FREED FROM WHAT AND FOR WHAT?

THE DIFFERING LIBERATION THEOLOGIES OF

GRANT TINKER AND SHERMAN ALEXIE
Author(s): Rebecca K. Huskey
Source: Literature and Theology , December 2010, Vol. 24, No. 4 (December 2010), pp.
411-420
Published by: Oxford University Press

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Literature & Theology, Vol 24. No. 4, December 2010, pp. 411-420
doi:i0.i093/litthe/frq04i Advance Access publication 9 November 2010

FREED FROM WHAT AND

FOR WHAT? THE DIFFERING
LIBERATION THEOLOGIES
OF GRANT TINKER AND
SHERMAN ALEXIE
Rebecca K. Huskey

Abstract

Much of Native American theology has focused on issues of sovereignty, of

resistance to cultural hegemony, or of nature-based religion, with thinkers
like Grant Tinker leading the discussions. An under-utilised resource for such
conversations is the poetry and fiction of Sherman Alexie. While Alexie's
work does include references to the natural world and to the oppression
Euro-colonials have inflicted on Indians, his work also emphasises the urban
existence of many Indians and the multitude of ways Indians may seek out
the divine. Indians may need liberation, says Alexie, from more than the
domination of other cultures; they may need liberation from themselves.

The specialised study of American Indian1 theology has a somewhat small but
certainly well-established circle of discussants, including scholars of religion
such as Grant Tinker and Homer Noley, historians such as Clara Sue Kidwell
and scholar-activists such as Vine Deloria, Jr. The detailed, thoughtful work of
such academics contributes much to the understanding of Indian culture,
religious practices and theology. However, just as poets and novelists have
contributed to the conversations about and understanding of European and
American instantiations of Christianity, so too can a variety of Indian authors
contribute to the understanding of Indian theology. While he is not an aca-
demic, nor an overtly religious or spiritual writer, Sherman Alexie provides a
useful counterpoint to the emphasis on sovereignty and land- or nature-based
religion.
This article juxtaposes the work of Tinker and Alexie to show that Alexie's
work brings to light the urban realities of Indians, the ambiguity of the term
'God' and the tension involved in coming to terms with God, self and world.
Developing a modified form of liberation theology, Tinker emphasises the
importance of sovereignty and development of community in Indian nations;

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412 LIBERATION THEOLOGIES OF TINKER AND ALEXIE

Indians must throw off as many of the trappings of colonialism as

Alexie would respond to Tinker by saying that if Indians are indeed
from the concept of liberation theology, they must liberate them
more than Euro-colonial oppression. Indians must also liberate th
from the oppression that originates in their own communities.
While a complete accounting of Indian- Christian theology is no
here, certain salient features are worth noting. Central to Tinker's arg
the idea that if Indians are to experience freedom in Christ, they mus
from Euro-colonial cultural hegemony. This includes freedom to w
traditional indigenous ceremonies, sovereignty and enjoyment of t
lands and independence from the 'commodified' Jesus. Since the be
the colonisation of the Americas, missionaries have equated g
European culture. Full acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and savi
not only renunciation of other indigenous religious beliefs and pra
also adoption of colonial modes of dress, learning the colonisers' la
taking a Christian, European name.3 Dancing ceremonies, vigils a
purification were labelled 'savage' if not outright satanic by colo
newly formed USA, and mainline denominations. Even after the
zenship law was passed, Indians were denied First Amendment ri
freedom of religious expression.4 Tinker argues that Indian c
indeed be interpreted as manifestations of God's grace (wheth
called Creator or Jehovah) and not impediments to it. Much of th
the Corn Mother, for example, parallels the salvific actions o
Nazareth, including her own self-sacrifice on behalf of her
Indians must be free to encounter God through a variety of medi
if this entails accepting the gospel message while resisting the in
those who bring it.
Tinker bases this argument against colonial culture on a refram
idea of liberation theology. Other indigenous peoples have adopte
veloped their own liberation theologies, yet the Marxist roots of th
only further reinforce Euro-colonial thought and methods.6 Gen
complete liberation can only come about by means of indigenous
that Challenge the very legitimacy of the idea of state'. Tinker
want back the sovereignty that was ours before the invasion of
colonizers'.7 This component of Tinker's thought is the most pro
politically. Resistance movements such as the occupation of Alcat
and the forceful taking of Wounded Knee in the early 1970s hav
successful. These events may be held up as moments of glory by some
protagonists of these movements failed to reach the ultimate goal
eignty. Ideally for those who demand independence, there
home-rule, separate government and peaceful upholding of treatie
has taught, however, that this ideal will not be reached.

