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In the introduction to a 1988 edition of BLACK ELK SPEAKS, Vine Deloria, Jr. of the Sioux nations accepts BLACK ELK SPEAKS as an authentic Sioux vision, a vision Black Elk shared with John Neihardt in order to ensure its availablity to future generations.

Deloria describes BLACK ELK SPEAKS as "a religious classic, perhaps the only religious classic of this century" (BES, p. xi), and
Deloria describes "the Black Elk theological tradition" as "the central core of a North American Indian theological canon which will someday challenge the Eastern and Western traditions as a way of looking at the world" (BES, p. xiv).

Deloria identifies Neihardt's BLACK ELK SPEAKS and WHEN THE TREE FLOWERED and Joseph Epes Brown's THE SACRED PIPE as "the basic works of the Black Elk theological tradition" (BES, p. xiii-xiv).

Deloria says:

"Present debates center on the question of Neihardt's literary intrusions into Black Elk's system of beliefs and some scholars have said that the book reflects more of Neihardt than it does of Black Elk. It is, admittedly, difficult to discover if we are talking with Black Elk or John Neihardt, whether or not the positive emphasis which the book projects is not the optimism of two poets lost in the modern world and transforming drabness into an idealized world. Can it matter? The very nature of great religious teachings is that they encompass everyone who understands them and personalities become indistinguishable from the transcendent truth that is expressed. So let it be with Black Elk Speaks. That it speaks to us with simple and compelling language about an aspect of human expereince and encourages us to emphasize the best that dwells within us is sufficient. Black Elk and John Neihardt would probably nod affirmatively to that statement and continue their conversation. It is good. It is enough."
(BES, p. iv)

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