Negotiating Gods And Faith In The Desert: Christianity And Cultures In New Mexico

Join SMU Chaplain Steve Rankin and SMU-in-Taos Executive Director Mike Adler as they delve into the many ways that religion, spirituality and Native American culture interact. Learn how the Christian religion spread into New Mexico amid a wide range of spiritualities. How did the Native Americans respond? Was the spread of Christianity one of the causes of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, a cultural convulsion that drove Europeans from the Southwest for more than a dozen years? Learn how cultural and historical events helped shape the past and present practice of religion. Gain access to the Penitente morada, the sacred (and secretive) meeting room of the Penitente brotherhood (hermanos). Discover El Sanctuario de Chimayo, the site where many Native Americans take their pilgrimages to ask for healing and prayers. Visit the Wells Petroglyph, with more than 6,000 petroglyphs depicting ritual symbols of diverse cultures.

About the Instructors

Steve Rankin is SMU’s chaplain and minister to the University. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University, an M.Div. from Saint Paul School of Theology, a Th.M. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Northwestern University. Rankin came to SMU from Southwestern College, where he was the campus minister and the Kirk Chair Professor of Religious Studies. He holds Elders Orders and full membership in the North Texas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Mike Adler is the executive director of the SMU-in-Taos Fort Burgwin campus. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Michigan and his B.A. from Princeton University. Adler develops theoretical and methodological tools to understand the development of village formation in the American Southwest and other regions of the world. His excavations at Chaves-Hummingbird Pueblo near Albuquerque are presently the focus of a book project on the interaction of archaeology, oral traditions of Native American groups and cultural group identity. One exciting facet of Adler’s research is the active inclusion of descendant Native American communities from Acoma, Laguna, Hopi and Zuni Pueblos. His research, funded by the National Science Foundation, has enabled him to involve elders from these pueblos in the investigation of cultural affiliation and ethnic identity from archaeological and indigenous perspectives.

For more information

Contact Allison Curran at taosci@smu.edu or call 214-768-TAOS (8267).