A Native View of Religion: Initial Thoughts on Spatiality
Theological studies, Pentecostally and interlinguistically understood, must be an intercultural, constructive project. I am not a good singer, and I cannot stand hearing the sound of my own voice when I have to belt out a tune at church. Most of what passes as “theology” today is nothing more than regurgitation of the past, footnotes and all.
Vine Deloria Jr.‘s classic, God Is Red: A Native View of Religion presented a shock from the introduction and first chapter. This wasn’t going to be a safe, uncritical appropriation of liberation theology that I was expecting. An eye-opening quote in the first few pages, something that will be central to my reading of Deloria Jr. as well as his theology:
“Space, as defined by in this book, is determinative of the way that we experience things. Time is subservient to it [space] because to have time, there must be a measurable distance to travel during which time can pass” (page xvii)
Chapter 1, “The Indian Movement” provided several historical events during the 1960s and 1970s (this book was published in 1973); whether it was the activism of the American Indian Movement, or white persons, in the name of “archaeology” digging up sacred graves of Native persons, or violations of Indian fishing rights. In each instance, the places that the Native Americans deemed sacred were made profane.
This chapter is making me re-think God’s eternality. What does it mean for God to be both eternal and at the same time, living and active within time in the here and now? In the book of Acts, the apostle say that God does not need a temple created by the hands of the man, but Paul’s letters testify that the human body is the sacred temple of YHWH. Even prior to creation, at least in the Christian imagination, God is emplaced on God’s throne, making divine decrees and what not. Whenever religious thinkers talk about context, they more likely are referring to TIME, rather than PLACE. To avoid talking about the spaces one inhabits is to really be residing in a privileged position. I think this goes with my criticism of Moltmann, at least the early variety Theology of Hope writer, who discusses only about the future without any notion of place–leaving his vision utopian at best.
This is why it is very important that theologians start talking about spatiality and the places that we find ourselves in; that way we can learn from the sins of the past, and strive towards a future where we respect all sacred spaces, including the human body.
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