Post-Colonial Theology

Hate is unveiled on our streets. Politics is polarized and the cohesion of communities is under stress and threat. Religious and theological leaders appear compromised or paralyzed.
Robert S. Heaney grew up in a Northern Ireland where enmity paraded itself and policed the boundaries between segregated identities and aspirations. Such conflict, with deep historic roots, is inextricably linked to religion and colonization. The theologizing of colonialism, and the ongoing implications of colonialism, cannot be ignored by those who wish to understand the most intractable of human conflicts. Religious adherents and scholars are increasingly seeking to understand colonialism and decolonization in theological terms. The field of post-colonial studies, across a range of contexts and in a complex network of inter-disciplinary analyses, has emerged as a major scholarly movement seeking to provide resources for such a task. Theologians have increasingly seen the field as a resource and have made their own contributions to its development. However, depending as it does on a series of theoretical and technical commitments, post-colonialism remains inaccessible to the uninitiated. Beginning with his own particular context of formation, in this book Heaney provides an accessible introduction to post-colonial theology.

""Robert Heaney makes post-colonial theology accessible to everyone through his clear writing style and nuanced presentation of the material. Given his own social location as a Brit from Northern Ireland, Heaney exemplifies the intellectual humility and curiosity needed for true postcolonial interaction. He shows that postcolonial theology is not a peripheral activity but rather is central to the very act of doing theology. Highly recommend!""
--Kay Higuera Smith, Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies, Azusa Pacific University


""Here is the amazing gift of a teachable introduction to the civilizational variations of colonialism. The theological--indeed theopoetic--answer that Heaney offers will revive spirits demoralized by new hate-waves. It will inspire fierce and honest, loving and creative Christian resistance.""
--Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew Theological School, author of Political Theology of the Earth: Our Planetary Emergency and the Struggle for a New Public

""Robert Heaney's Post-Colonial Theology takes the reality of dominance, hate, and the irreversible nature of centuries of subjugation as its beginning ground. Given that so much of the world's surface has been impacted by the project of imperialism, it is inevitable that most people are either the offspring of landed peoples, the offspring of dispossessed peoples or--like Heaney--the offspring of a hybrid blend of both landed and dispossessed. Elegantly, using poetry, privilege, and precision, he asks serious questions of power; everything comes under his scrutiny: history, doctrine, ecclesial governance, policy, whiteness, liturgy, and apologies. Not satisfied with a distant essay, this book is a demonstration of what engaged academia looks like--Heaney scrutinizes his own story in light of a story of empire, religion, dispossession, and dominance.

Throughout Post-Colonial Theology, Heaney amplifies voices that have re-grounded him. This important book honors the seminal work of Korean, South African, Nigerian, Kenyan, and Native American theologians. Weaving poetry throughout the text, the reader is brought on an educational journey that re-envisions the question of God into an exploration for a practice of humanity with integrity. It is a work of profound impact, both for the academic and the analyst. The text introduces us to the author in a brilliant demonstration of the value of post-colonial studies to be rooted in the specific. We are brought into Heaney's wre