Christianity, Settler Colonialism, and Extractivism

Informed by field research in the Bakken oilfields of North Dakota, this book discusses Christian congregations and Native American communities impacted by hydraulic fracking. This book discusses the social, economic, and environmental changes imposed by the extractive industries on local Indigenous communities and the responses by Christian congregations to these changes. Jan Pranger provides a Christian theological and ethical perspective on resource extraction that draws on the study of settler colonialism. Employing settler colonial theory, the book incorporates the relationships between Native American and Euro-American settler communities and their reflection on theological and ethical discussions of resource extraction. Beginning by revisiting the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the histories of colonization of local indigenous peoples, Pranger explores Christianity’s role in the establishment of the United States of America as a settler colonial state. In essence, this book queries how Christianity has contributed to and been shaped by the structures, cultures, and spiritualities that enable the extraction of resources from Indigenous peoples and the earth's natural and mineral resources.