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 REBECCA K. HUSKEY 413

Most problematic for Tinker theologically

no need for Christianity, no reason to acce
have nothing from which they must be s
original sin, then that person will see no n
land, food and natural resources, Jesus and
something that colonisers have and Indi
Jesus, so the missionaries said, Indians m
selves, their families, their histories and the
the world in return. Tinker counters this ver
by focusing on the idea of Christ as logos.
existed prior to the incarnate Jesus of Nazare
possible for Indians to have known Christ f
ence. If Christ and Goďs goodness have alw
have no need of evangelisation. Tinker a
nature of this way of thinking, and that his
entails an upheaval of Christian priorities.8 Th
gospel should do so not by preaching Jesu
ethnicity, biblical literacy, expressions of p
behind loving one's neighbour in estimation
espouse progressive Christianity (including th
lem with this component of Tinker's ar
Christianity as a whole would be willing t
practices.
Where Tinker's essays call for a return to
practice, Sherman Alexie's poetry and ficti
their ideas about God, self and world. L
Theology of Cockroaches' shows its reader
ence, but a tension-filled domestic scene. Th
the intrusion of a creature from nature, a
tension because of the juxtaposition of th
from religion and history. In the poem, Al
roach in the bathroom, and the supposedly
but it is compared to fire, Moses, the
Columbus, things and people of power, and
The direct, overt message of the poem is
concerned that there is a roach in the hous
anyone to some degree, as roaches and oth
ness and potential infestation. Yet the wo
times, indicating that this is no mere annoy
roaches with poverty, but he has never be
significant concern. Now he is away from
have four bathrooms, and nice enough o

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414 LIBERATION THEOLOGIES OF TINKER AND ALEXIE

floors. But just like the cockroach, poverty threatens, might cree
return quickly, as fast as a roach can scurry. But that would not happ
it? That would be impossible, would it not? 'Impossible, impossib
sible, impossible' he repeats.11 Surely there would never
Columbus-like onslaught. Surely Big Brother would not sneak in
at them looking for the roach. Could one mistake a cockroach fo
mingbird? Surely not. Could a roach be an angel, in an unlikely gu
not as clear. Though we might try to exterminate roaches, or an
always comes back, says this poem. But in what form?
Alexie's representation of deus absconditus may be most clear in
'Diane and I kneel/ in our bathroom. We are searching/ for the
that might have been/ a cockroach or nothing at all.'12 They are
their knees by they know not what. Rather than answer question
sible vision multiplies them: Is God so high up, so pleasant, so sou
Could something potentially good, like God, come from a refuse
coprophagic thing like a roach, or like Columbus? Can the aw
disguised as the good, or the good disguised as the awful? Alexie
deny the existence of God in this poem, but emphasises God's op
clouds one's sight, God unsettles, God introduces the unheimlich
home. God may even try to convince us that an unsettling ro
necessarily a bad thing. Above all, this is clear: whatever God's n
be, God humbles us and keeps us asking questions.
Many of Alexie's poems in this collection juxtapose sacred and
images, further emphasising Alexie's focus on the difficulty of be
tionship with God. The crow, a common but powerfully symboli
harbinger of things to come, and a witness to the death that has a
with all of humanity ('Crow Testament'). Sugar is a household
Indians and whites alike, but is the bane of the diabetic's existen
Town'). Alexie pays homage to many wordsmiths who came before
'An Incomplete List of People I Wish Were Indian', and includes i
John Lennon, Sappho, Shakespeare, Bruce Springsteen and Walt W
Sacred and profane beings and symbols, the ancient and the mode
and white all intermingle. Within the setting of these poems, Alex
to his readers that the categories that we presuppose define us, de
and define the Ultimate Other are not as simple as we would ma
What is a sweet, blessed treat may be poison to another. God may
form of a typically unwanted creature, or in the form of one assumed
enemy, if God comes to us at all. Alexie's work exhibits little of
concern for ceremony, claim to land or territory or desire for har
nature; nature and the living beings that comprise it are ambiguo
value. Alexie neither overtly denounces nor blindly accepts the tr
colonialism, and it is unclear from what Indians (or whites)

