Book Review "Native"

Native: Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God

Review by Lindsay O’Connor

“Decolonizing our table means recognizing that sacredness moves and breathes all over the place, in all people, in all creatures, in all things, so communion becomes the space in which we say everyone and everything is loved.”

—Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God, by Kaitlin B. Curtice

In her new book, Native, Kaitlin Curtice shares her unique perspective as an Indigenous Christian woman. She shares her journey of rediscovering the parts of herself that had been pushed down or dismissed because they didn’t fit the dominant narrative of the white evangelical spaces in which she spent the latter part of her childhood. She speaks with a combination of boldness and gentleness as she invites us into new, more expansive ways of understanding ourselves, God, and all of creation. 

Curtice tells about the ongoing work of decolonizing her faith by disentangling the parts of her belief system that were tied to white, western/European culture. She challenges systems of oppression that have been upheld by the Christian church but communicates very clearly that we all must do this work together; everyone belongs. At the same time, we see her reconnecting with Indigenous ways of understanding the Divine, which she often refers to as Mystery. Throughout the book, she weaves language and stories from her Potawatomi heritage, along with her own original poetry. 

As she tells her story, Curtice makes space for readers to consider their own journeys. She shares personal experiences vulnerably, emphasizing the importance of all people entering into the work for the common good, whether you are part of a marginalized group, a dominant group, or some combination. This was an important read for me as I work to separate out my culture from my understanding of Christianity, God, and the Bible. In experiencing God through a different cultural lens, we are given the gift of a broader, richer, more beautiful understanding of the Holy that is sure to be transformative. 

This is a textured, beautifully written book that challenges and inspires Christians to envision new ways to make more room at the table. In the words of Kaitlin Curtice, “Our work is to call each other home, to call to one another’s spirits and say, ‘This is for you. This is what it means to be human, to love and be loved. Let’s learn from one another as we go.’”

Click Here To Purchase The Book

Faith As A Jenga Tower

Reconstruction Calls Podcast

Spiritual Director Aaron Manes, calls his friend Kenton Self to talk about the process of deconstruction, and they talk about René Girard, Brian McLaren and Amy Grant. You might find Kenton singing in the Arapaho UMC Choir, teaching a class or talking about faith in Room 2.

Book Blog: Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time

Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time

by Diane Bricker

What are your earliest images of Jesus?  Divine Savior? Teacher? Are these early images the images that you still carry with you today? 

In his book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg challenges us to expand our images of Jesus.  In his view, most of us form our images of Jesus early in our faith lives, and do not continue to refine or expand them as we grow older. If our images of Jesus are limited, so will the shape of our lives as Christians be limited.  

Does Borg have your attention yet?  He certainly captured mine the first time I read this book many years ago. My early image of Jesus as an object of belief was so limited it caused me to simply walk away from the church for many years, despite still feeling a hunger to know God.  

In this book, Borg invited me to look at Jesus in some new ways, drawing me into a lifelong, adventurous, and profoundly meaningful faith journey. 

Borg believes the two most common images of Jesus are divine savior and teacher.  The divine savior image leads us to focus on “believing” doctrinal claims (my experience); the teacher image (often adopted by those who struggle with doctrinal claims) leads us to focus on being good, on seeking to live as Jesus lived.

So, what are these additional images?  They are images that would have been in the hearts and minds of both Jesus and his followers, Jews steeped in the Old Testament. After all, Borg reminds us, in the days of the early church there was no official Christology. 

So, Borg introduces us to Jesus as a spirit person, who has an intimate relationship with God, his Abba, and thus, can help others to know Him; and to Jesus as a movement founder who introduces compassion and inclusivity as central to this new religion; and to Jesus as a teacher of alternative wisdom who challenges the conventional wisdom of the time and offers an alternative understanding as to how to live; and, finally, to Jesus as the incarnation of divine wisdom, the child of Sophia, who in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, is a female personification of divine wisdom.  Does this whet your appetite to learn more details?

With these images before us, Borg helps us to see that a Christian life is not just about believing or about being good, but that it is about a relationship with God that involves us in a journey of transformation. 

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Leave us a comment:

What images of Jesus do you have from the different times in your life?

How has your understanding of what it means to be a Christian changed throughout your life?