Contemporary perspectives on Christianity's role in American Indian communities are diverse and often ambiguous, partly due to this religion's involvement in colonization. While some grassroots traditionalists and many in the activist and academic communities frequently reject Christianity for its role in dismantling American Indian traditions and identities, the past is complex, and the American Indian Christian community is strong and growing. The last two decades have seen its resurgence. Recent works such as Mona Susan Power's Sacred Wilderness Sterlin Harjo's This May Be the Last Time, and The Cherokee Hymnbook: New Edition for Everyone reflect ongoing practices of Christianity in Indian Country today. Still, as James Treat documents in Native and Christian, individuals who identify as American Indian Christians grapple with questions of how to address the religion's troubling past, face the challenge of meeting criticism from those who see Christian and Native as mutually exclusive identities, and engage in a journey to integrate tribal and Christian practices.

This special issue, proposed for the interdisciplinary journal American Indian Quarterly, seeks to explore the vitality, complexity, and widespread practice of Christianity in contemporary Native America. Articles will be approximately 20 to 30 pages in length and should address contemporary American Indian expressions of Christianity. We welcome articles from a variety of disciplines on topics such as, but not limited to, the following: depictions of Christianity in contemporary American Indian literature; literature produced by American Indian Christians, particularly women; studies of ongoing American Indian hymn traditions and their relation to tribally-specific identity; articles on Christianity within Native American Church; articles on Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Anglicanism, Baptists, LDS, or other denominations as practiced in various geographical locations throughout Indian Country; studies of the repentance and reconciliation movement within contemporary churches and/or on the movement among churches to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery; and articles examining the complex perspectives produced by the contemporary socio-political climate in academia and beyond towards Native Christians.

We invite interested individuals to submit 300 word abstracts, along with their name, institutional affiliation, and contact information to kroppolo@ou.edu no later than September 30, 2015. If accepted, drafts of articles will be due by March 30, 2015, with final copies due at the end of May 2015.