Acknowledgments

How do you write acknowledgments for a book that details the heresies of your church, the dehumanizing and ethnic cleansing policies of your nation, and the genocide of your people? Acknowledgments for such a book may seem like an oxymoron, but the life experiences that went into researching and writing this book have been a journey. And for everyone who has been a part of that journey, I am extremely grateful. Here are a few:

Ahéhee’, Rachel. When we were married twenty-one years ago, neither of us knew the adventure that lay before us: a journey that took us from southern California to Gallup, New Mexico; Denver, Colorado; eleven years on the Navajo Nation (including three years in a hogan with no running water or electricity); and most recently to Washington, DC. We have raised three incredible children together. I am exceedingly grateful not only for your friendship, your partnership, and your incredible attention to detail, but also I am humbled by your faith and love for Christ.

Ahéhee’ Shimá dóó shizhé’é, Theodore and Evie Charles. Thank you, mom and dad, for raising me not to be half Navajo and half white, but for giving me the tools to learn how to be whole—both Dine’ and American of Dutch heritage.

I am grateful to the teachers and staff at Tséhootsooí Diné Bi’Ólta’, the Navajo immersion school in Window Rock, Arizona. Thank you for keeping our Diné language and culture alive and for your investment in our children. Ahéhee’.

I am grateful and indebted to my mentors Jim Northrup and Susie Silversmith. Not only did they both survive the horrors of boarding school, but they also retained their language and culture and went on, as a part of their healing, to share their stories publicly. Their courage and resilience is humbling. And their voices are awe-inspiring. Ahéhee’.

I am grateful for nearly five decades of siblings, friends, neighbors, relatives, colleagues, and organizations who journeyed with me and helped shape me: David, Denise, Mildred, Linda. Eric, Brenda, and Curtis. Leroy Barber. Louise, Roy, and Stanley. Marilyn, Jasbert, Tim, and Matt. Linda and Laverna. Ruth. Ben and Eunice Stoner, Johnny B. Dennison. Tim and Joy Stoner. Richard Twiss, Terry LeBlanc, Gavriel Gefen, Raymond Minniecon, and my Aboriginal aunties in Australia (WCGIP). Richard Silversmith (Christian Indian Center). Mike Hogeterp and the rest of our Doctrine of Discovery Task Force (CRCNA). John Witvliet and my colleagues at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Doug Schaupp and Alex Van Riesen (IVCF at UCLA). Megan and Willie Krischke, Mike Kelly, Donnie and Renee Begay (Would Jesus Eat Frybread). Ahéhee’.

I am also humbled by the many voices of Native authors and academics who have been working to expose the Doctrine of Discovery for decades. This is not the first book on the Doctrine of Discovery, nor will it be the last. I am especially grateful for the work of Steve Newcomb. Pagans in the Promised Land is a must read and was one of my first exposures to the Doctrine of Discovery. Ahéhee’ Steve.

I am grateful for the work of Maria Yellowhorse Braveheart. Her work on historical trauma is invaluable. Ahéhee’ Maria.

I am deeply grateful for my friend and coauthor, Soong-Chan Rah, without whom this book could not have been written.

I am grateful to the Canadian nonprofit Native Land Digital. Their ongoing work to map and educate regarding the traditional lands, treaties, and languages of Native nations and peoples is exemplary. Their website (native-land.ca) allows anyone to enter an address, city, or zip code to learn what Native nation or indigenous tribe originally inhabited those lands, what treaties where written there, and what language groups are from there. While this resource is not the final authority, it is a great place to begin your research.

I am grateful for the online Native-run publications of Indianz, Indian Country Today, the Navajo Times, and Native News Online. This book was prefaced by nearly a decade of my blog articles, op-eds, and other literary musings, many of which were published by these organizations. Ahéhee’. Thank you for your commitment to lifting up the voices and stories of our Native peoples.

Ahéhee’ my relatives. Walk in beauty.

Mark Charles

I am so grateful for the partnership and friendship with Mark Charles in coauthoring this book. At the beginning of this process I could not have imagined that we would have such a strong and productive symbiotic relationship in the writing process. But more than simply producing a book, this process has resulted in the deepening of our friendship, for which I am grateful. Special thanks to IVP for their patience and perseverance in seeing this project to the end. Particular thanks to our heroic champion and editor, Al Hsu.

I am unable to list all of the academic mentors who have shaped my formation as a scholar and as a writer. Through my journey in various academic institutions, Columbia (Randall Balmer, Penny Nixon), Gordon-Conwell (Eldin Villafañe, Doug and Judy Hall, Stephen Mott), Harvard (Harvey Cox, Cornel West), Duke (Willie Jennings, Kate Bowler, Grant Wacker, J. Kameron Carter, Ellen Davis, Emmanuel Katongole, Valerie Cooper), North Park (Michael Emerson, Dan Hodge, Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom), I have been blessed with teachers and colleagues who continue to shape and challenge my intellectual development. I am thankful for scholars who have contributed to my current endeavors: the late Richard Twiss, the late Wendy Peterson, Terry LeBlanc, Randy Woodley, Andrea Smith, Ray Aldred, Dan Hawk, JR Lilly, and Steve Newcomb. My gratitude to my students who wrestled with the concepts found in this book, through classroom discussion and papers. Thanks to my TAs, Peter Shin and Will Eastham. Special thanks to my students at Stateville Correctional Center who have taught me the true meaning of mobilizing for justice.

My ministry colleagues and spiritual mentors over the years have blessed me with a profound sense that writing is a calling that lifts up previously silenced voices. Thanks to many colleagues who have my utmost admiration in their faithful ministry endeavors (Ray and Gloria Hammond, Larry Kim, Liz Verhage, Bil Mooney-McCoy, Gary VanderPol, Vince Bantu, Peter Cha, Danny Martinez, Greg Yee). Over the course of this book project, dear friends stepped into the gap to provide spiritual support that I would not have survived without. Thank you Five Guys for your ongoing prayers and standing in the gap for me. Additional thanks to Jon Ido Warden, Charles Miyamoto, Neil Taylor, and Dave Kersten.

My deepest joy is in acknowledging the great gift of my children. Annah and Elijah continue to be my inspiration, source of great joy, and my impetus to keep moving forward.

Soong-Chan Rah