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Study guide: Beyond a resolution
Will Nunnally/ELCA — The 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly began with a Native American call to worship. In the service, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton acknowledged the tribal land in Milwaukee on which the assembly met. A task force is now determining the next steps the ELCA could take to further its repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery.

Study guide: Beyond a resolution

Lutherans consider how to transform the "Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery" into an active document

Five years have passed since the 2016 Churchwide Assembly approved (912-28) a declaration repudiating the 15th-century Doctrine of Discovery. The doctrine, sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church, gave European nations license to “discover” undeveloped lands, annex them, exploit their resources and rule over the native peoples there. Many of the world’s Indigenous peoples, including those from the Americas, say Europeans used the doctrine to justify stealing their land and resources, and oppressing their people—crimes for which there has been no restitution and whose effects still linger.

Download a study guide for “Beyond a resolution,” which appeared in Living Lutheran‘s November 2021 issue. The free pdf contains five pages of discussion questions and a copy of the article.