The Invention of God in Indigenous Societies [Paperback]

Indigenous societies around the world have been historically disparaged by European explorers, colonial officials and Christian missionaries. Nowhere was this more evident than in early descriptions of indigenous religions as savage, primitive, superstitious and fetishistic.

Liberal intellectuals, both indigenous and colonial, reacted to this by claiming that, before indigenous peoples ever encountered Europeans, they all believed in a Supreme Being. The Invention of God in Indigenous Societiesargues that, by alleging that God can be located at the core of pre-Christian cultures, this claim effectively invents a tradition which only makes sense theologically if God has never left himself without a witness.

Examining a range of indigenous religions from North America, Africa and Australasia - the Shona of Zimbabwe, the Rainbow Spirit Theology in Australia, the Yupiit of Alaska, and the M
ori of New Zealand  the book argues that the interests of indigenous societies are best served by carefully describing their religious beliefs and practices using historical and phenomenological methods  just as would be done in the study of any world religion.

Preface
1. The God Controversy in Pre-Christian Indigenous Religions
2. Making Mwari Christian: The Shona of Zimbabwe
3. How God Became Australian: Transforming the Rainbow Serpent into the Rainbow Spirit
4. The Alaskan Exception: The Person of the Universe and Christian Neglect
5. The Debate over Io as the Pre-Christian M
ori Supreme Being
6. Indigenising God: The Conflict between Fact and Value
Bibliography
Index

Cox's insightful study of the concept of the 'high god' in four indigenous cultures, and its complex relationship with Christian missionary preaching of the Biblical God, is a major scholarly achievement.  Carole M. Cusack, University of Sydlƒ&