Decolonizing Preaching: Decolonizing Preaching The Pulpit as Postcolonial Space

Decolonizing Preaching

The Pulpit as Postcolonial Space

Sarah Travis

DECOLONIZING PREACHING

The Pulpit as Postcolonial Space

Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute of Preaching Series 6

Copyright © 2014 Sarah Travis. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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isbn 13: 978-1-62564-528-9

EISBN 13: 978-1-63087-662-3

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Travis, Sarah.

Decolonizing preaching : the pulpit as postcolonial space / Sarah Travis.

x + 152 pp. ; 23 cm. Includes bibliographical references.

Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute of Preaching Series 6

isbn 13: 978-1-62564-528-9

1. Preaching. 2. Postcolonialism. 3. Trinity. I. Title. II. Series.

BV4211.2 T72 2014

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute of Preaching Series

series editors:

Clayton J. Schmit

Mark Labberton

The vision of the Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute of Preaching is to proclaim Jesus Christ and to catalyze a movement of empowered, wise preachers who seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, leading others to join in God’s mission in the world. The books in this series are selected to contribute to the development of such wise and humble preachers. The authors represent both scholars of preaching as well as pastors and preachers whose experiences and insights can contribute to passionate and excellent preaching.

current volumes in this series:

The Eloquence of Grace: Joseph Sittler and the Preaching Life edited by James M. Childs Jr. and Richard Lischer

The Preacher as Liturgical Artist: Metaphor, Identity, and the Vicarious Humanity of Christ by Trygve David Johnson

Ordinary Preacher, Extraordinary Gospel: A Daily Guide for Wise, Empowered Preachers by Chris Neufeld-Erdman

Blessed and Beautiful: Multiethnic Churches and the Preaching That Sustains Them by Lisa Washington Lamb

forthcoming volumes in this series:

Youthful Preaching: Strengthening the Relationship Between Youth, Adults, and Preaching by Richard W. Voelz

For Ben and Ella, with hope that your world will be different.

Acknowledgments

This project owes its existence to a great cloud of witnesses who have supported and encouraged me. I am grateful to the faculty, staff, and students of Knox College, University of Toronto for their companionship. Especially Dr. Dorcas Gordon, for her inspiring leadership and unflagging enthusiasm. Thanks also to Dr. David Jacobsen for his faith in this project, and relentless commitment to the theological imperative of preaching. I have had the privilege to learn with and from many other homileticians at the Toronto School of Theology, including Paul Scott Wilson, Sarah Freeman, Sam Persons Parkes, and Kyongkuk Han. Although any errors in this book are my own, Lianne Biggar provided wonderful technical support to the development of this manuscript.

My interest in the ongoing effects of colonialism/imperialism has come about partly because of my relationship with the Christians of the Vindhya Satpura region of India. I am continually humbled by the faithfulness of those communities, and in awe of their great capacity for hospitality. As always, I am filled with admiration for Dr. Pauline Brown and Dr. Wilma Welsh who introduced me to a whole other world. Closer to home, I have been blessed to share in the life of Trafalgar Presbyterian Church, Oakville. Thanks to Rev. Kristine O’Brien, Rev. Karen Pozios, and their families for creating spaces for rest, dialogue, and recreation.

Most of all, thank you to my husband, Paul Miller. You have been chief cheerleader, sounding board, proofreader, and friend. What a wonderful thing it is to share life with you and our children. This particular project began with great loss, the death of our son Sam in 2007. Yet we have discovered that new life grows even when we least expect it. Indeed, the best is yet to come.

Introduction

This book is a few centuries too late. Colonialism, imperialism, and the omnipresence of empire have shaped and stretched the Christian church since its inception. Preaching has always occurred in the midst of empire, in a world where peoples and nations have been traded like pawns—some crowned royalty, and others pushed right off the game board. This book is too late because the damage has already been done. Colonialism and similar processes have divided and conquered human relationships, often unchallenged by those of us who preach the good news of God’s kingdom. This book is too late because we have entered a postcolonial era. The age of colonialism is over. Or is it? As with other posts, the term postcolonial must be handled with care. Postcolonial does not necessarily indicate the end of colonialism, as if all its messy complications and broken pieces have been swept up neatly and tidied away. Nor does it imply that we have entered a time after colonialism. Instead, the term postcolonial recognizes that we exist in a state of continuity and discontinuity with colonial/imperial projects. That is, we are still living the consequences of colonial history and encountering colonialism in contemporary guises.

