The American Indian experience of the world around us as both alive and conscious makes euro-western anthropocentrism an impossibility. The Indian understanding of the personhood of rocks and trees and the kinship of all of life has important ethical consequences when it comes to waging war, cutting down a forest, or even eating lunch. These sessions will unpack some of the traditional worldview of Indian folk, setting that worldview in tension with the globalization of capital and its worldview.

George (Tink) Tinker — GTU’s 2004 Alumnus of the Year — is an enrolled member of the Osage Nation and professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at Iliff School of Theology. A popular presenter on American Indian Spirituality, his publications include Spirit and Resistance: Political Theology and American Indian Liberation and Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Genocide. He co-authored A Native American Theology and is co-editor of Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance.