Sacred Land, Sacred View: Navajo Perceptions of the Four Corners Region (Charles Redd Monographs in Western History) [Paperback]

Robert S. McPherson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Charles Redd Monographs in Western History | Publication Date: May 1992

Dramatic geographical formations tower over the Four Corners country in the southwestern United States. The mountains, cliffs, and sandstone spires, familiar landmarks for anglo travelers, orient Navajos both physically and spiritually. In Sacred Land, Sacred View, Robert McPherson describes the mythological significance of these landmarks. Navajos read their environment as a spiritual text: the gods created the physical world to help, teach, and protect people through an integrated system of beliefs represented in nature. The author observes that the Middle East is of "no greater import to Christians than the Dine's holy land is to Navajos." He continues: "Sacred mountains circumscribe the land, containing the junction of the San Juan River and Mancos Creek, where Born for Water invoked supernatural aid to overcome danger and death and where, at the Bear's Ears formation, good triumphed over evil." The more one learns about the Dine, the more one inevitably admires their way of perceiving and interpreting what lies just beyond the focus of human vision. Their renowned respect for nature and way of living in harmony with the environment derive from their religious traditions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Signature Books; Later printing edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560850086
• ISBN-13: 978-1560850083
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Earth-Based Religions > Native American
  • #20 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Native American Studies

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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quietly moving, appealing and informative book., August 7, 2000

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacred Land, Sacred View: Navajo Perceptions of the Four Corners Region (Charles Redd Monographs in Western History) (Paperback)

Sacred Land Sacred View was written to help honor, record and preserve navajo beliefs and heritage about the Four Corners areas, more than to present a scholarly work on changes in Navajo belief and thought. In the beginning, the author quotes Joseph Campbell's four criteria for a belief system to be a viable force in a person's life. They are (1)mystical function, enabling person to live with awe and gratitude toward the supernatural forces of the universe, (2) attunement with the knowledge and science of the times, giving adequate explanation of how things occur that does not conflict with the understanding of the physical world, (3) validation of the teachings and practices of the morally acceptable in cultural context, and (4) It is a guide to spiritual harmony and strength in a useful life (paraphrased, page 5). Sacred Land Sacred View attempts to reconstruct legends, prehistory, tales of the Navajo that contribute to the criteria above for peoples of the Four Corners. Black and White Photos of scenes and formations help clarify the legends and Navajo histories associated with specific sacred sites. A tone of reverence sets the scene. There are also important views of the Navajo's perspectives on earlier cultures such as the Anasazi. The recurring theme, however is the resolution of cultural dissonance by the Navajo, and, perhaps by implication, all western culture. "Returning to the metaphor given earlier, the new generations of the Dine can 'sleep' through the teachings of their elders or they can be like the student, who said, regarding the holy beings, 'If I were awake, they would say I am their child.' The choice is an individual expression that every Navajo person will make. Whatever each decides, may it take him or her on a path of beauty over a landscape that has meaning and the power to teach and protect (pp.130-131.)" Sacred Land Sacred View is a quietly moving book, designed to appeal and to inform. Brigham Young University/Chas. Redd Center for Western Studies/

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer