The Influence of Christianity on the Work of Native American Authors

The Christian Influence

The writings of Native American authors were influenced greatly by the Christians, Puritans in particular, long after their initial arrival in the 17th century. The original definition of Puritanism was "those who strove for a worship purified from all taint of popery" (Burton). The Puritans greatly stressed the "serving [of] God in spirit and in truth" — by feeling and conduct rather than by doctrine" (Burton). One such writer is Mr. William Apes, who later changed his name to William Apess, who was the first Native American to publish an autobiography, and later wrote several books between 1829 and 1836.

One-quarter white, three-quarters Native American of the Pequots in Connecticut, Apess was born in 1798. After 1838 there was no documentation of his presence recorded, so it is surmised that he probably left the country. Although there is no documentation of his death, one source indicates that he died in "New York City on April 9, 1839" (Reuben).

As William Apess tells it in his autobiography, A Son of the Forest (1829), his grandfather was a white man who married the granddaughter of King Philip, or Metacomet. As a small boy, Apess was abused by his alcoholic grandparents and then sold as an indentured laborer.

Puritans "considered religion a very complex, subtle, and highly intellectual affair, and therefore, its leaders were highly trained scholars, whose education tended to translate into positions that were often authoritarian" (Miller). Because of this, the boy's master allowed him to attend school and introduced him to Christianity; the most important influence in Apess' life.

The Christian influence is evident in his autobiography; one such example, from Vizenor, taken from his autobiography, is as follows:

I HAVE HEARD A GREAT DEAL SAID RESPECTING INFANTS FEELING, AS IT WERE, THE OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ON THEIR MINDS, IMPRESSING THEM WITH A SENSE OF THEIR WICKEDNESS AND A NECESSITY OF A PREPARATION FOR A FUTURE STATE. CHILDREN AT A VERY EARLY AGE MANIFEST IN A STRONG DEGREE TWO OF THE EVIL PASSIONS OF OUR NATURE—ANGER AND PRIDE. WE NEED NOT WONDER, THEREFORE, THAT PERSONS IN EARLY LIFE FEEL GOOD IMPRESSIONS; INDEED, IT IS A FACT, TOO WELL ESTABLISHED TO ADMIT OF DOUBT OR CONTROVERSY, THAT MANY CHILDREN HAVE MANIFESTED A STRENGTH OF INTELLECT FAR ABOVE THEIR YEARS AND HAVE GIVEN AMPLE EVIDENCE OF A GOOD WORK OF GRACE MANIFEST BY THE INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN THE YOUNG AND TENDER MINDS. BUT THIS IS PERHAPS ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE CARE AND ATTENTION BESTOWED UPON THEM.

One cannot get more Puritan in thought. The Puritans believed wholeheartedly that one was born into sin and should spend the rest of his or her days repenting and requesting the forgiveness of God; proving to Him that he or she was worthy of entering the 'Gates of Heaven' by studying the Bible for all of their days and helping guide their fellow man to salvation.

It is absolutely clear that Mr. Apess agrees with the Puritan idea and feels that humans are born with prior knowledge and wickedness, and should spend their lives erasing these evils, as he called them. This is a clear example of how powerfully and completely influenced he was. Beginning at a very tender age, he was exposed to and coaxed into believing these thoughts and ideas, and grew up taking them as his own. He believed that one had to rid themselves of 'evil' given proper guidance.

As an adult, he became a preacher, and one of the first published Native Americans. In 1833 he moved to Mashpee, the last Indian town in Massachusetts, to preach. Apess saw Christianity and racial prejudice as completely incompatible, and this became one of the central themes of his writings and sermons. Apess was a powerful orator and the first American Indian protest writer. At a time when whites presumed Indians were dying out or being moved west of the Mississippi, Apess attacked whites' treatment of Indians using forceful and rhetorical language. Although he defended the virtues of native oral traditions, he was acutely aware of the damage inflicted by a written historical record devoted entirely to the victors' version of events.

In his famous Eulogy on King Philip, delivered in 1836 in Boston, he insisted that Indians wanted only what the descendants of the Pilgrims wanted: justice and Christian fellowship.

As a Native American, he would never have made a eulogy without the Puritan background that he had. As well, he would not have indicated that Native Americans had anything in common with Pilgrims. The Native Americans wanting any form of Christianity is also quite absurd, as the Christian belief and Native American belief is very different.

Apess' conversion from traditional, native thought to Christian Puritanism is obvious in the making of this speech. For example, Chief Seattle's speech was altered to "One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover-our god is the same god" (Perry), from the original translation, "Then in reality will he be our father and we his children. But can that ever be? Your God is not our God! Your God loves your people and hates mine" (Smith). This is the white man's way of trying to smooth over what has been done to the native culture, and Apess began doing it as well, only for benefit of his people.

Apess, unlike some of his colleagues, was able to adapt to forces of colonization and through his experience not only uplift himself but also further the cause of his people.

His narratives show a man who has not fully incorporated the dominant's ideas. This is demonstrated by his continued attachment to Native people. In contrast to the dominant society, Apess writes of the good qualities of Native people. And, in a very creative move, he begins to use Christianity to seek and question issues of justice and freedom for Native people. Apess speaks sadly of "deep and lasting regret that the character of the Indians ... should be so grossly misrepresented and misunderstood," and that Indians should be "accused of cruelty and perfidy of the basest nature" (qtd. in O'Connell 114). He further notes in a sermon that "the kingdoms of this world, with but few exceptions, are confederacies of wrong; the powerful trespass on the weak; the rich live in luxury and rioting, while the poor are enslaved and doomed to much servile drudgery; without any hope of bettering their conditions" (Apess qtd. in O'Connell 102). The sermon, however, depicts hope and freedom for his people as he concludes that, "in the kingdom of Christ" is a place where "the noble of the earth are on an equality with the poor and humble" (O'Connell 102).

In Apess' writing we see a Christian man who continues to bring forward Native histories, issues, and concerns.