Leaving Culture at the Door: Aboriginal Perspectives on Christian Belief and Practice

Abstract

Pat Dodson and Jacinta Elston offer perspectives on the relationship between the Christian church and Aboriginal culture with Brian McCoy. Both Pat and Jacinta grew up in very different regions, culturally, historically and geographically in north Australia. Their relationship to Aboriginal culture and Christian expression is compared and contrasted. Brian, work colleague and friend to Pat and Jacinta, continues to work with Aboriginal people around issues of health. Their contribution begins with Pat and Jacinta offering early memories of growing up within a church and its particular Christian and social context. It then moves to their reflections on current church practice, and how problematic the connection between Aboriginal culture and Christian practice can become. This leads to a focus on the conduct of funerals where culture and belief, Aboriginal and Christian, so often meet and sometimes collide. The article concludes with some challenges that face the Christian churches today.