Centering Hope As A Sustainable Decolonial Practice

Where is the hope? What does it look like? Is the Christian church providing a hope that materializes in the grounding of people’s thriving? These questions posed the catalysts of this work where the author sets up a journey that parses the definition of hope within Christian theology as an ontological category of the human experience. Through ethnographic research and ecclesial study of diverse congregations in Puerto Rico the work moves from an articulation of context, hope, practice, and future to reveal its aim of liberation through a hope that can be sustainable in time and space. She analyzes the operations of political systems that suppress hope in the island. Weaving the theme of a theology of hope, with the fields of ecclesiology, memory studies, postcolonial and decolonial theory, liberation theology, and the study of social movements she builds a model that puts hope at the center of socio-economic practices and moves toward a recipe for a hope that is sustainable in practice.

This book surveys a broad panorama of Christian and African traditions to discover and assess the components that will illuminate and motivate a Christian and African ethic of women’s political participation. The author’s primary lens for diagnosing the problems faced by women in Africa is Engelbert Mveng’s concept of “anthropological poverty” that results from slavery and colonialism. It affects women in unique ways and is exacerbated by the religious and cultural histories of women’s oppression. The author advocates an interplay between the sacredness of every individual’s life, a salient principle of Christian ethics, and the collective consciousness of solidarity distinctive to African cultures. This interplay can, in turn, foster a more enlightened approach to African masculinity. Using a “sophialogical” hermeneutic, this in-depth study undertakes a moral imagination through narrative criticism. It argues that the existential reality of African women must be addressed as an essential element in the development of Christian socio-political ethic. The righteous, solidaristic, and resistant anger of women can transform patriarchy and inform Catholic social teaching. The author draws on The Circle of concerned African women theologians, postcolonial theorists, inculturation theology, African males, and Jon Sobrino's liberation theology to present an innovative Christian ethic that will radically affect the lives of African women and inform feminist theology.

Starting with the experience of wonder, José Francisco Morales Torres constructs a new theological anthropology, one that posits a lifeworld saturated by an excessive Generosity and a primordial receptivity in humans through which they commune with, are opened by, and are transformed by the O/other.

Sharon E. Heaney describes how the life-giving interruption of Latin American poets, novelists, artists, and theologians changed her life in a conflict-ridden Northern Ireland. An outsider, in this study she provides an engagement with a stream of theology in the United States she takes to be exemplary. Latino/a/x theology is teología en conjunto (collaborative theology). It models ways to examine complicated and contested histories and identities, and it resists dominant assumptions about theological points of departure in favor of also valuing the everyday as locus theologicus. Identifying major themes and foundational thinkers, alongside more recent developments, Heaney offers an overview and invites readers to further reading, study, and formation. Modelling what it esteems, each chapter closes in conversation with a Latino/a/x leader in the church. The conclusion is written by practical theologian, Altagracia Pérez-Bullard. She affirms, this “is not just an intellectual exercise, . . . this engagement . . . is the practice of our lives as we journey with God and as we journey with one another. . . . It is an exciting journey. It changes us.”

What can movements for decolonization teach Wesleyan theology? This book faces this question to show that decolonial voices are reshaping the contours of Methodist and Wesleyan traditions. Contributors to this volume include theologians, pastors, and leaders in the Global South who are leading the people called Methodists to encounter the tradition anew in the radical spirit of decolonization.

