David Gyeong Han

During several stages of contact with Europeans, changes occurred in the lives of the Nuu-chahnulth. After the period of the lucrative fur trade in the initial contact period, commercial expansion and operation of the Hudson's Bay Company 1 started on the West coast. Political measures also accompanied commercial expansion. Missionary activities began in 1875 with a Roman Catholic priest at Hesquiaht. By the 1890s, several Roman Catholic missions were established in the mid-West coast of Vancouver Island. The Anglicans and Methodists also began their activities. Residential schools were established in the late 1800s. The education policy of the colonial government and the residential schools compulsorily removed children from their families. This caused dissonant family relationships and weakened traditional institutions. Through the residential school, the children came into contact with the Christian faith. Residential schools served as a conduit through which a brand of Western education and civilization was brought to the Indigenous people.

From contact with Indigenous people in Northwest Canada until recently, Christian missions did not require a contextual Christian approach. Their cultural uniqueness and spirituality were obliviated under the colonial banner of civilization and Christianization. From a consequential point of view, the long years of Indigenous missionary work were ineffective, assessed by the outcome that they primarily regarded Christianity as a white people's religion. The contextual approach of the mission recognizes the kind of Christianity the cultural characteristics possessed by the traditional Indigenous peoples. Since the Indigenous construct of Christian theology is to know how Christianity is construed in indigenous thought-world and culture, the Anthropological Model of Contextual Theology suggests a right-fit methodology. A contextual approach to theology is a radical departure from traditional theology and concerns the syncretistic or dualistic religion. But an Indigenous Christianity must be understood at the fundamental philosophical level and constructed with similar cultural concepts.  This study builds Indigenous Christianity through a cultural understanding of the Trinity and the cultural expressions of doctrines and attempts to locate Christ in its culture.

The book, "Origin Myth and Indigenous Appropriation of Christianity," could help to deepen our understanding of the formation of Christianity among the Nuu-chah-nulth people. By exploring the intersections between indigenous creation myths and Christian beliefs, the book could shed light on the ways in which Christianity has been adapted and appropriated by indigenous peoples to better fit their cultural and spiritual needs.
In this context, "indigenous appropriation" refers to the process by which indigenous peoples adopt and adapt aspects of Christianity to make it more meaningful and relevant to their cultural context. This can involve incorporating elements of traditional indigenous beliefs and practices into Christian worship, reinterpreting biblical stories in light of local cultural perspectives, or developing new forms of Christian spirituality that are rooted in indigenous cultural traditions.
By exploring the formation of Christianity among the Nuu-chah-nulth people, the book "Origin Myth and Indigenous Appropriation of Christianity" could help to deepen our understanding of the ways in which indigenous peoples have adapted and transformed Christianity to better fit their cultural and spiritual needs. This can provide valuable insights into the process of contextual theology and the role that indigenous creation myths can play in shaping the formation of Christian traditions.

The way the gospel was communicated in the colonial era meant that the recipients had never had a chance to explore their cultural Christian roots fully. How Christianity was translated in the West and its forceful transmission to another culture, especially during periods of colonial expansion, meant that the subtle features of the local cultural ideas were not reflected in the making of their theology. Postcolonial theologians express their suspicion of the colonial Church and Eurocentric theological scholarship to create an encounter between the Biblical text and the cultural context. The culture once condemned as pagan has now been revisited as the subject of Biblical interpretation. Natural transmission of the Christian faith has been through the languages and cultures of people....