No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
A Reappraisal of the Praying Indians: Acculturation, Conversion, and Identity at Natick, Massachusetts, 1646-1730
... An important aspect of this scientific study, namely acculturation, requires a separate study, in this we agree with Harold W. Van Lonkhuyzen author of the article A Reappraisal of the Praying Indians: Acculturation, Conversion, and Identity at Natick, Massachusetts, 1646-1730(1990. He claims: "The particular endeavor of John Eliot, the most ardent and dedicated of the Puritan missionaries, Natick is in many respects atypical, but because it offers the most extreme case of acculturation, it also offers the best opportunity to examine the conversion phenomenon in process, from the motivations of Eliot's earliest proselytes to the alterations in Indian culture evident by 1730" (Van Lonkhuyzen, 1990). ...
... An important aspect of this scientific study, namely acculturation, requires a separate study, in this we agree with Harold W. Van Lonkhuyzen author of the article A Reappraisal of the Praying Indians: Acculturation, Conversion, and Identity at Natick, Massachusetts, 1646-1730(1990. He claims: "The particular endeavor of John Eliot, the most ardent and dedicated of the Puritan missionaries, Natick is in many respects atypical, but because it offers the most extreme case of acculturation, it also offers the best opportunity to examine the conversion phenomenon in process, from the motivations of Eliot's earliest proselytes to the alterations in Indian culture evident by 1730" (Van Lonkhuyzen, 1990). ...
The article reconstructs the philosophical ideas of the missionary John Eliot, who preached among the indigenous population of North America. The analysis is based on biographical data, which allows one to obtain information about the thinker’s education, and hence about philosophical knowledge. Since the concepts of “philosophy” and “philosopher” are present in this article in a broad sense, this in turn allows us to call the thinker a philosopher and his ideas — philosophical ideas. For this, the following definition of the concept of “philosophy” means as the quintessence of the spiritual culture of humankind, which has connections with the philosophical tradition of Western intellectual culture. On the other hand, the text provides examples of the philosophical ideas of Aristotelianism taught by John Eliot. The article analyzes the books of the thinker, the history of his activities, the main goals and objectives. All this allows us to establish the general picture of the philosophical view of John Eliot.
... Citando la primera epístola a los Corintios, en la que Pablo comenta a Isaías, consideraba inútiles los dones sobrenaturales y las señales milagrosas: en su opinión, la única señal efectiva era la lengua, es decir, la predicación. 30 Por ende, recomendaba a los predicadores estar listos para debatir, pues "los ministros que predican entre los indios deben ser mucho más eruditos que aquellos que se dirigen a los ingleses o a los buenos cristianos, pues [los indios] ponen mu- 28 30 "En otras lenguas y con otros labios hablaré a este pueblo; y ni aun así me oirán, dice el Señor. Así que, las lenguas son por señal, no a los creyentes, sino a los incrédulos." ...
... Citando la primera epístola a los Corintios, en la que Pablo comenta a Isaías, consideraba inútiles los dones sobrenaturales y las señales milagrosas: en su opinión, la única señal efectiva era la lengua, es decir, la predicación. 30 Por ende, recomendaba a los predicadores estar listos para debatir, pues "los ministros que predican entre los indios deben ser mucho más eruditos que aquellos que se dirigen a los ingleses o a los buenos cristianos, pues [los indios] ponen mu- 28 30 "En otras lenguas y con otros labios hablaré a este pueblo; y ni aun así me oirán, dice el Señor. Así que, las lenguas son por señal, no a los creyentes, sino a los incrédulos." ...
Carried away by the same missionary optimism, the Spanish Catholics in Mexico and a small number of Puritans in New England took a similar view of the Amerindian populations they judged worthy of Salvation. In these two countries, two different theologies and, especially, two different ecclesiological structures coming from specific traditions led the missionaries to develop mission strategies that were substantially different. However, not all these contrasts arose from their own culture or their missionary choices. In the circumstances, the different characteristics of the two European colonizations, as well as economic, social and cultural particularities of local societies were prominent factors. Yet, despite different historical and cultural contexts, these two strategies each gave rise to a cultural hodgepodge with amazing similarities.
... There is evidence, however, that from the indigenous perspective 'conversion,' particularly in colonial times, was seen in complex terms, and not always done for purely 'religious' reasons. Conversions were understood as a means of building alliances, both human and supernatural, as well as a subtle strategy to preserve language (and therefore culture) through its adoption in Christian worship and catechetical contexts (Brock, 2000) (Fitznor, 2006:72-3) (Blackburn, 2000) (Neylan, 2003) (Prins, 1996) (Van Lonkhuyzen, 1990. It is not a given that this entailed an abandonment of traditional ways. ...
The construction and effectual application of eco-theology must seriously engage the shadowlands, the places where borders have created inequities and injustice. In this liminal space, many aboriginal peoples have lived as mere shadows in their ancestral lands, marginalised by the nations that have colonized them. When the place of Christianity in a society’s public sphere is in flux, and it finds itself, at times, within the shadowlands, its relationship to other religious traditions, in-cluding Aboriginal worldviews, also encourages changes. What happens to Chris-tianity, particularly eco-theology, when it engages mostly earth-based traditions in this context? These encounters bring to the fore porous borders that have operated consciously or unconsciously in the past and point the way to a new kind of dialogue in the present. We contend that the answer to the above question is a key component in a meaningful eco-theology which finds its context in a pluralist nation. Other key components to be explored extend beyond theology to broader issues: one, of coming to terms with the effects of colonialism and the need to pay attention to trust in order to become effective allies effecting real ecological change; and two, the very practical need Christianity has to find an effective voice if it is not to be completely marginalised in a pluralist, post-colonial context. This article focuses on Christian engagement with Canada’s First Nations and Christian theology. Consideration of the following themes attempts to further a conversation regarding the future of Christian Eco-theology in a post-Colonial, pluralist context where Christianity often finds itself in much the same shadowlands as those who it colonized: the theoretic understandings of porous borders, a metaphor grounded in the porous non-containment of ecosystems themselves, the complex history of Christianity in the Othering of aboriginal peoples legally and geo-politically within Canada, and the contemporary theological implications – particularly in terms of salvation – for Christianity as it attempts to listen respectfully to the ecological insights of a people seeking agency within its own primal traditions, which are at the same time Christian-influenced. doi: 10.7833/111-1-24
... There is evidence, however, that from the indigenous perspective 'conversion,' particularly in colonial times, was seen in complex terms, and not always done for purely 'religious' reasons. Conversions were understood as a means of building alliances, both human and supernatural, as well as a subtle strategy to preserve language (and therefore culture) through its adoption in Christian worship and catechetical contexts (Brock, 2000) (Fitznor, 2006:72-3) (Blackburn, 2000) (Neylan, 2003) (Prins, 1996) (Van Lonkhuyzen, 1990. It is not a given that this entailed an abandonment of traditional ways. ...
The construction and effectual application of eco-theology must seriously engage the shadowlands, the places where borders have created inequities and injustice. In this liminal space, many aboriginal peoples have lived as mere shadows in their ancestral lands, marginalised by the nations that have colonized them. When the place of Christianity in a society’s public sphere is in flux, and it finds itself, at times, within the shadowlands, its relationship to other religious traditions, in-cluding Aboriginal worldviews, also encourages changes. What happens to Chris-tianity, particularly eco-theology, when it engages mostly earth-based traditions in this context? These encounters bring to the fore porous borders that have operated consciously or unconsciously in the past and point the way to a new kind of dialogue in the present. We contend that the answer to the above question is a key component in a meaningful eco-theology which finds its context in a pluralist nation. Other key components to be explored extend beyond theology to broader issues: one, of coming to terms with the effects of colonialism and the need to pay attention to trust in order to become effective allies effecting real ecological change; and two, the very practical need Christianity has to find an effective voice if it is not to be completely marginalised in a pluralist, post-colonial context. This article focuses on Christian engagement with Canada’s First Nations and Christian theology. Consideration of the following themes attempts to further a conversation regarding the future of Christian Eco-theology in a post-Colonial, pluralist context where Christianity often finds itself in much the same shadowlands as those who it colonized: the theoretic understandings of porous borders, a metaphor grounded in the porous non-containment of ecosystems themselves, the complex history of Christianity in the Othering of aboriginal peoples legally and geo-politically within Canada, and the contemporary theological implications – particularly in terms of salvation – for Christianity as it attempts to listen respectfully to the ecological insights of a people seeking agency within its own primal traditions, which are at the same time Christian-influenced.
doi: 10.7833/111-1-24
... However, the motives and practices associated with zoomorphism have remained ignored by consumer culture theorists. Zoomorphism and the use of such images can be witnessed across many cultures, for example, Natick Indians use zoomorphism to strengthen their relationships with animal spirits and prayer rituals (Van Lonkhuyzen, 1990); African tribes wear animal adornments to express transformation and connection through interspecies communication (Lorenz, 1998); and for iconic characters such as Spiderman, zoomorphism allows protagonists to call upon special powers due to a connection with a deeper primal force (Ulbricht, 2005). Apart from using zoomorphism as a projective technique (Woodside, 2008), to our knowledge, there have been no consumer studies on this tendency. ...
