Review: Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision

Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision by Randy Woodley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The culture I grew up in, an American culture, shapes the way we interpret Scripture. The thing is, my culture is not itself Christian, and so it may shape Scripture in ways God did not intend. Woodley, a Cherokee native and university professor, lays out another way to view God's word through the shape of another culture, the culture of Native Americans.

This shape expands my view of God, his creation, and humanity's role in serving him. God has not uniquely spoken to us, and Woodley demonstrates how Native Americans have a concept they call the Harmony Way, which is stunningly similar to the biblical concept of Shalom. This book challenged me to see things I have not previously thought of.

At the same time, Woodley examines how my culture decimated and lied to the people who lived in this land when Europeans arrived and how the ripples of those acts still play out in our country today. I am again reminded that although we said we believed in freedom and equality, our historic actions did not reinforce those values.

Woodley ends with a call to return to the biblical principles of shalom or the harmony way in the way we live individually and as a community, the way we treat each other, and the way we treat the planet. At the same time that this book is a reminder of a vicious past, it is a reminder of God's goodness that offers hope for the future.

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