Caleb's Crossing

The Wampanoag and Calvinist: a Parable of Misdirection "Caleb 's Crossing" by Geraldine Brooks outlines the clash between faith and culture of the Wampanoag and Calvinist people; that is a symbolic parable of the misdirection of humanity and its fall from the natural world to its ideal worship of materialism. Throughout the novel, we see the Wampanoag 's polytheistic faith of gratitude, appreciation, and interconnectedness with the natural world, clash with the Calvinist 's dogmatic and zealous ideologies of sin, hubris, disconnectedness with nature, punishment and sin. Each side 's faith is a correlation of the peoples behavior with the natural world, and parallels their interaction with it. The hubris of Calvinism is a conveyance of the fundamental disconnection of humanity with nature, and the creation of a faith far more dogmatic and extremist than any other in the world - Materialism. The word "pagan" according to the "Pocket Oxford American Dictionary" is "a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions." It is a derogatory term that has origins to the Latin word 'paganus ' which means 'civilian heathen ' (Oxford Dictionary, 600). Pagans have always be made out to be evil heretical people, who are the devil 's advocate; practicing sorcery, necromancy and other evil deeds. This term comes up in the novel many times, when the Calvinist refer to the Wampanoag, and it is specific to the fact that they come from a faith that is based outside the church. However, this tribe is far from the demon-worshipping, savage heretics that the Colonist would have us believe. They are an extremely peaceful and harmonious people, they practice what might be considered "magick" during rituals, however it is far from evil and serves only as a cultural tradition handed down from generation to generation for the preservation and sanctity of their lifestyle and spirit. To convey Wampanoag spirituality is a complex task, one must first look

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