural world simultaneously symbolizes and embodies sacred meaning and essence."
I know countless non-Native people today who would say the same thing.
Over the past couple of years, as a journalist, I have been editing and publishing a wide range of news updates and columns by authors focusing on Native American communities. At the moment, this renewed focus is prompted by major efforts that have begun across Canada and the U.S. to come to terms with the traumatic legacy of prison-like government-backed boarding schools designed to wipe out Indian cultures.
If this is news to you, then I can say in quick summary: Lots of work by countless individuals and groups has gone into this long-delayed campaign. Australia led the way some years ago; Canada is stepping up to this national reckoning; and the United States is just beginning the process.
As we finally develop an accurate history of the traumas inflicted—and that includes, quite literally, recovering names from the anonymous burial grounds of Native children around many of these schools—it's also crucial to understand the larger world views that this government effort was trying to destroy.
That is why it's also important to highlight resources that can lead us back through the centuries of Christian conversion, genocide and boarding schools to help our nation understand the valuable spiritual and cultural traditions of Native peoples. For example, one author I have interviewed and recommended in a series of columns is Steven Charleston, whose latest book is We Survived the End of the World: Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope. Read that review to see why connecting with these sources of wisdom can prove valuable to all of us today.
And before you misunderstand what I'm saying here: While Christianity played a role in these genocides and in trying to erase Native cultures, the truth is far more complex than painting Christianity as an exclusively evil force in this history. Today, many Christian leaders are in the forefront of urging our nations to come to terms with the past. Steven Charleston is a retired Episcopal bishop. And in this new book from the University of California Press, John Loftin and Benjamin Frey accurately explain that a great portion of the Cherokee nation today identifies as Christian.
A complex tapestry has been woven of faith traditions. And that's why Loftin's and Frey's new book is so important in the overall effort to give contemporary readers—Native and non-Native—a vision of these all-but-forgotten world views. I write that phrase in plural—world views—because Loftin and Frey point out in their book a truth that runs throughout Native cultures: While there are similarities in the spiritual heritages of tribes from coast to coast, there also are significant differences—including within the tribes themselves.
Even as they describe this particular family tree of Cherokee stories, they explain: "There was truly no Cherokee orthodoxy, which is typical of Native American religions. Cherokees were not concerned with standardizing their religion as were the Abrahamic traditions. Different villages, classes, religious societies and clans generated slightly different versions of religious expression, none of which caused Cherokees any real consternation. Cherokees were a traditional, mythological people whose world-view saw continuity and parallel where historical people saw contradiction."
Now—that's a lesson feuding factions of Christians in America should learn today!
One key reason Cherokees developed this more welcoming cosmic view was that they did not view time itself as linear in the way the Christian Bible draws the line from Creation to Apocalypse. (And you can read Steven Charleston for much more on that latter question.)
Loftin and Frey tell us: "As Cherokee author Robert J. Conley writes, 'The American Indian concept of time is cyclical as opposed to the European/white American concept of linear time.' We see this connection deeply rooted in the culture, as the Cherokee word for 'eternity' is 'always.' "
All of these insights are connected throughout Loftin's and Frey's book. This notion of time as circular helps to explain why this branch of the Cherokee nation was so intent on reclaiming and protecting Kituwah, as these authors spell it, or Kituwa, as Wikipedia spells it. In a spiritual world view that is circular and always moving through cycles of renewal, the Cherokee people have a deep connection with what they regard as the "center"—the geographic area of Kituwah. The site is far more than a historical memorial in the way Christians might regard a sacred site—rather, it's still a "center" of the revolving cosmos. In the 1800s, during government attempts to relocate or, in effect, wipe out these communities—Cherokees lost control of their beloved Kituwah in western North Carolina. Finally, in the 1990s, they regained legal control of it—and later had to fight a long political and legal battle to protect it from encroachment.
Reading Loftin's and Frey's book gives us a much deeper insight into why such "land" matters so deeply to these people—and why we all should celebrate, honor and protect Kituwah as one of the world's spiritual "thin places," to borrow a phrase from Celtic spirituality.
I am giving this book 5 stars because of the painstaking efforts to document and clarify the sources, terms and nature of the stories in this book. I also need to tell prospective readers: These painstaking efforts result in a text that reads like a "university press" book. It's not a narrative "page turner," but—if you will accept my basic reasoning about the book's importance—then you'll likely find it's a fascinating "read."
Finally, this book connects powerfully with where contemporary spirituality is moving across North America. Each week as a journalist, I find myself reading and publishing columns about a vast cultural and spiritual movement to take our connections with the natural world more seriously. If that describes your journey, then you will meet like-minded people in this volume.
After sharing 200 pages of history and lots of traditional stories, the authors conclude their book this way:
"These few brief examples may seem fantastic to some outsiders, but most Cherokees would readily embrace them as credible and convincing. For example, when discussing the Cherokee winged serpent, Uktena, Sandra Muse Isaacs writes that, 'belief in Uktena and other wondrous creatures is as strong today among the People as it ever was.' For most Eastern Cherokees, spiritual power is mysterious but very real. Indeed, it would be fair to say that their natural world simultaneously symbolizes and embodies sacred meaning and essence."
I know countless non-Native people today who would say the same thing.
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October 24, 2025I really enjoyed reading this book. It is one of the best on the Cherokee and religion. I particularly appreciated its use of Cherokee language!
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