Today, we continue to preach in the midst of empire, even as the face of empire continues to morph and change. This book, then, is not too late after all. It is time for those of us who preach to consider colonial realities and the impact of those realities upon the communities we serve. It is time for those of us who preach to reimagine our task as one that contributes to a process of repairing, reconciling, and renewing a global community that has been torn and bruised by the ongoing imperial tug of war. It is also time to celebrate what God has done and is doing to bring good out of a troubled human history.

Preaching is a theological act that names, out loud, the world as it is and as it may become. In what sense do we, as preachers in the United States and Canada, live in a context of continuity and discontinuity with colonialism/imperialism? While this question will be explored throughout this book, it is helpful to clarify the meaning of these terms. Colonialism and imperialism share ideological roots. While acknowledging that there are differences between these terms, I have chosen here to highlight their interconnectedness and common effects by denoting them as a single term: colonialism/imperialism.

Colonialism refers to the settlement and/or exploitation of a territory by foreign agents. Historically, powerful nations have identified other regions that are rich in natural and human resources. Through various degrees of force, the powerful nations have implanted settlers, governance and military leaders in other lands. The British Empire, for example, was so keen to control vast stretches of the world’s surface that by the early twentieth century, approximately one-fifth of the world’s population, and one-quarter of the world’s land mass were under the control of the United Kingdom. The modern era, especially the industrial revolution, increased the need for cheap labor and copious material resources. Colonialism enabled the exploration and exploitation of regions rich in material and human resources. Yet colonialism precedes the modern era. Ancient empires established a practice that was copied and expanded by later empires.

Imperialism is the ideology from which colonialism arises. This ideology justifies and enables foreign control and exploitation of other peoples. Empires came to exist because particular nations or groups determined that they had a right or responsibility to attain the resources of others and to control foreign populations. Many of the great international conflicts of the modern era can be attributed at least in part to competition among imperial powers seeking to control the regions with the most valuable resources.

Colonialism/imperialism generally resulted in the occupation of distant lands and varying degrees of military dominance. It also resulted in unequal relationships of power and knowledge across national and cultural boundaries in a variety of historical and contemporary settings. The colonizers—those who had the financial means, military might, and perceived warrant to control other people—achieved tremendous power in the world. In many historical instances colonizers gained not only physical control over other populations but also claimed the right of cultural superiority. The colonizer then was at the center of a system that pushed the colonized to the margins. Colonialism/imperialism, and related systems such as neocolonialism and globalization, have contributed to the formation of identity in the modern era. With colonialism came the mixing of populations, global travel, and frequently the relocation and settlement of large populations. Slavery, for example, was an extreme act that stemmed from the need of empires to staff their colonial projects: the cultivation of crops such as sugar, cotton, and tobacco required vast human resources. In some locations settlement was achieved with less violence, at least for white Christian populations. For example, the British immigrants arriving in the United States and Canada often came willingly, albeit in order to escape oppression and poverty in their homeland. Once established in the new land, however, recent white settlers participated in the project of extracting and controlling the rich resources at hand.

Relationships among colonizers and colonized persons have been complex and multifaceted. While it is tempting to view colonial relationships as straightforward oppressor-colonizer versus oppressed-colonized, history has been much more complicated. Colonized persons retain some degree of power, and the power of colonizers is less than absolute. Depending on the nature of the colony, the relationship among the colonizers and colonized persons might be cordial (the relationship of English settlers in Canada with the British crown) or fraught (as it was for some settlers in the United States). There is always a degree of ambiguity in colonial relationships.

Much of this business of colonialism/imperialism seems to be mere history. Yet the contemporary world exists as it does because of colonial/imperial history. As formerly colonized nations have gained independence, global relations have not automatically equalized. Unequal relationships remain between those who are or have been world powers and those who are or have been at the receiving end of colonial intrusion. This book is concerned with the way that discourses of power continue, just as colonialism/imperialism continues today, albeit in different guises. Colonizing discourse refers to the use of language and symbol that seeks to maintain an impenetrable boundary between center and margins. This destructive discourse sneaks into our relationships both globally and locally. Colonizing discourse has serious consequences for the Christian church and the whole human community, and special implications for the practice of preaching.

