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Undoing Manifest Destiny: Settler America, Christian Colonists, and the Pursuit of Justice
Reckoning with the Colonial Past to Bring Justice to the Present
As White settlers spread across North America, they crafted and enacted an epic story of their God-given dominion—over the land, over Indigenous nations, and over the future. Their narrative constructed a myth of innocence that justified a massive program of violence and dispossession by suppressing a darker history. That history still reverberates today, from settler America’s relations with the Indigenous nations of the United States to ways the land has been commodified as property. It's time for the whole truth to be told.
In Undoing Manifest Destiny, L. Daniel Hawk exposes the belief systems and practices that settlers developed to justify the displacement, destruction, and cultural erasure of Indigenous peoples, beginning in the early American colonial period and extending to the present day. Writing as the descendant of White settlers and as a biblical scholar, he challenges settler Christians to uncover what the settler narrative denies and to work toward addressing historic injustices.
In this book, Hawk
combines settler colonial theory, historical analysis, and Christian theology to examine how settler America sought to erase Indigenous presence from lands taken by the United States and its colonial predecessors; offers a decolonizing perspective that challenges the church to acknowledge its complicity with the colonial project and to enter into dialogue directed toward setting things right; and highlights contemporary manifestations of colonialism in US interactions with its Indigenous citizens, demonstrating that past issues are still present and need to be addressed today. Hawk asserts that Christians were complicit with programs of erasure, and so Christians are called to confront and heal their residue today. Joining historical research with theology and biblical scholarship, Hawk helps us recognize the myths that shape the American imagination and to engage our faith for a better way forward.
This book is an invaluable resource for scholars, educators, students, and readers invested in areas such as post- and de-colonial studies, race and ethnicity, United States history, and social justice. Deepen your understanding of history, confront unsettling truths, and work toward justice and healing with Undoing Manifest Destiny.
As White settlers spread across North America, they crafted and enacted an epic story of their God-given dominion—over the land, over Indigenous nations, and over the future. Their narrative constructed a myth of innocence that justified a massive program of violence and dispossession by suppressing a darker history. That history still reverberates today, from settler America’s relations with the Indigenous nations of the United States to ways the land has been commodified as property. It's time for the whole truth to be told.
In Undoing Manifest Destiny, L. Daniel Hawk exposes the belief systems and practices that settlers developed to justify the displacement, destruction, and cultural erasure of Indigenous peoples, beginning in the early American colonial period and extending to the present day. Writing as the descendant of White settlers and as a biblical scholar, he challenges settler Christians to uncover what the settler narrative denies and to work toward addressing historic injustices.
In this book, Hawk
combines settler colonial theory, historical analysis, and Christian theology to examine how settler America sought to erase Indigenous presence from lands taken by the United States and its colonial predecessors; offers a decolonizing perspective that challenges the church to acknowledge its complicity with the colonial project and to enter into dialogue directed toward setting things right; and highlights contemporary manifestations of colonialism in US interactions with its Indigenous citizens, demonstrating that past issues are still present and need to be addressed today. Hawk asserts that Christians were complicit with programs of erasure, and so Christians are called to confront and heal their residue today. Joining historical research with theology and biblical scholarship, Hawk helps us recognize the myths that shape the American imagination and to engage our faith for a better way forward.
This book is an invaluable resource for scholars, educators, students, and readers invested in areas such as post- and de-colonial studies, race and ethnicity, United States history, and social justice. Deepen your understanding of history, confront unsettling truths, and work toward justice and healing with Undoing Manifest Destiny.
256 pages, Paperback
Published February 3, 2026
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February 4, 2026
Dan is an exceptional scholar and this well researched book bears that out. He carefully works through the history of the United States to help the reader understand how the government and society as a whole have treated Native Tribes from the colonies to the present. From that foundation He helps the reader understand how Christians manipulated theology to under-gird the doctrine of Manifest Destiny in America. This is the kind of book that will generate push-back from all readers who do not realize how this idea has subconsciously impacted them. Dan hopes that his reader will engage these ideas from the mindset of how can I help undo the damage done and I would add that he seems to believe that the best way is to simply recognize where you have been impacted by this idea and then to begin to listen to indigenous voices who have been negatively impacted by American commitment to Manifest Destiny.
Displaying 1 of 1 review