Big Warrior Totka Hadjo enters his toughest battles yet—the fight for love, the invasion of fear, and the inescapable ashes of each. (Part 2 in Beneath the Blackberry Moon) The war has ended, and now, Totka Hadjo must endure eleven moons and twenty-six sleeps without his beloved Copper Woman. But he has a two-fold task to keep him occupied: establish a lodge deserving of her and challenge her Jesus Creator to a vision, to prove his existence. Totka leaves the white settlements with Copper Woman’s holy book, an object with medicine strong enough to keep at bay the hounding ghosts of his unavenged ancestors. But the sacred writings cannot restrain the Bluecoat who has returned from the dead, the one who first owned her heart. From the far reaches of the Muscogee Confederacy, Totka is powerless to stop the onslaught of events that conspires to take his beloved from him forever. Leaping Waters, Totka’s old passion, is a constant presence he cannot escape, but she might be able to unlock the spiritual mysteries found in the holy book’s talking leaves. While he wades through the confusing symbols, the Choctaws, his ancient enemy, are determined to seize prime Muscogee hunting lands. In the process, they aggravate wounds that might never heal and expose him to a truth too bitter to swallow. Denial and revenge go down much easier. Author’s Note: My goal as a writer is to create a pleasing blend of the historical romance and historical fiction genres. Part 1: the Red Feather is my hearty tribute to romance. Isn’t Totka dreamy? Part 2: the Sacred Writings, while giving a respectful nod to romance, delves into the cultural aspect that history buffs yearn for. It is also a memorial to the Native American tribes who for centuries dominated our Southeastern United States. If you live in Alabama or Georgia, pause for a moment, touch that gorgeous red earth beneath your feet, and remember that this land was not always ours. It first belonged to the Muscogees. Books in Beneath the Blackberry Moon, a Christian Historical Romance Series (must be read together) Part 1, The Red Feather Part 2, The Sacred Writings Part 3, The Ebony Cloak The Untold Stories (bonus reading for fans!) Other romance books in the Beneath the Blackberry Moon world: Drawn by the Frost Moon Series (standalones) Bitter Eyes No More Love the War Woman Finding Pretty Wolf Strike of the Water Moccasin

In this interdisciplinary collection of essays, Joel W. Martin and Mark A. Nicholas gather emerging and leading voices in the study of Native American religion to reconsider the complex and often misunderstood history of Native peoples' engagement with Christianity and with Euro-American missionaries. Surveying mission encounters from contact through the mid-nineteenth century, the volume alters and enriches our understanding of both American Christianity and indigenous religion. The essays here explore a variety of postcontact identities, including indigenous Christians, "mission friendly" non-Christians, and ex-Christians, thereby exploring the shifting world of Native-white cultural and religious exchange. Rather than questioning the authenticity of Native Christian experiences, these scholars reveal how indigenous peoples negotiated change with regard to missions, missionaries, and Christianity. This collection challenges the pervasive stereotype of Native Americans as culturally static and ill-equipped to navigate the roiling currents associated with colonialism and missionization. The contributors are Emma Anderson, Joanna Brooks, Steven W. Hackel, Tracy Neal Leavelle, Daniel Mandell, Joel W. Martin, Michael D. McNally, Mark A. Nicholas, Michelene Pesantubbee, David J. Silverman, Laura M. Stevens, Rachel Wheeler, Douglas L. Winiarski, and Hilary E. Wyss.

On a moonless night in 1813, Adela McGirth encounters a set of wolves and the steely eyed warrior who slays them, searing himself on her heart. When he returns, it's with a brand of a different sort--the flaming arrow that destroys her life.In the copper-haired captive, Totka Lawe finds the other half of his spirit. He vows he would die ten deaths to protect her, and he would kill any who tried to steal her away. With bluecoat soldiers pursuing him, a jealous cousin pursuing her, and the woman herself pursuing home, that vow stands a serious chance of being called into action.In the first of this three-part, inspirational story, award-winning author April W Gardner brings to vibrant life an obscure event and the noble people who once dominated the Southeast, but are now forgotten.

