Christianity in Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson

A Useful Tool to Change the World: Benjamin D. Espinoza’s “The Christian Story and Our Stories: Narrative Pedagogy in Congregational Life”

Native Americans lost their culture once the Spanish made them a part of the mission system. Before European arrival, they were predominantly pagan and had multiple gods or spirits which they worshipped as part of their rituals for successful harvest or hunt. Through the mission system, they underwent baptism through Catholicism and learned to worship only one supreme being and

When most western people think about Native American or African religions there is a certain stigma that comes with the topic. This is in part because there is a lot of misinformation in the world about Native American and African religions. When most westerners think of African religions they think of voodoo and black magic. Likewise, the view of Native American religions is still looked at through the lens of the pilgrims who wrote about Native Americans as being savages and less than human. These stereotypes were all formed from a lack of accurate information. African and Native American religions are very similar. It is difficult to find a lot of accurate information on African and Native American indigenous religions because of the lack of written history but there is a lot of oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation. From this information, it is clear that Native American and African religions have many more similarities than they do differences. Three of these similarities will be discussed in this paper. The first topic of discussion is the similarity between African and Native American people when it comes to their perception of the spirit world. Following this topic are the similarities between Native American and African views on the afterlife and finally, the diversity of beliefs within African and Native American religions.

Spirituality often can be classified to an ultimate or immaterial reality or inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being; or the deepest values and meanings by which people live. This can be true for the aboriginal people, whose concept of spirituality is derived from the concept of the Dreaming, where the roots lie in a variety of stories, ceremonies, values and structures. In the beginning many people held on to what ever they could, holding on to their idea of themselves a connection to the families that they left behind. However, in order to wipe away any thought or lingering feelings “many masks, regalia. And ritual artifacts were confiscated and burned as pagan works of the devil- or simply held and later sold for profit.”[7] This was devastating as many lost whatever connection they had to the outside world, their families and their spirituality. While in residential schools “Children were taught that the beliefs of their

What guidelines establish the divide between the supernatural world with the contemporary world? Eden Robinson’s novel, Monkey Beach, highlights the importance of history and traditions with the concept of supernatural elements viewed as a normality in a society of European culture based definitions of right and wrong. Lisamarie Hill struggles to grasp a gift that allows her to achieve a state of consciousness “Somewhere between waking and sleeping” (Robinson 139) which enables her to contact the spirit world. This talent is seldom appreciated, rather, acknowledging or claiming to communicate with supernatural forces is perceived as a mental illness. Thus, the colonial power excludes indigenous beliefs and silences indigenous voices,

While the Native Americans and the Africans inhabited two different continents, their belief system has a plethora of similarities pertaining to their core values. The basis of their religion also, in some ways, epitomizes modern day religion such as rites of passage. Their differences are shallow in context when it comes to what they view as sacred and holy and including religious rituals that are performed for a specific reason or transformation. Both Native American and African mythologies center around the ideology of harmony, balance, and cyclical nature of all beings through animistic symbolization. To a certain degree, all outsiders or nonnatives who study the belief systems of indigenous religions have found that indigenous religion is more than just a religion or belief system but rather an inherent way of living. To name or label indigenous beliefs as “religion” or any other is to have a bias based on our own views of transformation and ultimacy.

The subsections of the chapter efficaciously organize the information on Native American culture; one section titled Native American Diversity and Complexity briefly overviews the similarities in culture among Native American tribes: “…kin-based bands of hunters and gatherers…economic and social systems were adapted to the ecosystems they inhabited…extremely productive farmers…” These lines indicate that Native American societies were very primitive and shared aspects similar to those of early civilizations. Further in the reading, in the section titled Sacred Power, the author includes some religious facts on the tribes. “Most Native North Americans were animists…their rituals appeased guardian spirits that could ensure successful hunts and other forms of good fortune.” This means that the tribes were most likely religion-based societies. For every important event, such as invading another tribe or going on a hunting trip; the Natives would have a corresponding spirit to appease for good fortune. In addition, the reading also includes some information pertaining to the status of women. “Throughout the eastern woodlands, as in most of North America, women tended crops, gathered plants, and oversaw affairs within the community; while men were responsible for activities beyond it, especially hunting, fishing, and warfare.” This

