Pagans Rewriting the Bible: Heterodoxy and the Representation of Spirituality in Native American Literature By Kimberly Blaeser

https://www.academia.edu/72733233/Pagans_Rewriting_the_Bible_Heterodoxy_and_the_Representation_of_Spirituality_in_Native_American_Literature?rhid=37247787477&swp=rr-rw-wc-1469396&nav_from=b457746d-693c-40cd-b3f2-96c483e244dd A i l s A. LAVONNE RUOKF has noted, "[b]ecause sacred oral literature is so closely interwoven into the fabric of traditional Indian religious life, it is difficult to distinguish between literature and religion" (141-42). This fabric of religious and spiritual thought informs not only traditional Native American literatures, oral and written, but the majority of contemporary written literature as well. Many works have devoted themselves to characterizing Native American belief systems and religious practices and/or to comparing those beliefs and practices to Christian teachings.1 This essay explores the way the religious debate has informed contemporary Native American literature and examines the spiritual vision embedded in those literary texts. Columbus declared that the indigenous people of the Americas might "easily be made Christians" because they "belonged to no religion" (34). The work of contemporary Native American writers suggest that he was perhaps more accurate than we have given him credit for, accurate, that, is in believing native peoples "belonged to no religion." For the vision in much Native literature is a vision neither of orthodox religion nor one of heresywhich, after all, still gives homage through its opposition to that enshrined structure, but a heterodoxical and spiritual vision, one which resists dogma on basic principle.2 The spiritual vision is one of "response-ability," one of being responsible by being engaged in life processes. This spiritual principle recognizes that we are implicated in the actions of the universe. Human beings as depicted in Native American literature are not seated in some ...