Independence cherished by kind of pagan tribe (7)
I believe the answer is:
gentile
'pagan tribe' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'independence cherished by kind' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'independence' could be 'i' and 'i' is found within the answer.
'kind' could be 'gentle' (I've seen this before) and 'gentle' is found in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gentile that I've seen before include "Name for non-Jewish person" , "Name for person who is not Jewish" , "Pagan" , "Non-Jew" , "Goy" .)