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 REBECCA K. HUSKEY 41 5

liberated. At first glance, the individuals in

seem to want liberation from the intruding
they were even invaded at all.
A similar example of God's ambiguity come
Parts'. The narrator relates how when he w
snake, tearing it into three pieces. Realising
returns to the pieces of snake, so that the a
damaged. He says a prayer to the Snake God
exists./ That's theology./ If the Snake God d
same/ As every other God:/ Unreachable.'13
existence of God, but casts doubt on God's e
prayer on behalf of another. The interaction
violent, but only coincidentally so, not inten
renounce his automobile, or curse its human
own responsibility to the world around h
exists, regardless of whether God plays a r
human beings to fulfil their responsibility
around them.
Alexie's work does not so much refute or contradict Tinker's assertions, as it
challenges readers and scholars to further develop their concepts of 'Indian',
their ideas about the nature of God and their sense of what it means to be
religious. An Indian may identify with one or more tribes, and Alexie pur-
posefully places his stories and poems in specific geographical locations. A
continued relationship with ancestral homelands, or with reservation lands,
is not necessary, however, for an Indian to maintain his or her identity as an
Indian. God's characteristics are far too fluid and too much a projection of
human qualities to be definitively codified in language. Furthermore, as
Alexie's work teaches, God can be encountered in an infinite variety of
ways, and human beings should take care in their pursuit of such encounters.
Also enigmatic but a more definitively-embodied Holy One is the character
of Big Mom in Reservation Blues. Like Christ, Big Mom is present in the
beginning, knows the word and song of the beginning and participates in
the creation of word and song. Her first appearance in the novel is one hun-
dred thirty-four years before the present day of the narrative, when she hears
Indian horses screaming.14 She is dismayed by this screaming-song, but she
learns it, and learns to harmonise with it. Fast forward many decades to the
1930s blues singer Robert Johnson appearing on the Spokane Indian
Reservation, but in present day. Johnson seeks out Big Mom, because he
believes she can help him get back his soul, which he sold to the 'the
Gentleman' to be able to play blues guitar. Johnson figures only sporadically
in the narrative, but his guitar finds its way to Victor, an angry young Indian
who becomes part of the band Coyote Springs. Big Mom gives her disciple

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4i6 LIBERATION THEOLOGIES OF TINKER AND ALEXIE

Victor lessons in playing the magical but real instrument, though Vi

ceives instruction only reluctantly. Big Mom speaks as one with authority
only some recognise her wisdom and power. Indeed, she does com
unlikely guise - a rockin' guitar grandma.
Alexie's characterisation of Big Mom both promotes and undercut
concepts of tribal identity, human limitation, and human capability.
gives her a physical, geographical location (the top of Wellpinit Mou
a blue house), but also an ambiguous Indian background. 'She was Sp
Indian with a litde bit of Flathead blood thrown in for good measu
explains. 'But she was more than that. She was part of every tribe.'15
see Big Mom interact with the band members in ways that are both m
and very human. Big Mom is both welcoming and challenging to th
approach her. She calls out the usual 'Ya-hey' to her visitors, but stu
with her appearance. 'Her braids themselves were taller than any of t
bers of Coyote Springs and probably weighed more, too.'16 She lets
know that she will try to pass on to them her musical fire, something of
that they don't totally control, but something necessary to become a
sional, successful band. Despite her power and presence, Big Mom
gende and understanding, reminding the young women in the band
they are special, and asking them to come sweat with her. One
women explains, 'Big Mom sang better than anybody I ever hea
Aretha Franklin', and having a steam with her 'made me feel like I
sing better.'17 The very wise, mysterious, entirely human person th
Mom says, in effect, both 'come, follow me', and also 'take the musi
you desire'. Readers are made aware of the characters' ethnic identiti
this particular trait is not of primary importance. Each of the band m
needs Big Mom to not only understand what it means to be an Indi
whatever tribe), but also what it means to be a musician, and what it
be human.
Big Mom is not Jesus, is not God, but perhaps is most Christ-like and most
ambiguous in that, in the end, she leaves her disciples to decide for themselves
what their destiny will be. In the end she leaves them, not through persecu-
tion or crucifixion, but by sending them away. None of her students can stay
on her mountaintop forever; they must all go to do the hard work of living for
themselves. But just as Jesus stayed with his disciples even after the resurrection
and ascension, Big Mom stays with her students, whether they leave the
reservation or decide to stay. When three of the members of Coyote
Springs do leave the reservation to find better lives for themselves, she sings
a protection song, for those three and for all Indians, so that they will not
forget who they are.18 She celebrates the decision of those who leave the
reservation, and the decision of those who stay. Big Mom both is and is not
geographically centred. She lives 'up on the mountain', but this place is as

