Indigenous Christian scholars respond to the First Nations Version of the New Testament

 

I didn't have room in my column for responses from Indigenous Christians and scholars to the First Nations Version (FNV) of the New Testament—what did they think of it? Find a couple of responses below, Read the original column here.  

Shari Russell is the director of NAIITS, an Indigenous learning community (formerly the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies). She is treaty status Saulteaux (Anishinaabe) from Yellow Quill First Nation in Saskatchewan and an ordained Officer in The Salvation Army where she serves as the Territorial Indigenous Ministries Consultant and has been actively involved in Indigenous ministry since 2004.

One issue is context. This version was written in the U.S. context. There isn’t very much Canadian representation in it, or in the advisory group that helped create it. It would have been helpful if that was noted. 

It’s very challenging to create something that addresses all First Nations, to make a monocultural document. For example, in the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the book of Mark, it talks about people throwing their buffalo robes on the ground. That works for some Indigenous people (on the prairies where there was bison), but not necessarily for others on the west coast or in the eastern part of the country. 

It’s impossible to make a singular First Nations Bible. There are over 600 First Nations in Canada alone with different languages. Within the same languages there are different dialects and images and expressions that grow from within their contexts. 

I do appreciate the storytelling approach they take to it. It can bring new life and vitality to the scriptures, providing new insights that can touch hearts in new ways. It can bring new life to the scriptures, showing how the Gospel story isn’t limited to one people group or place. It’s good news for all people.

The way they render John 3:16 is problematic from an Indigenous perspective. It says that “for God so loved human beings.” That is very limiting from an Indigenous perspective. Like in the original Greek, that uses the word “cosmos,” Indigenous people think of God loving the whole creation, not an anthropocentric, or human, point of view.   

Should people buy it? If it helps people on their spiritual journey, then it is appropriate. 

Christopher Hoklotubbe associate professor of Religion at Cornell College and director of graduate studies for NAIITS. He is a member of the Choctaw Nation.

The FNV is a Native American paraphrase of the Bible that exemplifies Native American interpretations of the Bible, similar to how other cultures have interpreted the Bible.

It has been said that the FNV is best described as a paraphrase, not as a translation. For many who think this way, they regard translation projects to consist of trained biblical scholars and theologians pouring over ancient fragments and manuscripts. While the FNV isn’t this, there is something to be admired and celebrated in the theological poetry that results from the collective wisdom of the Native translation council working together with Terry Wildman.

One concern is the voice Wildman selected to use. He wanted the voice to sound like an elder speaking to a grandchild. And what greater elder for many Indigenous people of Wildman’s generation than Black Elk. Black Elk's book Black Elk Speaks, in which he discussed his religious views, visions, and events from his life, inspired many Native Americans to begin a process of investigating and reclaiming their own Indigenous spiritualities.

For some, this resonated—as illustrated by one appreciative letter Terry received from a Native reader of the FNV who expressed how in reading the translation they could hear their own grandparent’s voice.  For others, this choice is problematic as it does not reflect how the vast majority of North American Natives speak and it can easily fall into caricature, or the trope of the Hollywood Indian.

But that is true for all biblical interpretation and reading. Each culture reads into the verses its own characters—for generations western Christians in Europe and North America have seen Jesus and others in the New Testament as white people or at least behaving and thinking like ‘white people’ in Galilean cosplay (or costume).

Why shouldn’t Indigenous people also see it through the eyes of their culture? And what fresh new ways of reading and finding meaning in the text might Native readers encounter when they are encouraged to hold close the goodness of their own Indigenous heritage, which we hold was given to us by the Creator.

If we recognize that the cultures, economies, and ways of life of the ancient Hebrews and early Christians were more akin to Indigenous cultures than modern Canadian and United States societies, might such works like the FNV help us to better appreciate both biblical and Indigenous worlds? I really think there is something here for Indigenous and non-Indigenous readers. Non-Indigenous ministers that I have encountered have greatly appreciated the FNV.

Doing any translation or paraphrase of the Bible is a charged project. Doing one for Indigenous people is even more so, considering how the Bible was used to inspire, justify, and facilitate the physical and cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island and the placement of our parents and grandparents into residential and boarding schools. I’m not surprised it has elicited a whole range of responses.

Personally, as a biblical scholar, I find it refreshing to read. It makes me stop and think in new ways about the passages, like when it talks in the Beatitudes about the Creator’s blessing resting on “the ones who walk a trail of tears, for he will wipe the tears from their eyes and comfort them” (Matthew 5:4 FNV). My Choctaw ancestors walked that literal trail of tears, and I found tears in my own eyes when I read that. It was a poetic and spiritual moment for me.

The name for Jesus, Creator Sets Free, helps readers think differently about Jesus. It helps us to imagine how Jesus’ healing and teaching ministry, Jesus’ exorcism of demons and criticism of religious teachers and priests who had lost their way, Jesus’s communion among the poor and broken, are all manifestations of how Creator Sets his people Free.

Reading the FNV distinct translation helps me to connect dots in the stories and theological themes that I hadn’t thought to connect before. Also, it’s a reminder about the importance and meaning of names in Indigenous culture.

Some elders I have spoken with think the FNV dropped the ball in paraphrasing John 3:16. It’s translation of the Greek cosmos as “world of human beings” that “the Great Spirit so loves" is too anthropocentric, too focused on humans. Indigenous people would see cosmos as including all of creation, which includes non-human persons like animals, plants, and even rocks.

And yet, it would be true for the Greek culture when the New Testament was written; they had a very human-centric mindset—a mindset that I would say doesn’t reflect the heart of Creator nor the broader witness of Scripture.

I have deep regard for the challenge that faces any paraphrase or translation in trying determine the nuance of a given word or theological vision of sacred texts that were written thousands of years ago in times and cultures that are only partially accessible and known to us.  

This can be a helpful Bible for non-Indigenous people, to help them see the scriptures in a new way, and for Indigenous people, to help them see themselves at the centre of the biblical story, not at its margins.