Most of the human ‘Homo sapiens’ is born into a religion. That religion could be Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Christian or Atheism, etc, a set of beliefs which someone inherits from his family, and till the death, that man will likely stay with his or her religion because almost every human has tendency to be religious. On the other hand, the reality of the religion does not matter to him unless someone conducts any investigation to get to the religious truth. In the essay ‘Homo religiosus,’ Karen Armstrong says that, today’s religious followers accept the religion into which they were born, without doing the hard work required. This means that someone follows his ancestor’s religion from the beginning for his life and he or she is not able to prove his ancestors were wrong because he or she has faith in his own religion. Faith is the main concept of the religion because people have deep faith in their own religion. In addition, faith is nothing but mere fantasy and faith has no basis in reality. Therefore, people have no ability to conduct investigations to find out the religious truth. In addition, elements and places of religion vary from religion to religion. Religion is one of the most prehistoric institutions which have been noticed to practice in any society past and present even in the ancient world where cave paintings were popular. Institutions, like politics and entertainments, have been greatly influenced by the religious faith. The truth of religion might give

Molly related an experience with four Oglala Sioux shamans: "When asked about what was wakan ("holy," "mysterious"), said, 'Every object in the world has a spirit and that spirit is wakan. Thus the spirit[s] of the tree or things of that kind, while not like the spirit of man, are also wakan.' " (2005, p. 41) Believing that each tree has a spirit, each animal is a brother or sister, each rock and hill has a life force would alter your perception of the world. Your feelings toward those things might be changed a bit, knowing that they have as much life in them as you do. Black Elk, a Native American, said, " We should understand well that all things are the works of the Great Spirit. We should know that He is within all things: the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and all the four-legged animals, and the winged peoples." (Goffman, 2005) Whether a tribal culture believed in a Great Spirit, or Mother Earth, or felt that a certain tree held a powerful spirit, many of the native religions worshiped the earth and held it in a highly sacred regard. "To say that nature is full of spirits can be a way of affirming the presence of both a universal life force and an essential, underlying sacredness." (Molly, 2005, p. 41) Molloy continues:

Sacred power (pg 16): Native Americans believed in spiritual powers and the natural world. Spiritual power for men were hunting and war.

Christianity has been around for thousands of years, and the difficulties that Christians have faced have been around just about as long as the religion has existed. There are new difficulties introduced every day that are new or get worse by the modern society’s lack of enthusiasm towards religion in itself, and advances in technology that creates images and ideas that go against the Christian beliefs. Cassie Bernall, for example—she is not a celebrity, a politician, or a well-known public figure, but she is a survivor. Cassie Rene Bernall was viciously murdered in the Columbine High School Shooting in Columbine, Colorado. It was reported at that time that during her attack, one of the shooters asked her if she believed in God as she hid her

Religion is made of briefs and value which is passed on from generation to generation. Native American is not openly discussed. (A Dictionary Patients’ 2011). Native American religion includes a number of practices, ceremonies, and traditions. Native American religion tends to focus around nature.

Since junior high, I have been always interested in science and realism. I was always amazed at the natural phenomena around the world, and I am a kind of person who does not easily trust unless there is a solid proof. I am like Thomas, one of the twelve disciples who refused to believe that Jesus was alive unless he reach out his hand into Jesus’ side (John 20:24-25). I became numb of Christian thinking because I was too obsessed with the tangible reality. Therefore, reading the book “Christian Mind” by Harry Blamires, opened up my eyes to Christian mind.

Shamanism is an old recuperating convention and also, a lifestyle. It is an approach to interface with nature and all of the world's creations. The term shaman originated from the Tungus tribe located in Siberia. Anthropologists authored this term and had utilized it to allude to the otherworldly and formal pioneers among indigenous societies around the world. The word shamanism can be used to depict the old mysterious practices of these native cultures. Naturally, the many similitudes between different customs assumed a part in the constant speculation of the word.

The text defines shamanism as “a human who can make contact with the supernatural on behalf of other people” (Heider, 2007, p 451). In contrast, witchcraft can be described as a person who has “psychic powers that are used for harmful purposes” (Heider, 2007, p 347). By understanding shamanism and being able to identify its attributes, anthropologists can construct a history of shamanism and estimate when this concept emerged. Likewise, they can determine the benefits that shamanism provides to a specific culture, if any, and the role it plays universally. As the text describes, studies of shamanism state that altered states of consciousness could be attributed to hallucinogenic drugs. (Heider, 2007, p 346). Through the continued study of this