Aboriginal Spirituality and Biblical Theology: Closer Than You Think

Thomas S. Abler is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo and the author of A Canadian Indian Bibliography, 1960-1970.

John W. Friesen, a professor in the education faculty at the University
of Calgary, served for 14 years as Minister of the Morley United Church
on the Stoney Indian Reserve in Alberta. This experience, coupled with
three decades of research on the history of the First Nations and Métis
of the North American plains, has led him to offer this comparative
study of religious thought and practices of Native North Americans and
the Christian church.

Friesen argues that both Native North Americans and “Old Testament
Hebrews” were “tribal” peoples and that the Christian Bible
reflects these origins. Thus, he finds significant many parallels
between biblical passages and religious practices among First Nations
peoples. For example, he sees resemblances between North American deluge
myths and the story of Noah; between the Ark of the Covenant and Plains
Indian medicine bundles; and between the role of Christ as the
incarnation of God on earth and the roles played by Glooscap in Micmac
traditions or Nanabush in Ojibway traditions.

Whether the uniformity that the author sees in Native North American
spirituality existed or exists is open to debate. While he recognizes
diversity in culture and lifestyle among North American aboriginal
peoples, Friesen asserts that “the basic theological system to which
they all subscribed was fundamentally tribal.” He also, in this
reviewer’s opinion, overestimates the importance of clans generally
and matrilineality, in particular in aboriginal North America.

Friesen certainly deserves praise for the sympathy and empathy he
expresses for aboriginal religious beliefs. His goal for a more open and
tolerant appreciation of their teachings is admirable, and this work may
well inspire others to delve more deeply into that topic.