Book Reviewed: We Survived the End of the World: Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope by Steven Charleston

Finding hope among indigenous people The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof … .” For Native-American religion this was a hard truth because it was never considered as a religion. This faith system features a creator as well as other deities: Place, land, spirit world, and nature are important, and burial grounds are treated as sacred. Ceremony and rituals played an essential role in Native American culture and spirituality was an integral part of their being. They believed in natural forces that controlled their lives, in essence physics also proposes four physical forces, and the laws of physics in creating the physical reality. But the European invaders never respected their faith and chose to enforce Christian education by force and violence. In this book, the author uses Biblical concepts such as apocalypse and hope to find solutions from the pain and suffering of his ancestors. Apocalypticism cultivated a sense of meaning and encouragement through dire circumstances. It sought to make sense of suffering, and it predicted an end to suffering. In doing so, it gave people hope. Above all, apocalyptic thinking bonded people together in uncertain and challenging times. They turned to their prophets. The author has done the same thing in this book. In trying to discern how and why his ancestors lived through death and destructions at the hands of the invaders of their land, he rediscovers the prophets among his ancestors. He finds the apocalyptic revelation to uncover the mystery and miracle of their survival. It is though hope and healing, he observes that all people must unite for love, peace, and harmony. Well, this message is not new and never worked in the past and why should it now? The greatest enemy of human beings are the established religions, especially Islam and Christianity. Historically they used force and coercion to convert people of other faiths. There were numerous religious wars to establish their faith system, in the process, people suffered, and this is no different from the sufferings of native Americans. The use of Biblical theology to find revelations in his ancestors is confounding.