Tink Tinker, of the wazhazhe / Osage Nation, is Clifford Baldridge Professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at the Iliff School of Theology.
The Doctrine of christian Discovery: Lutherans and the Language of Empire
March 2017: Doctrine of Discovery (Volume 17 Issue 2)
Tinker provides an incredibly valuable history of the ways in which the doctrine of discovery was used during the colonization of what is now the United States. Though today this mindset is reinforced through U.S. culture, Tinker examines how part of its major impact has come from how it was used in government to “legally” allow native land to be stolen. As Christians, it is even more important for us to note the role that Christianity played in the process.