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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Drexler-Dreis, Joseph (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: The Pennsylvania State University Press 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 (Verlag)
Description
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 site—namely, 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