Through netnographic inquiry, we explore the practice of zoomorphism by one group of ‘anthromorphs’ – Furries. We identify three interconnected narratives (escape, healing, and power) that members of the Furry subculture deploy to make sense of the world. Exploring these narratives further, we identify why these consumers are drawn to zoomorphism as a means of self-authentication. Building on this, we also identify two ways (constructing a fursuit and engaging in ritualised animalistic behaviour) in which Furries reinforce their communal status through authoritative performances that involves ‘giving oneself to the animal spirit’. To our knowledge, this study represents the first examination of Furry consumer culture, and contributes to our understanding of human–animal relations through insights for anthropomorphism, zoomorphism, and the extended self. Specifically, we identify that Furries draw on an anthropomorphised animal spirit to heal feelings of disconnection with the postmodern world. In contrast to studies on anthropomorphism, consumers draw on animal spirits to define their internal sense of self and operate more effectively within the world.
The book summarises the results of the authors' comparative studies in Chinese philosophy and culture and the philosophy and culture of Indigenous people of North America.
Indian History;Colonial Era;Colonialism;archaeology;linguistics
Indigenous People and the New England Town Meeting : Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1730-1775
In the 1730s, Mahicans along the Housatonic River settled the mission town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. They participated in town meetings and elected “traditional” leaders to typical New England offices. Even after a growing population of English settlers began dominating town offices, the Indians remained a strong presence in meetings, which was conducted in the Mahican as well as English language, and all voting done viva voce. In 1763, a major battle when an English faction tried to take control by introducing secret balloting ; the Indians complained and mostly won their case. Stockbridge thus provides a case study comparing Indian and colonial New England decision-making, and highlighting the evolution of the town meeting during the 18th century.
In 1772, Samson Occom composed what LaVonne Ruoff calls the “first Indian best-seller”: an execution sermon before the hanging of his fellow Christian Mohegan, Moses Paul (62).2 The most famous student of Eleazar Wheelock—a New England preacher turned Indian educator—Occom himself became a missionary, teaching and preaching to Native Americans, and raising significant sums of money on a British tour on behalf of missionary efforts with Native Americans.3 An articulate and persuasive speaker, Occom was successful in ministry and marketing, inspiring jealousy in white colleagues (who worried that his popularity undermined theirs) and generosity for “Wheelock’s Indians” in British audiences (who marveled at the civilized Christian savage). Occom preached over 300 sermons while in England, and raised over twelve thousand pounds. Funded significantly by that revenue, Wheelock’s educational venture in New Hampshire was subsequently transformed into Dartmouth College; its mission of Indian education dissolved. Occom vigorously, angrily, opposed Wheelock in this venture, which he viewed as a violation of the trust of the donors to whom he had appealed, and a betrayal of the Indians for whose education he was concerned.4 Occom’s inadvertent role in the founding of Dartmouth and his sermon vilifying his fellow Indian both for the crime of murder and for drunkenness—a vice he himself had been accused of—are merely the beginnings of the perplexing story of Samson Occom and the New England missionaries.5
Established in 1662, the New England Company introduced the first crown-sponsored initiative for propagating the gospel among the native populations bordering English America. Under the leadership of Robert Boyle, its work influenced royal policy, but awakened contention over the practice of Atlantic colonization and, simultaneously, the making of the Restoration church. This article examines the reception of the Company in England, showing how its architects sought to link the plantation process to the advancement of a global Protestant mission. The ambition drew Company leaders into debates over the reshaping of church institutions on both sides of the Atlantic. In England, the mission became a vehicle for the promotion of Protestant ‘comprehension’, as a bid to unite the different streams of the reformed religion, and widen the fold of the established church. However, the Company was frustrated by the confessional antagonisms that entered into domestic politics. Divisions between congregations thwarted missionary collaboration, and stirred doubts in England and America over the relationship between colonization and the ‘Protestant interest’. The article will identify the conflicts within the Restoration church as a formative factor behind competing ideas of overseas expansion, and a substantial obstacle to the emergence of the Protestant mission as part of the colonizing strategies of the English crown.
https://journals.kent.ac.uk/index.php/transmotion/article/view/113/570
In October 1736, the Mohegan Sachem Benjamin Uncas II caused a public stir by professing Christianity. Instead of reading
this event as a simple “conversion,” this essay resituates this profession of Christianity in the wider social, cultural,
and political contexts of the 1730s, arguing that these contexts are critical for understanding the full ramifications and
motivations for such a public religious affiliation. The two most relevant contexts are bitter sachemship disputes in the
1720s and 1730s and the Mohegan Land Controversy, a drawn-out legal battle over Mohegan land that lasted seventy years. Instead
of mapping onto more traditional religious events—like the First Great Awakening—Ben Uncas II's various religious affiliations
and associations correlate more particularly with these other social upheavals, in part because they garnered transatlantic
attention and the intervention of the British crown.
