### Menu

- [Home](/)

- [About](/about/) [Contact](/contact/)

- [Open Access](/open-access/)

- [Peer Review](/peer-review/)

- [Editorial Board](/editors/)

- [Journal Archive](/archives/)

- [News](/blog/)

- [Religious Theory](/religioustheory/)

- [Search](/search/)

- [Submissions](/submissions/)

### The New Polis

                    ![The New Polis is an online publication dedicated to critical theory, social analysis, and political philosophy and theology.](https://files.jcrt.org/images/tnp.webp)

The New Polis is an online publication dedicated to critical theory, social analysis, and political philosophy and theology.

                    ![The New Polis Journal is a peer-reviewed academic journal publishing cutting-edge work in political philosophy, social theory, and related fields.](https://files.jcrt.org/images/tnpj.webp)

The New Polis Journal is a peer-reviewed academic journal publishing cutting-edge work in political philosophy, social theory, and related fields.

	Whitestone Foundation

### Get in touch

The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory (JCRT) is a publication of The Whitestone Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation registered in the state of Colorado.

[Contact Us](/contact/)

---

[Built with Eleventy](https://www.11ty.dev/) | Design: [HTML5 UP](https://html5up.net/) | Maintained by [Adam DJ Brett](https://adamdjbrett.com) | [Credits](/credits/)

[Listed at Duotrope](https://duotrope.com/magazine/journal-cultural-religious-theory-20464?ref=lst-7vbKB-7r3u0g8&pc=L-7VBKB)

        JCRT
        The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory

      JCRT

          The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory

- [Home](/)

- [Archives](/archives/)

- [25.1](/archives/25.1/)

- Article No. 05

# My Decades-long Inquiry Into the Doctrine of Christian Discovery and Domination

            Steven T. Newcomb
            Indigenous Law Institute

               April 16, 2026

                 |  doi.org/10.17613/896nq-j9665

               Download Article

               Download Citation (RIS)

               Download Citation (JSON)

## Table of Contents

The author Steven Newcomb (Shawnee/Lenape) reflects on his lifelong study of the Doctrine of Christian Discovery and Domination, tracing its origins, legal codifications, and enduring impact on Native nations. Motivated by reading *Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee* at age fifteen, Newcomb situates his inquiry within his family history, including Shawnee and Delaware ancestry and his grandparents’ experiences in U.S. Indian boarding schools designed to eradicate Native languages and culture. Newcomb examines the 1493 papal bull *Inter Caetera*, which sanctioned European Christian domination over non-Christian peoples, and the 1823 U.S. Supreme Court ruling *Johnson v. McIntosh*, which codified the legal principle that “discovery” granted title and authority over Native lands. By exploring the etymology of key terms—dominion, conquest, civilization, ascendancy, and sovereignty—he demonstrates how language was weaponized to legitimize domination. Newcomb argues that federal Indian law and the U.S. property system are founded upon a claim of despotic dominion over Native nations and their lands, contrasting sharply with the original free and independent existence of Indigenous peoples. He emphasizes the importance of recovering Native languages, cultural traditions, and spiritual knowledge to challenge this imposed system. Drawing on decades of research, collaboration with Native scholars, and public advocacy, Newcomb calls for a reclamation of sovereignty grounded in reverence for life, and for a conscious movement away from the colonial mindset embedded in law, language, and governance.

© the author(s). Free to read; see the [copyright notice](/copyright/) for reuse terms.

          Keywords:

            doctrine-of-christian-discovery

            us-property-system

            native-nations

            cultural-reclamation

            language-recovery

            colonial-mindset

            boarding-schools

            life-centered-sovereignty

            despotic-dominion

            reclamation

            resistance

            colonial-law

            Share Openly

[The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory (JCRT)](https://jcrt.org) is an online, peer-reviewed, academic publication published by [The Whitestone Foundation](http://thewhitestonefoundation.org/), a 501c3 corporation located in Boulder, Colorado. ISSN 1530-5228. Articles are open access under a [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) license; authors retain copyright. Indexed by [EBSCO](https://www.ebsco.com/). Listed with [Duotrope](https://duotrope.com/magazine/journal-cultural-religious-theory-20464?ref=lst-7vbKB-7r3u0g8&pc=L-7VBKB). Website © The Whitestone Foundation dba The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory 1999-2026.

[JCRT](https://jcrt.org/) | [The New Polis Journal](https://journal.thenewpolis.com/) | [The New Polis](https://thenewpolis.com/) | [Esthesis](https://esthesis.org/) | [Wild Globalization](https://wildglobalization.com/) | [The Whitestone Foundation](https://thewhitestonefoundation.org/)

[The Whitestone Foundation](https://thewhitestonefoundation.org/)