Dave Aftandilian: a Native American Theology of Animals
In "Toward a Native American Theology of Animals," Dave Aftandilian asserts that, based on the Muskogee Creek and Cherokee versions of the Earth Diver he analyzed, several lessons are clear – “animals are more powerful than humans” because “they lived in the world before we did, and, therefore have more practical and spiritual knowledge than humans do,” and animals have the ability “epitomize the different cosmological realms of existence, and … even have the ability to cross between those realms.”
To Aftandilian, the resulting practical and spiritual role of humans in relation to other animals is clear “humans ought to treat other animals with humility and respect, rather than in an exploitive or domineering fashion.” To demonstrate that humility and respect: humans must show respect for animals; humans must observe restraint in hunting animals; humans must engage in a reciprocal relationship of gratitude with animals; and humans must engage in ceremonies which ritually renew the world on behalf of all beings. If not, humans face consequences ranging from poor hunting to loss of spiritual power to illness to, even, death (Aftandilian 2011, 195-198).
As for the role of humans, Aftandilian asserts that our role as humans, late arrivers to this scene, is to “mediate “between the powers of the Upper and Under Worlds … maintaining a complementary balance between them so that their ongoing creative powers can be realized (Aftandilian 2011, 196).”
Aftandilian notes that, “while the Genesis 1 creation story describes humans as more important that any other animal because we were created last, Creek, Cherokee, and other Native American creation stories suggest the opposite – that humans are weaker than any other animal because we appeared last on the cosmological scene (Aftandilian 2011, 195).”
Native American Mythological vs.
Christian Biblical Views
