God Is Red: A Native View of Religion
by Jr. Vine Deloria
On This Page
Description
First published in 1973, Vine Deloria, Jr.' s "God Is Red" remains the seminal work on Native American religious views, asking the reader to think about our species and our ultimate fate in novel ways. Celebrating five decades of publication with this new edition, Deloria' s classic work reminds us to understand " that we are a part of nature, not a transcendent species with no responsibilities to the natural world." It is time again to listen to Vine Deloria, Jr.' s powerful voice, show more informing us about a spiritual life that is independent of Western religion and that reveres the interconnectedness of all living things. This new edition includes critical essays engaging with the original material by well-known Indigenous thinkers-Philip Deloria, Suzan Shown Harjo, Daniel Wildcat, and David E. Wilkins. Inside, the book covers a wide variety of topics including: The problem of creation The origin of religion Death and religion Human personality. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
Member Reviews
A thought-provoking book that provides some good insight into Native Indian perspectives and opinions. However, I don't like his double-standard of Christianity and native religions--that Native religions CAN=culture, while it's a failure of Christianity if IT doesn't reflect culture? He also accuses many non-Indians of idealizing about historical Indian society, but then he does the very same thing!! In talking about Native American religion, he waxes romantic about how things used to be, even though, now, their religious communities have deteriorated too. Thirdly, he maintains that whites, or non-Indians, can't understand what it's like to feel tied to the land ... but many families in the U.S. DO stay in one place, DO feel very show more connected to, responsible for, and connected with the land they've lived on for generations. To keep this short, he's guilty of the same ego-centrism and nostalgia that he criticizes Christians for.
Not that I'm Christian. In fact, I liked his critique of American Christian society, I truly did. He was right on target, obviously knows what he's talking about. I wish more people would read this book who needed to--I didn't. show less
Not that I'm Christian. In fact, I liked his critique of American Christian society, I truly did. He was right on target, obviously knows what he's talking about. I wish more people would read this book who needed to--I didn't. show less
I serve as the pastor of a Christian church within the Reformed tradition that has been on a Native American reservation for a bit over 100 years. I've served here three years and in that time I have continually tried to learn and understand Native American spirituality in general terms, and more specifically to answer this question: how does Native American spirituality understand and relate to God? As I have sought an answer one thing I have learned is that there does not appear to be a uniform and/or coherent understanding of Native American spirituality, either within my particular setting or more broadly through the larger Native American community. So I was excited and encouraged when I stumbled across God is Red, by Vine Deloria, show more who intended to present a Native view of religion.
Deloria was legendary as a voice for Native Americans, particularly as he was an academic and had both access to and credibility with the powers that be politically and culturally. Son and grandson of Episcopal priest and possessing a graduate degree from a Lutheran seminary he had at one time intended on entering vocational Christian ministry himself. With these credentials perhaps my expectations were too high, for ultimately God is Red was unable to answer those questions that I find to be fundamental for understanding Native American spirituality.
What I did learn is that Deloria appears to have an axe to grind with Christianity. He purports to present both sides of a number of spiritual issues, i.e. a Native side and a Christian side. Time and again the Native side is held out as superior, although with little actual substance as to why. And the Christian side, seen from my particular vantage point, is misrepresented. For a man of Deloria's background in Christianity, i.e. growing up in a Christian home and obtaining a graduate theological degree, he demonstrates a poor and circumscribed understanding of Christian theology and doctrine.
While he doesn't explicitly say so it would appear from his writing that he rejected Christianity as his own spiritual position. As a pastor I would love to know why that happened and to understand what he replaced it with. If he had written a spiritual memoir perhaps I would have gained the understanding I am still looking for: How do people following tradition Native practices understand and relate to God? In the end God is Red is not so much "A Native view of religion" as it is Deloria's conclusions about Christianity. show less
Deloria was legendary as a voice for Native Americans, particularly as he was an academic and had both access to and credibility with the powers that be politically and culturally. Son and grandson of Episcopal priest and possessing a graduate degree from a Lutheran seminary he had at one time intended on entering vocational Christian ministry himself. With these credentials perhaps my expectations were too high, for ultimately God is Red was unable to answer those questions that I find to be fundamental for understanding Native American spirituality.
What I did learn is that Deloria appears to have an axe to grind with Christianity. He purports to present both sides of a number of spiritual issues, i.e. a Native side and a Christian side. Time and again the Native side is held out as superior, although with little actual substance as to why. And the Christian side, seen from my particular vantage point, is misrepresented. For a man of Deloria's background in Christianity, i.e. growing up in a Christian home and obtaining a graduate theological degree, he demonstrates a poor and circumscribed understanding of Christian theology and doctrine.
While he doesn't explicitly say so it would appear from his writing that he rejected Christianity as his own spiritual position. As a pastor I would love to know why that happened and to understand what he replaced it with. If he had written a spiritual memoir perhaps I would have gained the understanding I am still looking for: How do people following tradition Native practices understand and relate to God? In the end God is Red is not so much "A Native view of religion" as it is Deloria's conclusions about Christianity. show less
Really solid *except for* the stuff on Velikovsky and ancient aliens, especially when the point could've been made without recourse to any of it. I'm wondering if said material was addressed differently in the edition that followed this one.
It helped that I read this while visiting the west and native American cultural centers! Great explanation of native American spirituality, how they believe you cannot have a religion without a shared culture. Gives understanding and credibility to the Mormons and the Jewish cultures. Also describes their religion as circular as opposed to vertical as Christianity is. I would love to have read this for discussion.
This was an interesting and insightful book. It raised a lot of intriguing questions, even if I didn't always agree with his conclusions. However, I found the book very dense which made it a struggle to get through at times. Overall, I would recommend it to anyone interested in religion or philosophy.
This author does an excellent job at analyzing the fundamental differences of "tribal vs. christianity". I enjoyed how he made his observations based on viewing both philosophies from a cultural perspective, rather than a question of "doctrinal validity". Because let's face it, if your not in either religion, then the "validity" doesn't matter. That's the whole point.....
Deloria tries to convey the basic differences in religious outlook between native beliefs and practices and those of Christianity.
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Indigenous America Reader
145 works; 12 members
Diverse Reading Challenge 2020
31 works; 1 member
GraceCollection TBR/To Buy List
106 works; 1 member
Author Information
39+ Works 4,639 Members
Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933-2005) was born and raised in South Dakota, the son and grandson of Dakota Sioux Indian leaders. In 1965, he began serving as the Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians, and worked tirelessly to mobilize Indian people toward effective participation in the American political process. A noted scholar show more of American Indian legal, political and religious studies, he is the author of numerous works, including the 1969 bestseller Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, God is Red (1973) and The Metaphysics of Modern Existence (1979). show less
Some Editions
Work Relationships
Has as a student's study guide
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- God Is Red: A Native View of Religion
- Original title
- God Is Red
- Original publication date
- 1973
- First words
- Until 1890, American Indians played a critically important role in American domestic affairs, symbolizing the vast wilderness and frontier that Americans wished to tame. From the 1890s until the 1960s Indians were truly the ... (show all)“Vanishing Americans” and most people believed that the tribes had largely been exterminated. There were token Indians present at Columbus Day and Thanksgiving celebrations and some Indian women sitting at the Santa Fe railroad stations selling pottery, but for most Americans Indians had ceased to exist.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Who will find peace with the lands? The future of humankind lies waiting for those who will come to understand their lives and take up their responsibilities to all living things. Who will listen to the trees, the animals and birds, the voices of the places of the land? As the long-forgotten peoples of the respective continents rise and begin to reclaim their ancient heritage, they will discover the meaning of the lands of their ancestors. That is when the invaders of the North American continent will finally discover that for this land, God is red.
Classifications
- Genres
- Religion & Spirituality, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, History, Philosophy
- DDC/MDS
- 299.7 — Religion Other religions Shintoism/Taoism/Other Mythologies Of North American Origin
- LCC
- BL2776 .D44 — Philosophy, Psychology and Religion Religions. Mythology. Rationalism Religions. Mythology. Rationalism Rationalism
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 1,149
- Popularity
- 22,001
- Reviews
- 15
- Rating
- (3.96)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 19
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 14