The Oaks of Mamre Interfaith Theological Library and Graduate Center has received The John Wesley Moore Collection of American Plains Indian Spirituality in a recent ceremony in Easton which was attended by invited guests, several of Native American descent. The Oaks President Bishop Joel Marcus Johnson presided.
The Rev. Moore, the benefactor, is the recently retired pastor of Talbot County’s Riverview Charge of the United Methodist Church.
Pastor Moore, who is of Oglala Lakota and Irish descent from his father, and Kogui Kiowa and Scottish descent from his mother, is a son of The Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota. A lifelong scholar of his Plains Indian heritage, he has collected such memorabilia as rare translations of the Bible, prayer books and hymnals into native tongues, as well as social and political histories, and native artisanal studies. From both his maternal and paternal sides, Pastor Moore is his collective family’s descendant cleric from four generations of the United Methodist and Episcopal churches.
Among the rarest volumes presented in the ceremony was the 1962 Niobrara Service Book, the translation into Dakota of the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer, entitled Wocekiye Wowapi, literally translated, “One who cries out for help.” Other rare volumes include the Dakota Episcopal Hymnal of 1949, and historical works of Walker, Rice, and the Deloria family.
In his presentation, Pastor Moore recounted that among the Plains nations were several tribes which had incorporated symbols and rites of Judaism, possibly the result of Spanish Jews banished to the New World in 1492, and who, in the conquistadores push to overtake northern Mexico, may have gone further north and conjoined with these tribes.
To signify the inter-cultural nature of Plains Indian Christianity, the ceremony concluded as Bishop Johnson gave the Hebrew Aaronic blessing from the Book of Numbers, and Pastor Moore singing a native Dakota hymn of blessing.
“This large, momentous collection is of great importance,” said Bishop Johnson, “as it serves to encourage members and scholars of other native tribes and nations also to participate in preserving their spiritual traditions and histories. The Oaks welcomes these good people.”
The Oaks of Mamre was begun this year under the tax exempt auspices of the Mid Shore Community Foundation. Its purpose is to promote peace and harmony among the world’s great religions through academic seminars and symposia. To receive the mission statement and founding narrative, reach Bishop Johnson at [email protected]
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