While an extraordinary amount of financial capital and human effort has been invested over the years to harvest the indigenous mission-fields of the world, it often came at the cost of a Gospel narrative that was never appropriately contextualized or satisfactorily comprehended by its intended audience. And while Christian missionaries have defended historical approaches of conveying the Gospel, in cultural isolation the result has often been at the expense of biblical relevancy. This is a tragedy, as those same people often had a prophetic tradition of a future redeemer themselves; a fact which is perhaps more true of aboriginal peoples than that of any other. In addition, the ethnocentric patronizing of these same peoples as being primitive or “uncivilized” as the case may be, left little room for theological discussion, much less collaboration between the deliverer of The Good News and their respective audience. This too is unfortunate, as the linguistic composition of many indigenous languages were often highly developed and expressive of a spiritual cosmology much older and far more complex than that of any European nation. And this issue continues to have some relevance, as the complexity of the indigenous worldview has often left translators at a loss for words, literally. Ironically, in the process the church has become the victim of its own conceit, as in its complicity in the destruction of many of the world’s earliest languages it systematically eliminated the indigenous knowledge base that was essential for the Gospel’s cultural retransmission. Not only was this a loss for human knowledge, but it severely impeded the spread of the Gospel throughout indigenous communities, as Natives were effectively deprived of the only means at their command for fulfilling the Great Commission; that of their own languages.
As a result, what little remains of these languages are now almost entirely devoid of any previous theological context, which at one time was predominant due to the extraordinary supernatural composition of their worldview. Yet, contrary to that bleak synopsis there have exceptions. Not only did Father Veniaminov of the early Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska undertake the herculean task of biblical translation into a number of Alaska Native dialects, but The Church of England, in Canada, followed suit; appointing Archdeacon Robert McDonald, a mixed-blood Ojibwa, to Fort McPherson, Yukon Territory in the year 1862. McDonald then, with the assistance of certain Kutchin leaders, set about developing a phonetic language called Takud’h, with which he translated not only the Holy Bible, but The Book of Common Prayer and the Hymnal as well. “The Takud’h Bible,” as it came to be known, has been recognized as not only as a gem among biblical translations, but unique; in that it reads with an uncommon clarity and nuance rarely encountered, from the perspective of an ancient and deeply spiritual people. And, as I have been privy to turn those pages, and understand, I can say that it presents The Holy Writ in an altogether different light, with passages so illuminated as to be rendered in living color, rather than the black and white of the printed page.
While Vitus Bering’s exploration of Alaska in 1741-1742 served to usher in the Russian fur trade (1764-1799), the eventual establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1794, helped to underline the fact that Alaska was not only central to Imperial ambitions, but geopolitically strategic. The Alaska Purchase of 1867 not only helped to cement that fact, but situated Alaska as a point of reference in the public imagination. At the same time, it served to mobilize the American Christian church, as it was then made aware of the fact that Alaska not only existed, but remained an untouched mission-field, which in turn provided a natural corridor to the untouched mission, and economic fields, of East Asia. Although Russian Orthodoxy was already well established by the time of the Alaska Purchase, and with good effect, it wasn’t until the arrival of Sheldon Jackson in 1877 that the Protestant mission began in earnest. Authorized by the US government as the Christian Territorial Representative of Alaska, Jackson, as a Presbyterian minister and Christian overseer, wasted little time in unleashing the beast of Christian prerogative to “save the poor savage.” In the process, Jackson became not only instrumental in establishing various churches, schools, and hospitals throughout the region, but infamous for his institutional process of “deliberate acculturation”, or forced assimilation as it became known. Based upon the misguided premise that capitalist ideology was a necessary prerequisite for the salvation of Native peoples, Jackson, as well as many other of the well intended, engaged in questionable practices to scrub clean the heathen, so that a Christian capitalist utopia might be established in Alaska.
Consequently, in 1885 Jackson authorized the subdivision of Alaskan territory into various geographical regions for those denominations already present, namely Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Moravian, Friends, and The Episcopal Church. Although the latter had established earlier, representative congregations along the lower Yukon, the Arctic Coast and Point Hope as early as 1879, the Church of England had preceded their arrival, already having an established presence along the upper Yukon as early as 1847, at the Athabaskan village of Tanana and the Hudson Bay Post of Ft. Yukon. Yet, it wasn’t until the arrival of Episcopal Bishop Rowe in 1895, and the resolution of the “Territorial Boundary Dispute” between Canada and Alaska, that the Episcopal Church replaced the Anglican presence in that region. While the Church of England had become well known for its earlier initiative among the Gwich’in in the Yukon Territory of Canada, as well as the northeast interior of what would later become Alaskan territory, it provided only limited oversight for the initial development of “The Gwich’in Church,” as it was then called. And, in the annals of Native mission, whether in Alaska or Canada, The Gwich’in Church still remains one of the few examples of a semi-autonomous, Indigenous church. Its enduring legacy reflects not only upon the sacrificial merit of Archdeacon Robert McDonald, “whose work stands out as possibly the one glorious exception” (Peake v), but the efforts of William Lula, the first Deacon of the Anglican Church in Yukon and Alaska territory.
Yet, in the same token, we can’t fail to acknowledge Episcopal Archdeacon of the Interior, Hudson Stuck, who first arrived in Alaska in 1904. As, it was through his embrace of the people he served that he not only became acculturated, but loved. Yet, in spite of that success, which provided a model for future evangelistic efforts in Indigenous mission, that was not the case. While the combined efforts of Christian missionaries continue in Alaska, while leading to Native conversion in many cases, it has done little to hasten the incarnation of the Logos in the language and culture of those peoples. Unfortunately, while there seems to be no lack of well-intended Protestant zealots, they have yet to profit from the lessons of the past. Bearing little fruit as they say, Christian missionaries remain as culturally ignorant and theologically dogmatic as ever in their approach, while evidencing a singular fascination with historical anthologies and outdated methodologies. The enduring promise of Christ in Native culture is a fact which remains to be seen, as it is something that only the Holy Spirit can orchestrate, and the Native people themselves can only accomplish.
CoupStick Chaplain 