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Honouring the Declaration : church commitments to reconciliation and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

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  • Author: Schweitzer, Don
    Contributor: Gareau, Paul L.
    Date:
    Created
    2021
    Summary:

    How can churches carry out their commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Honouring the Declaration provides academic resources to help The United Church of Canada and other Canadian denominations enact their commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and offers a framework for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. Featuring essays from scholars working from a range of disciplines, including religious studies, Indigenous legal studies, Christian theology and ethics, Biblical studies, Indigenous educational leadership within the United Church, and social activism, the collection includes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices, all of whom respond meaningfully to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action. The texts explore some of the challenges that accepting the UN Declaration as a framework poses to the United Church, and other Canadian denominations, and provides academic reflection on how these challenges can be met. These reflections include concrete proposals for steps that Canadian denominations and their seminaries need to take in light of their commitment to the Declaration, a survey of the pitfalls that need to be avoided on the way, a study of a past attempt of the United Church to be in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, and discussions of ethical concepts and theological doctrines that can empower and guide the church in living out this commitment. Don Schweitzer is McDougald Professor of Theology at St. Andrew's College, Saskatoon, and an ordained member of the United Church of Canada. Paul L. Gareau is Métis and French-Canadian from St. Isidore-de-Bellevue near Batoche, Saskatchewan. He is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta.

    Contents:
    • Introduction / Sandra Beardsall, Sa'ke'j Henderson, and Don Schweitzer
    • The indigenous imperative: the role of seminaries in the realization of reconciliation and indigenizing / Sa'ke'j Henderson
    • What to do with all these Canaanites?: a settler-Canadian reading of biblical conquest stories / Christine Mitchell
    • Restructured feelings: pitfalls of settler-Christian turns to education / Lynn Caldwell
    • The Declaration and the indigenous ministries of the United Church of Canada / Adrian Jacobs, Keeper of the Circle, Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre
    • "Not alone in this struggle for justice": Project North and the United Church of Canada, 1975-87 / Sandra Beardsall
    • Storied places and sacred relations: Métis density, lifeways, and indigenous rights in the Declaration / Paul L. Gareau
    • The power and practise of indigenous Christian rituals and ceremonies / HyeRan Kim-Cragg
    • Justification by grace as a spiritual resource: non-indigenous Christians adopting the Declaration as the framework for reconciliation with indigenous peoples in Canada / Don Schweitzer
    • The Declaration and the common good / Jennifer Janzen-Ball
    • Working from the heart: considering reconciliation/Minwastamātowin through the lenses of Miýo-Wāhkōtowin, Miýo-Pimātisiwin, and gender / Iskwewuk E-wichiwitochik/Women Walking Together
    • Afterword / Sa'ke'j Henderson and Don Schweitzer.
    Original Publisher: Regina, Saskatchewan, University of Regina Press
    Language(s): English
    ISBN: 9780889778351
    Collection(s)/Series: Prairie Indigenous Ebook Collection