"In 2016, thousands of people travelled to North Dakota to camp out near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to protest the construction of an oil pipeline that is projected to cross underneath the Missouri River a half mile upstream from the Reservation. The Standing Rock Sioux consider the pipeline a threat to the region's clean water and to the Sioux's sacred sites (such as its ancient burial grounds). The encamped protests garnered front-page headlines and international attention, and the resolve of the protesters was made clear in a red banner that flew above the camp: "Defend the Sacred". What does it mean when Native communities and their allies make such claims? What is the history of such claim-making, and why has this rhetorical and legal strategy - based on appeals to religious freedom - failed to gain much traction in American courts? As Michael McNally recounts in this book, Native Americans have repeatedly been inspired to assert claims to sacred places, practices, objects, knowledge, and ancestral remains by appealing to the discourse of religious freedom. But such claims based on alleged violations of the First Amendment "free exercise of religion" clause of the US Constitution have met with little success in US courts, largely because Native American communal traditions have been difficult to capture by the modern Western category of "religion." In light of this poor track record Native communities have gone beyond religious freedom-based legal strategies in articulating their sacred claims: in (e.g.) the technocratic language of "cultural resource" under American environmental and historic preservation law; in terms of the limited sovereignty accorded to Native tribes under federal Indian law; and (increasingly) in the political language of "indigenous rights" according to international human rights law (especially in light of the 2007 U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples). And yet the language of religious freedom, which resonates powerfully in the US, continues to be deployed, propelling some remarkably useful legislative and administrative accommodations such as the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Reparation Act. As McNally's book shows, native communities draw on the continued rhetorical power of religious freedom language to attain legislative and regulatory victories beyond the First Amendment"--

Kateri Tekakwitha is the first North American Indian to be canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Indian Pilgrims examines Saint Kateri's influence and role as a powerful feminine figure who inspires decolonizing activism in contemporary Indigenous peoples' lives.

The wisdom from these stories can become a companion on your own spiritual journey. Native American Stories of the Sacred are intended for more than entertainment: they are teaching tales containing elegantly simple illustrations of time-honored truths. From tales of Creation to "Why?" stories that help explain the natural world around us, these stories highlight the sacredness of all life and affirm that we are each an integral part of all that is holy. Drawn from tribes across North America, these are careful retellings of traditional stories such as Son of Light's quest to win back his captured wife from the monstrous Man-Eagle; humble Muskrat's noble self-sacrifice to establish solid land so other beings might live; Water Spider's creative solution for retrieving fire for all the animals; and White Buffalo Calf Woman's profound gift of the sacred pipe to the people. Each of the compelling stories in this collection illustrates principles that can guide you on your own spiritual quest. Now you can experience the wisdom of these teaching tales even if you have no previous knowledge of Native American traditions. SkyLight Illuminations provides insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that explains the cultural and spiritual significance of the seemingly mundane objects found in these stories--tobacco, gambling, even the exploits of mischievous tricksters such as Coyote and Weasel--while gracefully drawing comparisons to Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions, among others. Whatever your spiritual heritage, these Native American stories of the sacred are sure to delight and inspire you with the sacredness of all Creation, and remind you that the earth does not belong to us--we belong to the earth.

Placing Native American spirituality in the context of the world's great religions, Sacred Earth contrasts contemporary society's arrogant belief in its own power with native traditions of reverence for the earth. This eye-opening journey through the terrain of Native American spirituality is an urgent call to rediscover and become firmly grounded on the sacred earth again.

Materialism. Greed. Loneliness. A manic pace. Abuse of the natural world. Inequality. Injustice. War. The endemic problems facing America today are staggering. We need change and restoration. But where to begin? In Shalom and the Community of Creation Randy Woodley offers an answer: learn more about the Native American 'Harmony Way,' a concept that closely parallels biblical shalom. Doing so can bring reconciliation between Euro-Westerners and indigenous peoples, a new connectedness with the Creator and creation, an end to imperial warfare, the ability to live in the moment, justice, restoration -- and a more biblically authentic spirituality. Rooted in redemptive correction, this book calls for true partnership through the co-creation of new theological systems that foster wholeness and peace.

In this account of the history between Indigenous Peoples and the United States government, readers will learn the role of the bible played in the perpetration of genocide, massive land theft, and the religious suppression and criminalization of Native ceremonies and spirituality. Chris Mato Nunpa, a Dakota man, discusses this dishonorable and darker side of American history that is rarely studied, if at all. Out of a number of rationales used to justify the killing of Native Peoples and theft their lands, the author will discuss a biblical rationale, including the "chosen people" idea, the "promised land" notion, and the genocidal commands of the Old Testament God. Mato Nunpa's experience with fundamentalist and evangelical missionaries when he was growing up, his studies in Indigenous Nations history at the University of Minnesota, and his affiliation with the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) were three important factors in his motivation for writing this book.

The first printing of the First Nations Version: New Testament. A new translation in English, by First Nations People for First Nations People.