How can the church respond to issues of imperialism, race and globalization? Constructing an evangelical postcolonial theology may be the solution to dealing with these ever-growing issues. Gathering together essays presented at the 2010 Postcolonial Roundtable at Gordon College, this groundbreaking volume seeks to reconcile the ugly history of cultural dominion and colonialism with new perspectives on global society.
Rethinking and reimagining the concepts of identity, power, interpretation and historiography through the lens of Christianity, the editors provide readers with new ways of understanding and bettering the world.
"The Christian faith of the future must be a joint enterprise in which the descendants of the colonized and the descendants of the colonizers come together, reflect on the past and imagine a different and better future together," contributor Brian McLaren states. "That work will involve risks and dangers for both groups, and the contributions of both are essential. One lesson the gospel surely teaches us is this: we are all connected."
Addressing themes like nationalism, Christology and western conquest, contributors discuss reasons Christians need to be careful how they frame their conversations on global topics. The language of "mission" can be misconstrued in light of postcolonial perspectives, and the essays dig into the role of evangelicalism in modern Christian outreach to help us keep pace with what God is doing in our era.
"This pioneering book charts a new direction in evangelical theology. It employs postcolonial theory to examine the evangelical legacy and offers rich insights in the reconstruction of mission and theology. Forward-looking and provocative, the book will no doubt stimulate debates in the evangelical church and beyond."
Kwok Pui-lan, author of Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology
"There is so much to commend here. If contemporary evangelical missiology is to forge a path that is both liberating and consistent with its aim of authentically bearing witness to God's good news, then conversations such as this are essential. If the exchanges in this volume are any indication, the future of the evangelical-postcolonial conversation is an extraordinarily hopeful one."
