Clara Sue Kidwell

A Native American Theology Clara Sue Kidwell

The first effort to articulate a comprehensive Native American theology. "Grounded in Native American experiences, here is a theology that lays a firm foundation for Indian national sovereignty and cultural integrity. Native Americans are the original people in this hemisphere. A Native American Theology is a creative and critical crafting of an original God-talk and God-walk. As a trickster voice, this stellar book uses traditional categories of systematic theology only to subvert them with an Indian imagination of hope." -Dwight N. Hopkins, University of Chicago Divinity School.. This collaborative work represents a pathbreaking exercise in Native American theology. While observing traditional categories of Christian systematic theology (Creation, Deity, Christology, etc.), each of these is reimagined consistent with Native experience, values, and worldview. At the same time the authors introduce new categories from Native thought-worlds, such as the Trickster (eraser of boundaries, symbol of ambiguity), and Land. Finally, the authors address issues facing Native Americans today, including racism, poverty, stereotyping, cultural appropriation, and religious freedom. Clara Sue Kidwell is professor of Native American studies at the University of Oklahoma. Homer Noley recently retired from his position as director of the National United Methodist Native American Center at the School of Theology at Claremont and is author of The First White Frost. George E. "Tink" Tinker is professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at Iliff School of Theology, and the author of Missionary Conquest.