2.2 The Problem of Creation

Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux)

Online Reading

• Canadian Museum of History. “Traditional Stories and Creation Stories.”
• Beaver, R. Pierce. “American Missionary Efforts to Influence Government Indian Policy.” Journal of Church and State 5, no. 1 (1963): 77–94.
• Marcos, Sylvia. “Mesoamerican Women’s Indigenous Spirituality: Decolonizing Religious Beliefs.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 25, no. 2 (2009): 25–45.
• Maroukis, Thomas C. “The Peyote Controversy and the Demise of the Society of American Indians.” American Indian Quarterly 37, no. 3 (2013): 161–80.

Films/Videos

• Doctrine of Recovery. Alchemy on Demand and Tribal Alliance Productions, 2022.
  • Description: The “Doctrine of Discovery” is a legal principle originating in the late 1400s that justified the colonization and seizure of lands not occupied by Christians.
• Wolfchild, Sheldon P., Newcomb, Steven T., Weiss, Bill, Akipa, Bryan, Wolfchild, Dakota, Sainte-Marie, Buffy, and Pamela Halverson. The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code. 38 Plus 2 Productions, 2015.   
  • Description: Steven T. Newcomb (Shawnee, Lenape) tells the story of how little-known Vatican documents of the fifteenth century led to the development of the doctrine of discovery. Legal systems in the United States and Canada and elsewhere in the world still use the concept regarding land claims of Native Americans. The film also presents a useful contrast of values and worldviews.

Articles, Books, and Book Chapters

• Maroukis, Thomas Constantine. The Peyote Road: Religious Freedom and the Native American Church. University of Oklahoma Press, 2010.
• Newcomb, Steven T. Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. Golden, CO: Fulcrum, 2008.
• Tinker, George E. Missionary Conquest: the Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide. Fortress Press, 1993.