For This Land Writings on Religion in America

James Treat -- Introduction: An American Critique of Religion I. WHITE CHURCH, RED POWER 1. Missionaries and the Religious Vacuum (1969) 2. The Theological Dimension of the Indian Protest Movement (1973) 3. Religion and Revolution Among American Indians (1974) 4. Non-Violence in American Society (1974) 5. The Churches and Cultural Change (1974) 6. GCSP: The Demons at Work (1979) II. LIBERATING THEOLOGY 7. A Violated Covenant (1971) 8. An Open Letter to the Heads of the Christian Churches in America (1972) 9. It Is a Good Day to Die (1972) 10. Escaping From Bankruptcy: The Future of the Theological Task (1976) 11. On Liberation (1977) 12. Vision and Community (1990) III. WORLDVIEWS IN COLLISION 13. Religion and the Modern American Indian (1974) 14. Native American Spirituality (1977) 15. Civilization and Isolation (1978) 16. Christianity and Indigenous Religion: Friends or Enemies? (1987) IV. HABITS OF THE STATE 17. Completing the Theological Circle: Civil Religion in America (1976) 18. American Indians and the Moral Community (1988) 19. A Simple Question of Humanity: The Moral Dimensions of the Reburial Issue (1989) 20. Sacred Lands and Religious Freedom (1991) 21. Worshipping the Golden Calf: Freedom of Religion in Scalia's America (1991) 22. Secularism, Civil Religion, and the Religious Freedom of American Indians (1992) V. OLD WAYS IN A NEW WORLD 23. Introduction to Black Elk Speaks (1979) 24. The Coming of the People(1979) 25. Out of Chaos (1985) 26. Reflection and Revelation: Knowing Land, Places and Ourselves (1991) 27. Is Religion Possible? An Evaluation of Present Efforts to Revive Traditional Tribal Religions (1992) 28. Introduction to Vision Quest (1994) Vine Deloria, Jr. --Afterword: Contemporary Confusion and the Prospective Religious Life Appendix 1: The Missionary in a Cultural Trap (1965) Appendix 2: From the Archives: December 2, 1504 Bibliography

Biography

Vine Deloria, Jr., a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota and former director of the National Congress of American Indians, is Professor of History at the University of Colorado. He is the author of numerous books, including Red Earth, White Lies (1995), God is Red (1973), and Custer Died for your Sins (1969).James Treatteaches in the Honors College at the University of Oklahoma. He edited Native and Christian: Indigenous Voices on Religious Identity in the United States and Canada, also published by Routledge.

"[Deloria's] insider-outsider position, and his forceful and knowledgeable advocacy of tribal religion, create a prophetic voice in the current analysis of religion in the public square." -- William A. Durbin, New Theology Review
"For This Land, a compilation of 28 essays written during the thirty years from the 1960s to the 1990s, further displays the depth and breadth of Deloria's command of eppistemological issues. In this volume, he again brings an insightful perspective, sharp criticism, and wit to the study of the role that Christian churches... have played in oppressing Native religious beliefs... This volume is well worth careful study. It should not only spark useful discussion and debate among researchers, teachers, and students, but also rpovide guidelines for the work of activists and policymakers. Simply put, anyone concerned with the connections between religion (or spirituality) and politics at the dawn of the twenty-first century will want to read For This Land." -- Stephen Greymorning, Transforming Anthropology
"No American Indian writer has critiqued American society with as much bite and insight and, sometimes, anger as Vine Deloria Jr." -- Salt Lake City Tribune
"Nowhere in this collection does Deloria show restraint in his analysis, which is the principal stylistic trait readers will either admire or denounce. Deloria is not afraid to have an opinion and to express it strongly." -- Salt Lake City Tribune
"Filled with so much wonderful outrage." -- Salt Lake City Tribune
"Deloria, because of the depth of his passion, remains one of the most stirring and articulate voices in America today." -- Salt Lake City Tribune
"This anthology contains a selection of his writings on religious topics, originally published between 1965 and 994, in which Deloria describes a number of issues related to American Indian religion and interactions with Christianity. It also provides a good overview of Deloria's religious philosophy and gives some insight into the evolution of his religious views over time." -- Library Journal
"Deloria offters a distinctive approach to comprehending the meaning of human existence, giving voice to an intellectual passion calling into question our controversial religious institutions, commitments, world views, freedoms and experiences." -- The Bookwatch
"Deloria gathers in the collection of essays from 1965 to 1995 his most forthright reflection and writing on American religion, nicely divided into five sections examining such topics as "The Theological Dimension of the Indian Protest Movement," "Religion and the Modern American Indian," "Sacred Lands and Religious Freedom," and "Is Religion Possible?: An Evaluation of Present Efforts to Revive Traditional Tribal Religions." In his afterword to this volume, Deloria declares that the "old mainstream churches have hardly any relevancy for our time..Deloria's forceful and important essays deserve a wide reading." -- Publishers Weekly
"Deloria, because of the depth of his passion, remains one of the most stirring and articulate voices in America today." -- Salt Lake City Tribune
"Though controversial, Deloria's writings have challenged continually the ways that religious thinkers understand the relationship between the practices of American religion native and imported...Deloria's forceful and important essays deserve wide reading." -- Publishers Weekly
"Thirty years' worth of Deloria's essays on religion and Native American life, thoughtfully edited and presented.. ..A forceful and clear-sighted anthology." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Vine Deloria, Jr. is one of this country's most brilliant thinkers, a philosopher with a heart for justice. These essays collected here prove it. We are reminded of the turbulent years we have labored as Indian peoples to continue to grow societies that maintain integrity, courage, delight and compassion despite the insane spin of destruction. The early essays are strikingly as current as the more recent works, and the entire collection could be interpreted as a map, showing where we have been, where we are going and the manner in which we have traveled." -- Joy Harjo, poet, musician, and author of The Woman Who Fell From The Sky
"For This Land makes available to a wide audience the articulate, wise, sometimes harsh reflections of Vine Deloria about America, Christianity, and, above all, the tribal traditions of native Americans. If European settlers in the Americas are ever to be more than nomadic vandals it will be because we have heard voices like Deloria's calling us not just to respect our environment but to build genuine communities in which respect for the land and respect for each other are mutually reinforcing." -- Robert N. Bellah, author of The Good Society and co-author of Habits of the Heart
"This is a book that every American should read, especially Christians, educators and students of religion. Vine Deloria is one of the great interpreters of religion in America. If one can remain a Christian after reading this book, he/she might be a pretty good one." -- James Cone, Union Theological Seminary
"Competently edited and introduced by University of New Mexico American Studies Professor James Treat, the volume fills a substantial hole in popular record of [Vine] Deloria's thought and scholarship, rendering some of his most important short works readily available for the first time.
Surely this is an effort deserving of a place on every bookshelf in the land." -- Ward Churchill, University of Colorado at Boulder Journal of the American Academy of Religion
"For This Land, a compilation of 28 essays written during the thirty years from the 1960s to the 1990s, further displays the depth and breadth of Deloria's command of eppistemological issues. In this volume, he again brings an insightful perspective, sharp criticism, and wit to the study of the role that Christian churches... have played in oppressing Native religious beliefs... This volume is well worth careful study. It should not only spark useful discussion and debate among researchers, teachers, and students, but also rpovide guidelines for the work of activists and policymakers. Simply put, anyone concerned with the connections between religion (or spirituality) and politics at the dawn of the twenty-first century will want to read For This Land." -- Stephen Greymorning, Transforming Anthropology