Native American Christianities Michael D. McNally takes an in
depth look at a largely unexplored subject - Native American
Christianity. BY: Michael D. McNally The Practices of Native
American Christianities Only recently have scholars begun to
traverse the disciplinary boundaries that have prevented their
fuller apprehension of the wide range and complex texture of the
practices and theologies of Native American Christians.
Specialists of indigenous religions largely have left the story
of Native Christianity to missions historians. Historians of
missions, in turn, lacking the linguistic and ethnographic
training to otherwise interpret the subtleties, have understood
Native Christianity largely as the straightforward product of
missionary intentions and efforts. But this has begun to change.
Informed by a number of important recent studies, I aim in this
essay to examine whatNative communities have variously done with
the Christianity presented by missionaries. How they improvised
locally on the missionary t