Theological Thinking and Eurocentric Epistemologies: A Challenge to Theologians from within Africana Religious Studies
Motivated by the work of scholars of Africana religions, this essay questions whether theology as a mode of critical reflection that depends on Christian-centric understandings of revelation can contribute toward a liberation from colonial relations of power. Actualizing liberation in a meaningful w...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2018
|
| In: |
Journal of Africana religions
Year: 2018, Volume: 6, Issue: 1, Pages: 27-49 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Africa
/ Theology
/ Revelation
/ Liberation
/ Colonialism
/ Eurocentrism
|
| RelBib Classification: | CH Christianity and Society FD Contextual theology KBA Western Europe KBN Sub-Saharan Africa NBB Doctrine of Revelation NBE Anthropology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Digitalisierung) |
| Summary: | Motivated by the work of scholars of Africana religions, this essay questions whether theology as a mode of critical reflection that depends on Christian-centric understandings of revelation can contribute toward a liberation from colonial relations of power. Actualizing liberation in a meaningful way requires a liberation from Eurocentric loci of rationality, yet theologians' movement toward liberation often proceeds precisely from such a sitenamely, a reception of revelation dominated by the Mediterranean world and Europe. To explain this tension, I first consider how work within Africana religious studies challenges Christian theological ways of thinking. Second, I focus on uses of revelation in theology and consider how even nuanced understandings of revelation often remain mired epistemologically in colonial relations of power. I conclude by concretizing a question, prompted by scholars of Africana religions, that theologians must address within projects responding to colonial relations of power. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2165-5413 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Africana religions
|
