Theology in the Postcolonial Context

Abstract

Who are we and how do we live together? The question has been a constant in the background to this book’s constructive theological examination of identity and inclusivity, ethics of self, others, and world as a whole. These issues, moreover, have particular urgency in the context of war, terror, and violence on an unprecedented scale. As mentioned in the preface, the original problem of reconceiving theological freedom in the context of postcolonial theory was an attempt to initiate a dialogue between theology and theoretical thought that complicates the manner in which theology presumes to speak to the problems of identity, ethics, and nonviolence. What I realized in my constructive proposals there was that even such a progressive theological vision such as Karl Rahner’s theology of freedom capitulates to the demands of the disciplining measures of ecclesial and academic institutions to render theological talk as a parallel discourse in society and the academy. Needless to say, the very same charge can be made of high postcolonial theory, with its comfortable elisions of religious and theological knowledge and capitulation to the demands of academic disciplinary conventions. The book consequently has attempted to think through these maneuvers in an attempt to forge a novel method of thinking theologically with issues of culture, namely, identity, ethics, and peaceful coexistence in mind, arguing for and taking advantage of the porous boundaries of theology and theory.KeywordsReligious IdentityPeaceful CoexistenceIdentity ClaimTheoretical ThoughtEthical ClaimThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.