Aboriginal
Christianity/Ecological Christianity:
A Church of and for Turtle Island
The Rt. Rev.
Mark MacDonald
First National Indigenous Bishop of Canada
Forum on
Religion and Ecology Newsletter 1.1 (September 2007)
Something New in North
America
The recent installation of
a National Indigenous Anglican Bishop in Canada is significant in many
ways; the most obvious being in the way it re-thinks the relationship
of Christian faith and aboriginal identity and authority. What may not
be so obvious is the way it re-imagines the relationship of a community
of faith with the environment.
Central to the proposal to
develop a truly indigenous American Christianity -- the Gospel of and
for Turtle Island -- is the re-conception of the communion of God and
humanity as essentially a communion between God and Creation. This communion
is conceived as a dynamic ecological relationship between all that is
and the Creator. Humanity plays an important but entirely dependent role
-- dependent upon the integrity of the web of life itself, with Spirit
at the center. It is critical to note that this point of view contradicts
many of the central premises of the missionary efforts of the Western
churches, especially among the indigenous peoples of North America and
around the world.
The Cosmology of the West
The West's view of creation
was and is shaped both by materialistic scientism and economically conceived
individualism. These forces eclipsed the West's own Biblical and theological
roots long ago. As a contemporary and startling example of this eclipse,
consider the Creation Science of Euro-American fundamentalism -- a phenomenon
that reveals more about the pervasiveness of the Western cultural framework
than the more science friendly reworking of theology by the old-line western
churches.
The fundamentalists insist
that their controversial view of both Science and Scripture should be
normative for all institutions in the West; that everyone, including Science,
should endorse their position. Though their old-line counterparts sharply
disagree, there is significant agreement between the two groups. They
are both in total harmony with the basic shape and values of the hidden
Western Cosmology -- materialistic scientism.
The cosmology of the West,
still prevalent in many contemporary mission efforts, was an unchallenged
partner of the colonizing churches. It is significant that after 500 years
of systematic proselytism the rejection of this aspect of the West is
one of the defining characteristics of indigenous spiritual identity and
renewal. This is true even among aboriginal Christians, as the Canadian
developments demonstrate.
As the need to articulate
their own indigenous faith grew, aboriginal communities in the Anglican
Church of Canada began to speak of a need for a National Indigenous Bishop.
Such a Bishop would: 1) Speak for them in the councils of the Church;
2) Interpret and help navigate those councils for Indigenous Peoples;
and 3) Speak for the living relationship that the Indigenous Peoples of
the Americas have with the Land. This third item, which is our focus here,
has two components that are intimately and necessarily related: first,
to give voice to the Land itself and its ecological integrity and, second,
to speak for the living relationship with the Land and aboriginal communities
Aboriginal Christianity/Ecological
Christianity
The appointment of a bishop
is not significant in itself. It is the communal articulation of faith
by indigenous peoples that, in ways that cannot be numbered or predicted,
is an inspiration and challenge. This is especially true for communities
of faith and spirituality that are concerned about the environment. We
are witnessing the emergence of a spiritual community that conceives of
itself theologically and ecologically. This points to a communal spiritual
consciousness different from the churches that operate in a Western cultural
framework. We may look for a spirituality inspired not only by the past
and its traditions, but also by the future, a hope-filled imagining of
what a renewed family of Creation might be.
The living relationship between
humanity and Creation is a defining element of aboriginal identity and
the source of its on-going conflict with the West. As a frequent participant
and observer in the back and forth between aboriginal communities and
Western organizations, I can say that this is one of the most, if not
the most, significant distinctions between them. The Gwich'in, for example,
have had a hard time making the larger society, even environmentalists,
understand their living relationship to the ecological community they
live in. They are saying, quite clearly, that they do not exist in any
meaningful way apart from the ecological community that gave their nation
its birth and sustains it to this day.
As seen in this example, Western
development can often pose human rights issues for the aboriginal nations.
Development can involve the destruction of an ecological community, not
just a restructuring of economic resources. To aboriginal communities,
God or Spirit created this ecological community as an irreducible moral
absolute for humanity. Without this community we don't exist in any way
that can be construed as human. Oxygen may be processed in our lungs,
blood may be pumped in our hearts, but we will be something quite a bit
less than human.
Over time, it has become clear
that many people in the West cannot understand the living relationship
that is involved in the ecological community of life. In aboriginal societies,
this relationship is often spoken of in family terms, underlining its
importance and intimacy. In contrast, though the environment may have
a high value to the West, it appears that humanity can exist apart from
it or that science can create a substitute for it. The destruction of
the environment, however tragic, is not the end of human life, in this
view. The relationship between humanity and eco-system is a mechanical
or chemical exchange, and not a reciprocal one.
Related to the concerns raised
above, is the sharp difference between Western notions of ownership, now
impacting every area of life around the globe, and those of Indigenous
value systems. For the West, everything can be bought and sold -- everything.
In traditional indigenous thought, such conceptions are often treated
as blasphemous, absurd, and destructive. That which is possessed by the
individual is held in trust for the larger community of life. If all share,
there will be enough for all and more; if we hoard, there will never be
enough for anyone. There are things that it is simply not conceivable
to buy or sell -- land, water, air, and life itself.
It is the Western restructuring
of life, especially when phrased in economic terms, which is problematic
to indigenous communities around the world. In the Western cultural framework,
the consequences of environmental demise have been measured in human centered
terms, mostly economic. This is a sharp contrast to the theological, moral,
and eschatological terms that are the basis of Aboriginal cosmology. This
disagreement grows in significance as the environmental crisis reaches
greater levels of danger and urgency. This conflict is, for the aboriginal
nations, more problematic now than at any time since the military battles
of the 19th Century. It is seen not only in disagreement over development
but also in regard to the privatization of resources like water and the
patenting of life and Aboriginal pharmacology by Western commercial interests.
This may come as fresh news
to many, even among environmentalists. Though the Fourth World of the
Indigenous Nations experiences poverty and political disempowerment that
is similar to the Two-Thirds World, their situation is often hidden. First,
they are often found in the shadow of the wealth of nations like Canada,
US, and Australia (a wealth their oppression helped to achieve). Second,
the identification of the Fourth World with the Land also obscures their
reality from cultures that cannot conceive of life in ecological terms.
A Prophetic Challenge
There is, as we have noted
above, much more that can be said regarding these developments among aboriginal
Christians in the Americas. This short piece is far from definitive and,
at best, broadly suggestive. We could have noted, for example, the important
point that aboriginal Christians have achieved this understanding within
an orthodox and Theo-centric theological framework, which may be a surprise
to many observers -- a hopeful surprise given the theological orientation
of many North Americans. They have discovered an unexpected pre-Western
artery of Theo-ecological understanding in the primal elements of Christian
faith.
The developments in the Anglican
Church of Canada are a part of a larger pattern that can be seen in Indigenous
groups around the world. We are witnessing an unprecedented cultural renewal
and renaissance despite, or perhaps, speaking in a prophetic mode, because
of its context in a threatened universal ecology. This pattern has both
moral and ecological significance to all, but especially to people of
faith. There is much here for all to see and understand. Aboriginal peoples
provide a unique and essential prophetic challenge in our world today.
Attention to their situation and struggle, at all levels, should be one
of the highest priorities for us all.
(To
read more about Bishop MacDonald, visit:
http://www.anglican.ca/news/news.php?newsItem=2007-01-04_nibbio.ans)
8
2007 by Mark MacDonald
|