Syllabus

Course Number: MLS 652

Course Title: Lakota Culture and Inculturation

Semester: Fall 2001

Credits: 3

Instructor: Rev. Raymond Bucko, SJ

Course Objective: This graduate-level reading course will examine theological and cultural issues of inculturation, specifically in the context of the Roman Catholic Church and its works among the Dakota/Nakota/Lakota. According to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference: “Inculturation is the constant effort to present the Good News in a way that sheds trappings of one culture and penetrates, renews, and challenges the heart of another culture and, at the same time, is renewed and enlivened by contact with the new culture.” (Strangers in our Midst: Inculturation, USCCB, 1999) Also, “Through inculturation the Church makes the Gospel incarnate in different cultures and at the same time taking the good elements that already exist in them and renewing them from within.” (Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 52) The objective of this course, then, is to explore Church teachings relative to inculturation and their specific application to the local Native American population in the form of a final research paper.

Course Requirements: Requirements for the course include reading, research, and interviewing (a list is attached.) In addition, periodic drafts of the final paper will be submitted throughout the semester. A final research paper is required, which will contain at least 30 pages, along with three preliminary drafts as indicated below.

Schedule: September 30 first draft submission; October 30: second draft submission; November 30: third draft submission; December 8: Final research paper due.

Grading: The final research paper will be worth 50% of the final grade. Drafts and other reports will represent the remaining 50% collectively.

Reading, Research, and Interview List

Reading--Books:

Arbuckle, Gerald. Earthing the Gospel.

Bevans, Stephen. Models of Contextual Theology

Bosch, David. Transforming Mission.

Deloria, Ella Speaking of Indians

Deloria, Vine For this Land: Writings on Religion in America

Duratschek, Claudia. History of the Catholic Church in South Dakota

Enoch, Ross. The Jesuit Mission to the Lakota Sioux: Pastoral Theology and Ministry 1886-1945, 1996

Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures and Local Knowledge.

Gort, Jerald D. Dialogue and Syncretism.

Holler, Clyde. The Black Elk Reader 2000

Kidwell, Alice, et al. Native American Theology, 2001

Irwin, Lee, ed. Native American Spirituality: A Critical Reader

Schineller, J. Peter. A Handbook on Inculturation

Shorter, Aylward. Toward a Theology of Inculturation.

Starkloff, Carl. The People of the Center: American Indian Religion and Christianity

Steinmetz, Paul. Pipe, Bible, and Peyote Among the Oglala Lakota

The Sacred Pipe

Stolzman, William The Pipe and Christ: A Christian Sioux Dialogue

Thistlewaite, Susan. Lift Every Voice, 1998

Treat, James, ed. Native and Christian: Indigenous Voices on Religious Identity in the United States and Canada

Other—Official Documents from the following websites:

www.vatican.va (Vatican)

www.nccbuscc.org (National Conference of Catholic Bishops)

Interviews:

The student interviewed a variety of Lakota and Mission personnel as well as Lakota currently involved in Catholic ministry.