audiobook The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings: A Reader by From Oxford University Press in History

Description

In books such as Mystics and Messiahs; Hidden Gospels; and The Next Christendom; Philip Jenkins has established himself as a leading commentator on religion and society. Now; in Dream Catchers; Jenkins offers a brilliant account of the changing mainstream attitudes towards Native American spirituality; once seen as degraded spectacle; now hailed as New Age salvation. While early Americans had nothing but contempt for Indian religions; deploring them as loathsome devil worship and snake dancing; white Americans today respect and admire Native spirituality. In this book; Jenkins charts this remarkable change; highlighting the complex history of white American attitudes towards Native religions from colonial times to the present. Jenkins ranges widely; considering everything from the 19th-century American obsession with "Hebrew Indians" and Lost Tribes; to the early 20th-century cult of the Maya as bearers of the wisdom of ancient Atlantis; to films like Pocahontas and Dances With Wolves. He looks at the popularity of the Carlos Castaneda books; the writings of Lynn Andrews; and the influential works of Frank Waters; and he explores the New Age paraphernalia found in places like Sedona; Arizona; including dream-catchers; crystals; medicine bags; and Native-themed Tarot cards. Jenkins examines the controversial New Age appropriation of Native sacred places; notes that many "white Indians" see mainstream society as religiously empty; and asks why a government founded on religious freedom tried to eradicate native religions in the last century--and what this says about how we define religion. An engrossing account of our changing attitudes towards Native spirituality; Dream Catchers offers a fascinating introduction to one of the more interesting aspects of contemporary American religion.