Last Friday we looked at some of Vinoth Ramachandra’s theological reflections in Subverting Global Myths — reflections for Christians to take on board. He also has some considerations of what Christians might have to offer in postcolonial conversations. In part these flow out of Ramachandra’s concern for context. He suggests that unless we safeguard the multiplicity and particularity […]
Last Friday I looked at Vinoth Ramachandra’s account of multicentred world history and postcolonial criticism, and pointed out his emphasis on the need to specify and honour context. This is part of what inspires his diverse series of theological reflections. Many of these are about renovating how we as (Western) Christians see the world. ‘The “we” in Christian […]
Before continuing with Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations, let’s dip into a different book, Subverting Global Myths (2009), and Vinoth Ramachandra’s chapter on postcolonialism. Ramachandra begins by making a case for decentred world history.* To characterise globalisation (good or bad) as a recent product of Western capitalism is to engage in top-down, […]
This is the first in an ongoing series in which I’ll tease out some connections between postcolonial theology and Tanzanian university ministry. Part of the occasion for this is a new book, Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations (check Booko if you’d like to get the paperback in Australia). We’ll delve into that […]
How do we join together word and deed, evangelism and social engagement, conversion and liberation? The problem has been posed in various ways by different people, and with a range of answers. It’s an issue I’ve been dancing around for some time, and last year at St Andrew’s Hall I began […]
Let me paint two pictures of Tanzanian church services. The first is a Good Friday service. It’s long and the ministers are dressed up in their robes. It’s an Anglican service. And there’s something familiar about the way the congregation responds: the mumbled words after the Bible reading, the faces […]
Meet Jesus at uni 