Indigenous North American Interpretations of Christian Scripture

“A pair of Indigenous North American biblical scholars embark on a journey to interview Indigenous elders across North America about their interpretations of the Bible in order to celebrate and make more accessible the distinctive contribution of Native American readings of Christian scripture, theology and lifeways to the Church. ”

Team Members/Contributors

Thomas Christopher Hoklotubbe Cornell College Contact Me
Danny Zacharias Acadia Divinity College Contact Me

About this project grant for researchers

New Testament scholars, T. Christopher Hoklotubbe (Choctaw, United States) and H. Daniel Zacharias (Cree, Canada), seek to interview recognized Indigneous theologians, ministers, and elders about how their Indigenous culture, including their experiences, lifeways, stories, and tribal history, inform their interpretations of biblical texts. We begin with the assumption that the Creator has revealed Godself to Indigenous people long before European colonizers and missionaries so poorly introduced the Bible to North America. Contemporary Indigenous Christians sometimes wrestle with not only how to decolonize their minds and theology, but how to bring the divine revelation manifest in Jesus Christ into conversation with the revelation the Creator has already given them in their ancient traditions. Hoklotubbe and Zacharias will travel to reservations and urban centers to meet with contacts and their contacts’ networks to interview about fifty Indigneous leaders across the United States and Canada about their interpretative practices. This project represents the first critical step in Hoklotubbe’s and Zacharias’ larger project of bringing Indigenous interpretations of Scripture into conversation with biblical scholarship, thus advancing the position of Indigenous North American readings of Scripture within both the academy, but more importantly, within the Indigenous churches and the broader Christian community.