Praying Indians
Praying Indians refer to Indigenous Americans, particularly from the Northeast Algonquian group, who converted to Christianity under the influence of Puritan missionaries in the 17th century. Led by John Eliot, these missionaries encouraged converts to establish separate communities, known as "Praying Towns," to facilitate their religious and cultural transformation. Eliot notably learned the Algonquian language and translated the Bible into it, demonstrating a commitment to both communication and conversion. Scholars debate the motivations and consequences of this movement, with interpretations ranging from a means of cultural adaptation and survival to a form of colonial imposition and control.
Praying Towns, such as Natick, functioned almost like reservations, aimed at isolating converted Indigenous Americans from their non-Christian counterparts. While the Puritan agenda intended to instill European societal norms, Indigenous converts maintained elements of their traditional culture and governance, evidenced by their self-governance and the use of indigenous terminology in their expressions of faith. The relationship between the settlers and the Praying Indians revealed underlying tensions and fears, as settlers often regarded these communities with suspicion, even as they saw potential benefits in their presence as a buffer against other Indigenous nations. Overall, the phenomenon of Praying Indians highlights a complex interplay of cultural exchange, adaptation, and colonial authority in early American history.
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Praying Indians
- TRIBE AFFECTED: Northeast Algonquian (Massachusetts)
- SIGNIFICANCE: Seventeenth-century Puritan missionaries urged Indigenous American converts to Christianity to establish their own communities away from the influence of other, non-Christian Indigenous Americans
John Eliot was a Puritan missionary who was involved with preaching to and converting Indigenous Americans in the earliest British colonies in the “New World.” John Eliot himself was of a scholarly orientation, having learned the Algonquian dialect of the people he was working with to such an extent that he translated the entire Bible into their language.
Scholars debate the impact of Puritan missionaries on the Northeast Indigenous nations in the Algonquian language family. Some suggest that the conversions were the creative and self-preserving response of a people who realized that their old lifestyle was gone forever. Others see it as the violent imposition of a foreign lifestyle on Indigenous American people, who were weakened by waves of disease that accompanied early European contact on the coasts of Canada and the United States.
As a number of Indigenous Americans became converts, they were resettled in villages and towns to be separated from those of their nations who did not convert to Christianity. The idea was to separate them from their cultural influences to train them more easily in the ways of “Christianity and civilization.” In the Puritan mindset, work and productivity were measures of spiritual maturity, and thus, the “civilizing” influence was explicitly seen as part of the message of Christianity. Natick, Massachusetts, founded by Eliot, is one of the most notable examples of a "Praying Town."
In her analysis of the “praying Indian town” phenomenon, Elise Brenner stated that these praying towns were, in actuality, strongly akin to reservations. Furthermore, the goal of settling otherwise nomadic peoples made them easier to control and enculturate. As Brenner states, “Christian Indians . . . were part of the European long-term plan of establishing total colonial authority in New England.”
Eliot experimented with several different styles of governance in his attempt to transform the “praying Indians” into proper European converts. For example, he borrowed a “Mosaic” code of governance taken from his interpretation of the Book of Exodus, which imposed “leaders of ten,” over whom were “leaders of fifty,” who answered to “leaders of one hundred,” with a court composed of “leaders of a thousand.”
A full integration into European American society was never the goal of the praying town system. There was constant suspicion among the English settlers themselves, and funds were typically raised among Christians in England, whose image of the work in the colonies was colored by the reports of missionary fundraisers. When it was seen that these praying Indigenous Americans might be armed as a buffer between the European settlers and the hostile nations further west, however, settler interest increased.
Contemporary scholarship has focused on how "praying Indian" towns in the Northeast cultural area were as much new expressions of Indigenous society and cultural values as they were a system imposed by European settlers. In fact, there was considerable self-governance and authority among the Indigenous converts, and many aspects of traditional society and creativity were maintained within the context of the newly proclaimed Christian faith. Indigenous expressions of Christianity, such as the continued use of indigenous terminology to refer to God, were not unusual in these villages, although the use of indigenous terms and concepts raised the suspicions of some missionaries who believed such “syncretism” to be unacceptable. Eliot himself was not above using whatever similarities he saw between indigenous traditions and Christian conceptions.
When compared with more violent contacts between Europeans and Indigenous Americans, the praying town phenomenon had certain humane features, and Eliot was certainly more informed of indigenous language and culture than most settlers. Ultimately, however, the separation of Indigenous Americans from their fellow nation members must be seen as being part of the systematic destruction of indigenous life that has occurred in American history.
Bibliography
Brenner, Elise. "To Pray or to Be Prey: Strategies for Cultural Autonomy of Massachusetts Praying Town Indians." Ethnohistory, vol. 27, no. 2, 1980, pp. 135-152.
Eliot, John. A Late and Further Manifestation of the Prog-ress of the Gospel Amongst Indians in New-England. J. Allen, 1655.
Jennings, Francis. "Goals and Functions of Puritan Missions to the Indians." Ethnohistory, vol. 18, no. 3, 1971, pp. 197-212.
"John Eliot: Father of 'Praying Villages.'" Boston Harbor Islands, 8 Dec. 2021, www.bostonharborislands.org/uncategorized/john-eliot-father-of-praying-villages. Accessed 10 Nov. 2024.
"Natick's Beginnings." Natick Historical Society, www.natickhistoricalsociety.org/naticks-beginnings. Accessed 10 Nov. 2024.
"Our History." Praying Indians of Natick and Ponkapoag, natickprayingindians.org/history.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2024.
Patchett, Joshua. "The Tragedy of the Praying Indians." The Mallard, mallarduk.com/2023/01/the-tragedy-of-the-praying-indians. Accessed 10 Nov. 2024.
Salisbury, Neal. "Red Puritans: The 'Praying Indians’' of Massachusetts Bay and John Eliot." William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1, 1974, pp. 27-54.
Vaughan, Alden T. New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians, 1620-1675. Little, Brown, 1965.