ORCID
Philip P. Arnold: 0009-0008-1224-5714
Document Type
Article
Date
4-16-2026
Disciplines
Religion
Description/Abstract
This conclusion reaffirms the central thesis of the volume: the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (DoCD) is a persistent and pervasive system of domination, shaping legal, theological, and cultural structures that perpetuate Indigenous dispossession and white supremacy. Drawing upon scholarship and activism presented at the 2023 Syracuse University conference, the essays reveal how the DoCD is embedded in law, education, tourism, and national identity, sustaining the authority of settler colonialism. The contributors emphasize that true change requires more than legal reform; it demands metaphysical and cultural disobedience to the ideologies underpinning Christian empire and racial capitalism. Enacting justice calls for decolonial approaches—centering Indigenous cosmologies, fostering relationality, and transforming educational and public discourses. Highlighting both harm and healing, the volume advances pedagogical strategies that challenge erasure and settler innocence, urging a return to Indigenous land and knowledge. Grounded in the Haudenosaunee “Two Row Wampum” method and inspired by global Indigenous resistance, the conclusion calls for a comprehensive reimagining of law, theology, and society. Decolonization, it asserts, is ongoing work: requiring the restoration of land, the honoring of Indigenous law, and the cultivation of right relations.
Recommended Citation
Arnold, Philip P., "Conclusion: Dismantling the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, Cultivating Right Relations" (2026). Religion - All Scholarship. 122.
https://surface.syr.edu/rel/122
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
