Dr. George E. (Tink) Tinker of the faculty of Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colo., will discuss "Native American Liberation Theology: Paddling a Canoe Upstream" on Thursday, March 25, at 3:30 p.m. at Hope College in the Maas Center auditorium through the "Searching the Sacred" lecture series.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Tinker is a professor of American Indian cultures and religious traditions at Iliff School of Theology, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1985. He teaches courses in American Indian culture, history and religious traditions; cross-cultural and Third World theologies; and justice and peace studies. He is the author of "Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Genocide" (1993), co-author of "Native American Theology" (2001) with Clara Sue Kidwell and Homer Noley, and co-editor of "Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance" (2003) with Richard A. Grounds and David E. Wilkins.

He is a member of the Osage Nation and an ordained Lutheran pastor. He continues to work in the Indian community as director of Four Winds American Indian Survival Project in Denver. He is past president of the Native American Theological Association and a member of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians.

Tinker has been active in volunteer capacities with several denominations at the national level, the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. He currently serves as an "Honorary Advisor" to IMADR, the International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism.

He holds his bachelor's degree from New Mexico Highlands University, his M.Div. from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and his doctorate from Graduate Theological Union.

The Maas Center is located on Columbia Avenue at 11th Street.