UNDOING MANIFEST DESTINY SETTLER AMERICA, CHRISTIAN COLONISTS, AND THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE
February 3, 2026 RELIGION / Christian Theology / History 978-1-5140-0864-5, 256 Pages, PBK, 6 x 9 inches, $28.99
Theology
Reckoning with the Colonial Past to Bring Justice to the Present In Undoing Manifest Destiny , L. Daniel Hawk exposes the belief systems and practices that settlers developed to justify the displacement, destruction, and cultural erasure of Indigenous peoples, beginning in the early American colonial period and extending to the present day. Writing as the descendant of White settlers and as a biblical scholar, he challenges settler Christians to uncover what the settler narrative denies and to work toward addressing historic injustices. In this book, Hawk: • combines settler colonial theory, historical analysis, and Christian theology to examine how settler America sought to erase Indigenous presence from lands taken by the United States and its colonial predecessors; • offers a decolonizing perspective that challenges the church to acknowledge its complicity with the colonial project and to enter into dialogue directed toward setting things right; and • highlights contemporary manifestations of colonialism in US interactions with its Indigenous citizens, demonstrating that past issues are still present and need to be addressed today. Deepen your understanding of history, confront unsettling truths, and work toward justice and healing with Undoing Manifest Destiny .
“A necessary and prophetic text for those interested in the unsettling yet essential work of reconciliation between settlers and Indigenous people. L. Daniel Hawk is a compelling storyteller, myth buster, Bible expositor, and bridge builder.” T. Christopher Hoklotubbe, director of graduate studies at NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community and coauthor, with H. Daniel Zacharias, of Reading the Bible on Turtle Island “The importance of L. Daniel Hawk’s Undoing Manifest Destiny dare not be underestimated. Too many turn American history into a romance of the European Christian conquest and the Indians who lived here into merely minor impediments to that winning of the West. Hawk demonstrates the falseness of that romance.” Tink Tinker, member of the Osage Nation and emeritus professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at the Iliff School of Theology
L. Daniel Hawk (PhD, Emory University) is professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. Aspects of his work on biblical narrative take a postcolonial turn in books such as Joshua in 3-D: A Commentary on Biblical Conquest and Manifest Destiny and as coeditor of Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations .
— Also by this Author — EVANGELICAL POSTCOLONIAL CONVERSATIONS
IVP ACADEMIC CATALOG
SPRING & SUMMER 2026
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