Descandalizing Multiple Religious Identity with Help from Nicholas Black Elk and His Spirituality: An Exercise in Interreligious Learning

Abstract

As an exercise in interreligious learning, this essay explores the question of multiple religious identity (participation and belonging) of Lakota Catholic Nicholas Black Elk in the context of spirituality and sacramentality. By examining Black Elk’s multiple religious identity and his desire to experience the Wakan, however manifested, in the context of various aspects of Lakota spirituality, a pansacramental worldview emerges in the form of panentheistic and liberal openness. From a non-Native Christian theological perspective, this essay examines Black Elk’s Lakota spirituality insofar as it yields a promising opportunity for non-Native Christians to accept without scandal the possibility of multiple religious identity.