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T HE QUESTION OF whether or not there was an aboriginal high god in the Americas has continuously reflected European ideological concerns. The late nineteenth century theories propounding an evolution of religion, with Christianity placed at the pinnacle of human development, were countered by Andrew Lang followed by Father Wilhelm Schmidt who, in his Ursprung der Gottesidee (1912), proposed a naive and pure monotheism at the very beginning of human culture. Each side utilized American Indian examples to bolster its argument. Those sympathetic with Native Americans tended to reflect Schmidt's views and assume a "primitive" monotheism as the basis of American Indian religions. American students of Native American cultures tended to avoid the controversy and concentrate on specific ethnological instances, usually finding the high god a reflection of missionary influence. W. J. McGee (1897: 182) early on pointed to "the popular fallacy concerning the aboriginal 'Great Spirit' " as an "erroneous interpretation" of the Siouan term wakanda: "Among these tribes the creation and control of the world and the things thereof are ascribed to 'wakan-da', just as among the Algonquin tribes omnipotence was assigned to 'ma-ni-do'; yet inquiry shows that wakanda assumes various forms, and is rather a quality than a definite quantity". (McGee's linguistic analysis is to be distinguished from simplistic evolutionist positions; e.g., William Jones [1905]). Alanson Skinner (1913: 79) thought in reference to the Algonkin Menomini, "Probably the sun was originally the head of the Powers above and Mati Haiwit ik [Great Spirit] is but a modern development of the old idea, through missionary influence." Frank Speck (1977/1935: 28-29) developed the same understanding in regard to the Algonkin Montagnais-Naskapi beliefs: "To the influence of missionary priests, I am now inclined to believe, may be attributed the concept of an anthropomorphic supreme deity-the historic and often discussed Tcetcimantti, 'Great Power,' commonly interpreted as 'Great Spirit.' " (Paul Radin, the eminent scholar of Amerindian religion