At the heart of this book is a critique of the colonizing discourse that continues to negatively influence personal and communal relationships. My critique arises in part from a postcolonial perspective. The term postcolonial resists simple definition, and its meaning is multifaceted and often disputed. I use the term postcolonial to represent the ongoing reality of those whose social histories have been shaped and continue to be shaped culturally, psychologically, and economically by the reality of colonialism/imperialism and the concomitant interplay of power related to gender, race, and class. The past stubbornly refuses to stay in the past, and colonizing discourse interrupts many of our contemporary conversations. Despite the prevalence of the term postcolonial, colonial legacies persist in North America. Not only have historical colonial projects influenced the populations of Canada and the United States, but the power of empires still looms large in cultural, economic, and even theological spheres. Empire is not limited to national interests but includes both national and international systems that wield control over global populations. Media, consumer culture, world financial systems, military alliances—each represents concrete or ideological aspects of contemporary empire. Empire attempts to dictate and maintain a particular world order and systems that are frequently harmful to the majority of the world’s population.

A postcolonial perspective denotes a desire to recognize and interrupt colonizing discourses and to uncover embedded colonial/imperial assumptions that guide daily life. Postcolonial theory has been brought to bear on many academic disciplines, including biblical and theological studies, and has much to contribute to the theory and practice of preaching. The theory and practice of preaching are not immune to colonizing discourse. A significant task of preachers living in a contemporary, hybridized culture is to consider whether and how preaching must be decolonized. A postcolonial perspective on preaching investigates both homiletic theory and practice for colonizing discourse and embedded colonial/imperial assumptions. It identifies how preaching may potentially participate in oppression and dehumanization or, alternatively, participate in transforming human community. Such a perspective assumes that preaching occurs in contexts impacted by colonialism/imperialism, that both preachers and listeners occupy a variety of postcolonial positions and bear varying colonial/imperial memories and experiences. This is not to say that most preachers use power inappropriately or intentionally subordinate listeners. Rather, it is to assume that all of us—preachers and listeners—exist in a time and place in which colonialism echoes and reverberates. Contemporary preaching occurs in postmodern, globalized, and diverse settings. Preaching also occurs in the midst of empire. Preaching is relational; it shapes a particular community of faith and belongs to a much broader, global ecclesial discourse. Preaching is a task that is central to the development of Christian identity and ethics. Thus, it is essential for preachers to consider empire as one of many conditions that affect the church and the world beyond.

Colonizing discourse is destructive to human relationships. It runs contrary to a vision for human community that is rooted in the mission of the Triune God. In order to situate the problem of decolonizing preaching within a solid theological framework, I partner postcolonial theory with a distinct, Trinitarian theological vision for human community. Social Trinitarian theologies provide a discourse that contradicts colonizing discourse: insofar as Christians seek to reconstruct faith communities in the image of the Trinity, we will overcome some of the more destructive legacies of colonialism/imperialism.

Preaching is a means of decolonizing relationships within the church and beyond the church. To preach the good news of God’s kingdom is to speak a resounding no to discourses that seek to dominate, separate, and homogenize others. When our preaching offers an alternative discourse rooted in God’s own nature, we commit an act of treason against the empires of this world by proclaiming that God alone is the source and sustainer of life. Preachers and listeners occupy an in-between space: between past and present, between center and margins, between the powerful and powerless, between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. It is the task of this book to begin to imagine this in-between space as a place of re-creation, reconciliation, and reorientation of power. This project is really about redemption, examining the consequences of colonialism/imperialism and asking what God can do with it and asking what God can do with it. God’s work in the world via the Trinity has prepared us for such a time as this. The story of God-with-us is itself a story that seeks to break down boundaries and challenge the empires of this world.

Who should read this book?

Decolonizing preaching is a necessary task for those of us who recognize that empire is still a force with which to be reckoned. My hope is that this book will benefit scholars and teachers of preaching, practitioners, and students. It is directed at middle-class North Americans whose ethnic and cultural backgrounds are of European origin, many of whom serve culturally diverse congregations. It especially concerns citizens of nations that loom large on the world stage and operate within capitalist economic systems. Within these pages there is food for thought for those concerned about the postmodern ethos, those wrestling with issues of power inequality, and those looking for a manageable introduction to postcolonial thought. Preachers engage in a weekly homiletic conversation with a mix of both colonized and colonizing persons. We gather in churches that have been associated with colonial missions. We are representatives and servants of a church that has borne a tremendous degree of social and spiritual power yet finds itself simultaneously unsure of its location in the contemporary social hierarchy. Any preacher who has wrestled with these issues will find a space for reflection in the pages of this book.

Some might wonder why a Western woman of relative privilege should undertake this project. I critique colonizing discourse as a white female Canadian Presbyterian, despite Rebecca Todd Peter’s observation that the examination of a postcolonial perspective on the Church may, at first glance, seem an imperialistic impossibility for a white, affluent, Protestant woman from [the United States].¹ I consider myself to live at the