In recent years, historians have turned their attention to the continued presence of Native Americans living "behind the frontier" in eighteenth-century New England. Where a previous generation of scholars once wrangled over the benignity of seventeenth-century Puritan "praying towns" and equated conversion with cultural suicide, current studies of Native religion in the decades preceding the American Revolution suggest that Indians preserved traditional culture by grafting Christianity onto a preexisting grid of beliefs and practices. A case study based on the writings of a lay missionary and civil magistrate named Josiah Cotton, this essay contributes to revisionist scholarship by examining Native American spirituality under the broader and more inclusive category of popular religion. Most Wampanoag families in New England's "Old Colony" lived between cultures-neither fully integrated into English society nor fully traditional in their identities or worldview. The ambiguities of their colonial situation, in turn, facilitated the emergence of a diverse spectrum of religious beliefs and practices that, at times, transcended racial categories. English settlers consulted Native American shamans and cunning folk; rumors of witchcraft, ghosts, and spirits permeated all ranks of society; and Indians and their white neighbors shared a preoccupation with spiritual healing. A few core families aspired to all the trappings of English life; they internalized Puritan doctrine, engaged in sophisticated devotional routines, and joined local Indian churches. Others continued to live in traditional ways and simply ignored the pastoral labors of regional missionaries. But for the majority of Native Christians who lived and worked side-by-side with their English neighbors, religion remained an eclectic affair as they deployed a variety of spiritual resources to combat the vicissitudes and uncertainties of everyday life.
This article explores the development of native Christianity in the mid-eighteenth century at the site of a Moravian mission in the Mahican village of Shekomeko. Two native women, baptized Sarah and Rachel, appear prominently in the vast mission records, providing a unique opportunity to study the gendered meanings of Christian ritual for native women. Combining the techniques and insights of ethnohistory and recent scholarship on "lived religion," this article examines the implications of a century of colonial encounter on Mahican culture and the meanings infused in Christian ritual by native practitioners within this context of dramatic culture change. Focusing on the lives of these two women, this article examines the development of native interpretations of Christianity by exploring the overlap and the divergences between Moravian and Mahican understandings of Christian ritual. It was in the performance of these rituals that many Shekomekoans engaged in the process of forming a new identity that they hoped might carry them through the severe trials of colonization. By exploring the meanings of these rituals for both Moravian and Mahican, this article attempts to enrich and complicate our understanding of the process of cultural and religious negotiation and adaptation undertaken in mission communities. Further, this study offers a ground level perspective on Indian encounters with Christianity that has rarely been possible for this time period. Finally, the often intensely personal and affecting nature of those sources representing Mahican sentiments allows for a more complex and personalized understanding of Indian responses to Christianity.
In an early-eighteenth-century legal contest on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, an Indian leader, Jacob Seeknout, appealed a ruling that under-mined his political authority. Seeknout's lawyer, Benjamin Hawes, crafted an argument that intertwined the sexual legitimacy of Seeknout's ancestors with his political legitimacy; at the same time, Hawes also linked Indians’collective chastity as a “nation” to their sovereign status. This paper examines the economic, religious, criminal, and historical contexts of this argument, exploring the history of Indians’conjugal practices and their reinvention as the criminal acts of fornication. The case illustrates some of the diverse sources of early American law, links between these legal structures and colonialism, and the importance for scholars of attending to the local level in exploring the power of colonial law to shape new racial identities.
The article considers the importance of frontier studies in historical archaeology and discusses applicability of some of
the concepts deriving from postcolonial theories for a better understanding of human relationships in the frontier zones.
The conditions of frontiers and borderlands are compared with the characteristics of the “Third Space” described by Homi Bhabha
as a realm of negotiation, translation and remaking. It is argued that concepts developed in postcolonial theories, such as
“Third Space,” “in-betweeness” or hybridity, are useful not only to address cultural and social processes in borderlands that
were created by colonial empires. They are also an apt way to conceptualize relationships in frontiers that lacked colonial
stigma. To illustrate this point, two different historical examples of borderlands are scrutinized in this paper: the medieval
frontier region that emerged between Denmark and the Northwestern Slavic area and the creation of the colonial frontier in
Northeastern America through the establishment of the Praying Indian Towns.
KeywordsFrontiers and borderlands-Third Space-Medieval Danish–Slavic frontier-Praying Indian Towns
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.