The new edition of the standard resource for those teaching or learning Latinoax theology Now in its second edition, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latinoax Theology remains the most up-to-date, fully ecumenical collection of scholarship in the field. Bringing together contributions by a diverse panel of established scholars and newer voices within various theological disciplines, this comprehensive volume challenges Western readings of Christianity and offers fresh insights into theological truth from varied cultural and ethnic perspectives. The Companion addresses a wide range of Latinoax contexts while highlighting the thought of female, male, and LGBTQ+ Latinoax scholars in theology, introducing readers to this significant movement. Each chapter provides the historical background of a particular topic, explores its treatment by Latinoax theologians, discusses the current state of the topic, and offers the unique perspective of internationally recognized authors. The revised second edition incorporates recent developments within Latinoax studies, featuring new and expanded chapters that reflect numerous traditions of thought, up-to-date sources and methodologies, diverse intra-Latinoax communities, and contemporary Latinoax theologies and theologians. This invaluable and unique companion: Provides a systematic account of the past, present, and future of Latinoax theology Features new essays by the most influential voices in the field, incorporating recent research from Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical scholars Addresses the Latinoax experience of alienation and marginalization Represents the wide range of ecclesial and theological traditions Discusses Latinoax in timely contexts such as politics, immigration, feminism, gender, queer theory, and social and economic justice Edited by one of the world’s leading Latino theologians, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latinoax Theology, Second Edition is an indispensable resource for academic scholars, undergraduate and graduate students, and instructors in universities and seminaries covering courses in theology, political thought, Latinoax studies, religion in the United States, and related topics.

Captures the multiple voices of Christian theology in a diverse and interconnected world through in-depth studies of representative figures and overviews of key movements Providing an unparalleled overview of the subject, The Modern Theologians provides an indispensable guide to the diverse approaches and perspectives within Christian theology from the early twentieth century to the present. Each chapter is written by a leading scholar and explores the development and trajectory of modern theology while presenting critical accounts of a broad range of relevant topics and representative thinkers. The fourth edition of The Modern Theologians is fully updated to provide readers with a clear picture of the broad spectrum and core concerns of modern Christian theology worldwide. It offers new perspectives on key twentieth-century figures and movements from different geographical and ecclesial contexts. There are expanded sections on theological dialogue with non-Christian traditions, and on Christian theology's engagement with the arts and sciences. A new section explores theological responses to urgent global challenges - such as nationalism, racism, and the environmental crisis. Providing the next generation of theologians with the tools needed to take theological conversations forward, The Modern Theologians: Explores Christian theology's engagement with multiple ways of knowing across diverse approaches and traditions Combines introductions to key modern theologians and coverage of the major movements within contemporary theology Identifies common dynamics found across theologies to enable cross-contextual comparisons Positions individual theologians in geographical regions, trans-local movements, and ecclesial contexts Features new and revised chapters written by experts in particular movements, topics, and individuals Providing in-depth critical evaluation and extensive references to further readings and research, Ford's The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology since 1918, Fourth Edition, remains an ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in Theology and Religious Studies, such as Introduction to Christian Theology, Systematic Theology, Modern Theology, and Modern Theologians. It is also an invaluable resource for researchers, those involved in various forms of Christian ministry, teachers of religious studies, and general readers engaged in independent study.

This book highlights the convergences of the 'anti-colonial' and the 'decolonial', arguing that the anti-colonial is a path to follow to reach a decolonial end. We examine decolonial and anti-colonial futurities through counter-hegemonic knowledge practice. In seeking to reframe the anti-colonial praxis, the book takes up theory and knowledge as weapons of change with an insistence that there is a place for the intellectual warrior in combat on the academic landscape. The book also insists on a theorization of the anti-colonial in ways that do not conflate race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, colonialism and capitalism, but rather, emphasizes a more sophisticated analysis of intersections while maintaining a gaze on the 'colonial dominant'. This is a compelling collection of insightful essays about the vicious pervasiveness of colonialism, but also about the persistent and creative resistance to colonialism. This gives us much hope that this ugly beast will finally be tamed and neutralized so that the world's wretched can begin or continue healing. Ama Mazama, Professor of Africology, Temple University, Canada Situating anti-colonial theory, pedagogy and praxis as a pathway to realize the goal of decolonization, contributors to this project provide diverse interventions that push forward this important groundwork. At a time where the destructive legacies of colonialism and racism are felt globally, this timely collection attends to these challenges and offers ways to imagine alternative futures. Jasmin Zine, Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada Theorizing the 'Anti-Colonial' presents a rigorous and thoughtful examination of the multiple forms of violence of colonialism, issuing a powerful call to interrupt colonial practices and investments that sustain this violence today. The book invites readers to confront harmful geographies and practices of colonialism and to build anti-colonial relational responsibilities that can resist the colonial economies in everyday life. Vanessa Andreotti, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Race, Inequalities and Global Change, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada