TST Students Engage with Innovative Course on Indigenous Christianity

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As National Indigenous History Month winds down, TST is reflecting on an exciting course that broke new ground with its approach and its subject matter.

Fourteen students from the Toronto School of Theology participated recently in an extraordinary new course that saw Indigenous methods of teaching and learning used by elders and knowledge keepers to share the experiences of Indigenous Christians in Canada.

Indigenous Christianity was offered by the University of St. Michael’s College Faculty of Theology in tandem with the Vancouver School of Theology, St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, Ottawa’s St. Paul University and Concordia University in Montreal. Elders and Knowledge Keepers taught alongside professors from the participating schools, using a storytelling approach and sharing circles to highlight Indigenous theological, spiritual, and ecclesial contributions to Christian life in Canada.

The course, open to students at all seven member colleges at the TST, was designed to recognize and honour Indigenous contributions to Christian life in Canada, says TST Executive Director, Darren Dias, OP, who was TST’s professor participant.

“It is a step in the reconciliation process, an opportunity to listen and learn both to Indigenous experience in the church, as well as a chance for students to gain insights that may well touch and enrich their own spiritual lives,” Dias says.

Each class was modelled after Indigenous learning circle pedagogy. Classes began with a presentation, followed by small sharing circles so that students from various parts of the country had an opportunity to meet and talk. Then the entire group would reconvene and compare notes. It was a process, Dias adds, that offered the professors fresh insights into how people learn and what kinds of information they are seeking.

Indigenous Christianity flowed from conversations that took place among Indigenous leaders around the fire with Prof. Michel Andraos, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at St. Paul University, who was the course lead, says Knowledge Keeper, Tom Dearhouse, who co-chairs the Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and whose contribution to the course included a talk sharing his reflections on Indigenous expressions of spirituality, such as smudging. Discussions focused on what such a course would look like and what its goals should be.

Other instructors included Donna Naughton, the Executive Director of Kateri Native Ministry in Ottawa, Deacon Harry LaFond, Scholar in Indigenous Education at Saskatoon’s St. Thomas More College and Elder John Rice, who is a member of the Three Fires Midewiwin Society and Elder/Knowledge Holder at Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child & Family Services in Central Ontario.

Dearhouse says he valued the opportunity to participate, saying that Indigenous people have great wisdom and insights to offer but often do not feel like they are fully part of the church. Only by sharing knowledge and experiences can the process of reconciliation move forward, he adds, “Once you know somebody you can’t unknow them,” he says, adding that he is happy to participate in future course offerings.

Peter Bagnall, a Doctor of Ministry student at St. Michael’s, appreciated the unique approach of the TST class which, for example, saw the classic university course reading list set aside in favour of students creating their own bibliographies. Encouraged to think beyond the traditional list of textbooks and academic articles, participants were allowed to include a variety of materials ranging from novels by Indigenous authors to podcasts, films and documentaries, and a variety of experiential learning opportunities to inform their participation in the class, such as visiting galleries to engage with Indigenous art.

Embracing the approach, Bagnall included a trip to Petroglyph Provincial Park, home to the largest collection of First Nations rock carvings in Ontario. For the career teacher, the visit fit smoothly into his research on slow pedagogy and ecological theology.

“There is so much to learn about our relationship with the land,” he says, noting the influence Indigenous spirituality has had on Christian theological understanding of topics related to eco-spirituality, for example.

Bagnall valued the opportunity the course provided for conversations with elders and the way it pulled various academic and cultural experiences together, including a retreat he  attended at the Anishnaabe Spiritual Centre in Espanola, coordinated by Regis College doctoral student, Noah MacDonald, a canon lawyer who is a member of the Anishinaabe Michipicoten First Nation.

“It brought a rich consolidation and coherence,” Bagnall says. “I was looking for conversations. There is the inescapable reality that even our spirituality is colonized, but it is the most individual and important aspect of ourselves.”

For Emmanuel College student Ema Rado, a Master of Theological Studies student, the course helped illuminate some of her questions about dual identities. A recent graduate of Emmanuel’s Master of Psychospiritual Studies in the Muslim focus, Rado finds such questions arise in her work as a psychotherapist and as a Muslim studying at a college in the United Church tradition.

“Spiritual care is a world view, a question of how I see the world,” she says, adding that the course reinforced the value of sharing stories to better understand each other as stories communicate vulnerability. Engagement with various faith traditions and spiritualities can only help, she adds, noting that she appreciated her a sense of receiving wisdom while sharing some of her own insights.
“I took away an understanding of the importance of finding permission to be who we are without needing to choose,” she says. “We need to give ourselves permission not to choose. I felt it helped me in my own identity. I felt at home.”

Teaching alongside Profs. Andraos and Dias were Prof. Christine Jamieson, associate professor in the department of theological studies at Concordia University in Montreal ad Rev. Dr. Ray Aldred, Director of Indigenous Studies at the Vancouver School of Theology.

TST financially supported graduate student participation in the class.