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 REBECCA K. HUSKEY 417

mythological as it is real. Moreover, her blessi

Indian instruments, but through a Western
Flight is possibly the least religious of Alexie
and some readers might conclude that
Euro-colonial culture. However, if po
Christianity are associated with good and
new creation as Tinker argues, then this n
The protagonist and narrator comes on the
Zits'.19 Zits is not his real name, he quick
nickname, for zits he has: on his face, his n
what he would claim to embody. The teen
from family to family, because his alcoho
white, Irish mother died when he was six.
thing no one is proud of, something to be
character in this narrative, and a member of
Dave the Cop. He plays a major role, becau
counters with law enforcement. Early in t
with Zits another teenage boy, this one eni
befriends Zits and makes him feel empower
dependent on anyone, and Justice possesse
One day Zits takes one of Justice's guns to
on the clientele, and is fired upon himself. Bu
of someone else.
Through the time- and space-travel that Zits endures (but does not control)
the reader glimpses scenes in the history of Indians and Euro-colonials, and
Zits' own family. He becomes a federal agent at Red River, Idaho, 1975, a
stand-in place name and date for the incident at Wounded Knee, South
Dakota, 1973. Later he finds himself in the body of a mute Indian boy at
the Battle of Little Big Horn. Zits knows his Indian history well, and has his
own spin on it. Little Big Horn should have been 'Indians' last stand' rather
than Custer's, because afterwards Indians just gave up, and gave in to the ways
of their oppressors.20 Indians had a brief and fierce show of force, but at the
cost of their humanity, is Zits' implication. Zits begins to learn that revenge
should perhaps not be his ultimate goal, for revenge does not feel as good as he
thought it would. Before he is finished, he becomes an old, 19th-century
soldier named Gus, whose battalion is supposed to go after Indians, and who
sees boys turned into fighting demons. Zits-as-Gus ultimately shoots at some
of his own men to save two small boys, one white, one Indian.21 By means of
these strange journeys, Zits learns that supposedly honourable men can be liars
and cheats, and that the ones he might expect to hate are actually quite
virtuous. Even white colonials are capable of admirable acts, and he is by
no means the only Indian to know hardship and heartache.

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418 LIBERATION THEOLOGIES OF TINKER AND ALEXIE

Lastly Zits is transported into the body of his own drunken fath
whom he finally learns compassion. Zits sees that his own father was a pr
of abuse and chaos, and that he scarcely had the resources for h
well-being, much less that of others. No one had taught him how t
father, and thus he decided not even to try. While Zits does not ach
deep and abiding sense of forgiveness for his father, he does realise
should not harm anyone because of mistakes this man made. Zits returns
actual self just prior to the moment he would shoot at people in the b
turns himself over to Dave the Cop. After many months in police cust
under psychiatric care, Zits is allowed one more chance at a foster family
Dave's own brother and sister-in-law, Mary. Zits notices that Mary m
Indian, though he is not certain.22 What matters more is the kindness sh
her family exhibit, and that they want to make Zits a permanent part of
family. They do not disregard his past, or attempt to pretend ther
problems; they take him in despite his past and his near-disastrous
honouring his wounded but still human self.
Mary, the woman who becomes Zits' last foster mother in the no
never labelled a Holy One in the novella, but she most certainly is: sh
apart, different. Mary is God the creator, endeavouring to make a new
out of this hurting and broken boy; God the Redeemer, forgiving an
ing; and God the Holy Spirit, moving as simply and easily as a person's
Zits' transformation begins as the story ends. Mary comes to him wi
wash and acne treatments, and tells him, 'a few months from now, y
brand new'.23 The literal and symbolic meaning of this pronouncemen
lost of him. This complicated boy weeps, saying, 'My real name is M
Please, call me Michael.'24 The book ends, but readers understand ho
story might continue: long is the struggle for this emerging family, and
does not magically subside. People do not leave behind fears and preju
violence with the wave of a wand or the stroke of a pen. But redemp
possible, and God is present. What was once only death and sadn
become life and joy.
A more subtle message of the narrative is that there is no ideal pla
ideal existence, at least not one that can be attained or recaptured. A
setting established and populated by a white majority has the poten
tremendous violence. Ancestral lands are also replete with bloodshed
the time of Custer, and since the time of Columbus. The idyll o
sovereignty may be lost forever. Nevertheless, it is in an urban settin
boy known as Zits can uncover his authentic self, who is named Mi
Re-creation is brought about by modern pharmaceuticals; grace come
washing done by a woman of ambiguous ethnicity. Litde if any of
narrative in Flight corresponds to the liberation theology Tinker outl
liberation occurs. Michael begins to free himself, with much assistanc

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 REBECCA K. HUSKEY 419

the cultural, historical and psychological con

tragedy and catastrophe.
Some Indians might say that Alexie has b
î 25
general have taken him to task for not being 'sufficiently Indian'. î 25 His re-
sponse to such objections is most clearly found in his poem 'Tuxedo with
Eagle Feathers': 'My literacy saved my ass', and if that literacy has its roots in
Euro-colonial culture, so be it.26 He sings the praises of John Donne and
Emily Dickenson, while also acknowledging the artistry of Haida fashion
designer Dorothy Grant. He was so taken with her creation of a tuxedo
with eagle feather adornment (the consummate hybrid of refined white cou-
ture with Indian embellishment) that he pledges to write a poem for her, a
sonnet. Again, he mixes European form with indigenous content. 'I wasn't
saved by the separation of cultures', he writes, 'I was reborn inside the collision
of cultures'.27 Whether Alexie fits or breaks a stereotype, be it Indian, male,
religious, secular or any other, is simply not his concern. His works show that
he will use and celebrate all that is good about humanity and artistry, and
criticise and mourn all that is flawed or fallen. Doubt, longing, praise, thanks-
giving - these are human tendencies that are expressed via both religious
practice and secular life, and are not particular to one ethnicity.
Sherman Alexie and Grant Tinker may be asking different questions, and
finding different answers, questions and answers that stem from the common
topic of the intersection of Christianity and Indian culture. Tinker's questions
centre on Indians preserving their tribal, indigenous identities. He argues for
Indians' right to adapt Christian practices to their own tribal cultures, if they
choose Christianity at all. Alexie seeks a broader understanding, both of what
it means to be Indian and what it means to be human. Tribal heritage and
ethnicity both do and do not matter to him. While it is impossible to ignore a
person's Indian-ness or whiteness, it is possible to see beyond skin colour,
history and heritage. If we are to make manifest the goodness of God (what-
ever God may be), Alexie would argue, we must learn that God may be
hiding in plain sight.

University of Oklahoma , 650 Parrington Oval, CARN 120, Norman , OK 73019-

4042, USA
rhuskey@ou.edu

REFERENCES

1 For Sherman Alexie 's' preference Autobiographyof of Me" in One Stick

the term 'Indian' for North American Song (Brooklyn: Hanging Loose Press,
indigenous peoples, see in particular2000) pp. 13-25. Though many scholars
his piece "The Unauthorized opt for the term 'Native American',

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420 LIBERATION THEOLOGIES OF TINKER AND ALEXIE
I have chosen 'Indian* in deference to 9 Ibid., p. 124.
Alexie. 10 Sherman Alexie, 'The Theology of
2 Although Tinker expresses many con- Cockroaches' in One Stick Song, pp. 83-4.
11 Ibid.
cerns with the Marxist, European roots
12re-
of liberation theology, he nevertheless Ibid.
13in
tains the term. Thus, I follow his lead Alexie, 'The Sum of His Parts' in Face
this article. (Brooklyn: Hanging Loose Press, 2009),
3 For a full discussion of Tinker's view pp.
of 51-2.
Indian conversion, see his Missionary Alexie, Reservation Blues (New York:
Warner Books, 1995), p. 9.
Conquest: The Gospel and Native American
15 Ibid., p. 199.
Cultural Genocide (Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 1993). 16 Ibid., p. 202.
4 George E. "Tink" Tinker, American
17 Ibid., p. 205.
Indian Liberation: A Theology of 18 Ibid ., p. 300.
Sovereignty (Maryknoll: Orbis Books,19 Alexie, Flight (New York: Black Cat,
2008), pp. 1 14-5. 2007), p. i.
5 Ibid., pp. 107-8. 20 Ibid., p. 70.
Ibid., pp. 17-35. 21 Ibid., p. 105
7 Ibid ., p. 24. Tinker explains his intention- Ibid., p. 175.
al use of lower case for adjectives such as23 Ibid., p. 180.
'european' and 'american' by saying that 24 Ibid., p. 181.
25 Alexie, in discussion with the author,
it is central to his argument that "people
recognize the historical artificiality of Seatde, WA, 1 July 2009.
modern regional and nation-state social26 Alexie, 'Tuxedo with Eagle Feathers' in
constructions," ibid., p. 1, n.i. Face , pp. 79-82.
Ibid., p. 123. 27 Ibid., p. 80.

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