Should Christians decolonize their theology? With Neil Shenvi
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 พ.ย. 2024
- Our current cultural moment has given us some phrases, or "slogans" and Neil Shenvi refers to them, one of which is the idea that our theology and biblical interpretations need to be decolonized. We discuss what "decolonize our theology" means and whether or not Christians should do it.
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This is a very crucial topic. Thanks for touching on this one. I have been studying theology mostly in Indian contexts. What I am astonished about is even in the theological circles in India, we talk about colonialism as if it has been the only evil ever perpetrated. We have post colonial studies even when European colonialism in its proper sense is dead and gone. We have far greater evils that need to be addressed, like Brahminism and casteism. These have been there since aeons and they are growing strong with the radical elements gripping the nation. The Indian church has been timid to speak against the evils that are immediate to her context. It is deemed great to undergo a post-colonial study (someone said to me that it was new/hot topic to study) because it scape-goats evil on those who are still looked at as the enemies of the country (even if Indians may just be desperate to go Westward!). Anti-colonial rhetoric is very popular even among the Hindus and other Indians. When I tried to talk some months back to a post colonial student, he said, to my utter surprise "Brahaminism is a form of colonialism!!!" Western pursuit of post-colonial studies, even if on a wrong track, springs from the fact that Christian faith teaches us to be self-critical. This is not so much with the Hinduism(and other faiths) which glories in its Past. I am extremely frustrated with Indian theological academia being hijacked by critical race theory, feminism, black liberation theologies (I have still not been able to understand why this is taught in India to the extent that it is) and post colonial studies. It is perpetrated by the institution established by William Carey. Evangelical scholarship is not even regarded as worth considering. I can hardly point out to a theological institution of repute which is biblical in its approach. Owing to this many students lose faith which they are in the seminary. As a pastor, I would never send someone to such institutions for theological studies. Rather I would send them to Bible schools/trainings run by mission agencies. As Alisha tells in her book about her pastor, the pastors graduated from there have a double mouth: they believe one thing and they preach quite another.
The whole world has lost it's mind!
We need another video on this subject . It was too short and needs feedback .
We need to ask people: What do you mean by that?😀
I appreciate you’re heart but I REALLY wish you’d have christians on your channel that you disagree with from time to time. In an attempt to deconstruct this or your CRT video, it ends completely missing the point of the average person who wants to de colonize their faith from “moral majority right” politics and theology (ie, MAGA CHRISTIANS) to this nonsense which is pushed by the most extreme folks. We keep allowing the most extreme voices be the loudest. I have plenty of close black friends looking to decolonize their faith without throwing out inerrancy of scripture or “niceness” 😭😭😭
These types of clips skip any possible nuance and reinforces the notion that their life and faith is under attack. It isn’t. One can be a born again christian and have a variety of views regarding politics and social issues.
Dude our identity is first and foremost in Christ and in Christ only. We cant base our identity on other secular,political or economic theories. Before his ascendance to Heaven he gave his disciples the great commission to become ambassadors of Christ and profess the faith to the ends of the world and that is what each and everyone of them did. Matthew( Not so sure) went to Ethiopia, His disciple Thomas set forth to India and they paid it with their lives. Whatever 'decolonize' means is not what the apostles or what Christ intended and the fact that people want to dilute the gospel to make them feel a certain way is exactly what Paul spoke out against in the early churches. Christianity and the word of God are exclusive. The only way to the Father is through His son Jesus. We are all one in Christ ( Galatians 3:28-29). We shouldn't tailor the gospel to suit anyone's needs rather we should tailor our lives to suit Gods
I hope I was of help and of course will pray for you and your friends
@@matungatia3996 Christ never intended for Christianity to be used as a colonizing force. People have misused the gospel in countless ways and inserted themselves into the gospel imagery to the point of attempting to make Christianity synonymous with whiteness. Ever heard of the slave Bible? How about King Leopold and the Congo? How about missions to convert native Americans? This is what has colonized Christianity. We have got to start telling the truth and lose the hypocrisy. It seems there are efforts to demonize any attempt to come to grips and be honest about how certian groups have misused Christianity for their own purposes. To oppress and pillage. The story is complex and nuanced but you who purport to be honest brokers of the gospel truth are actually appearing to be puppets of political and racial ideologies that you refuse to acknowledge. I am a born again, blood-bought, sold out for Christ believer. Are there efforts to sneak in heresies by the left? Yes. The Word is clear about homosexuality, abortion, etc. But we should not get on our high horse and pretend that the gospel has not been used to glorify whiteness throughout history and this misuse of the great commission has become a stumbling block for those--especially Blacks--who the gospel has been illigimately used to deamonize. Whoa to you scribes and pharasies who see the speck in your brother's eye but ignore the log in your own eye, first take the log out of your own eye. Woah to you scribes and pharasies who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Let's get real, let's get honest. You have a great responsibility with your platform and the way these discussions are had are disingenuous.
Ok Ruslan, and what exactly are they “trying to decolonize”?
Back to Orthodoxy how about the fact that in many parts of the country christian is synonymous with republican or Trump supporter?
Or scroll up and read the previous comment. A ton there
Ruslan 💯💯💯
I couldnt stop laughing when Alisa said "niceness. Niceness?" haha
I find the whole notion of ‘whiteness’, being used as a derogatory and critical term, offensive and, frankly, racist. And that is just what the whole silly ‘decolonising’ thing is. There must be focus groups of bitter POCs and self hating white people thrashing around ideas and making up words to destroy all notions of white identity. It would not happen in any other culture and is clearly a divisive and subtle form of ethnic cleansing.
I don’t see or hear this rubbish being touted around for the times when the Near East was the dominant geographical region of world and political history. Or are the Hittites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Hebrews, Babylonians etc now classed as white? Paul was a Roman citizen: guilty of whiteness as well!?
It is a simple historical fact that with the coming of the Greek and Roman Empires, world power and politics shifted to be more Western dominated. For reasons known to God, He used the Roman Empire and Western countries to preserve and spread the gospel. Was it perfect? Not at all. Did politics abuse the gospel for power? Most certainly. But within the West there were movements and individuals who through the years stood up against corruption and abuse and paid the price in blood. To denigrate the white man is therefore to denigrate Gods sovereign plan.
I recall a black African delivering a preach to the church I was attending more than 30 years ago,. Back then, a black African from Africa preaching to a white audience was rare. He began by saying ‘I thank God for the British Empire because God used the white man to bring the gospel to the black man. But there is coming a time when the black man will bring the gospel back to the white man, because the white man has forsaken it’. That was a very prophetic word.
But there are movements afoot to divide and segregate and turn black against white and vice versa. The anti whiteness movement should therefore be seen for what it is, an anti-Christian movement inspired by evil spirits and embraced by bitter people intent on shaming and destroying anyone who is white. And it is now being embraced by the church.
Well expressed.
This what has been well put
Been trying to tell other people in the comment section but there not seeing
@@matungatia3996 I Know right
Really well said
Yes!! Well said!!!
Thank you for speaking on this crucial topic!
The idea that “it doesn’t matter who propounds it” is going to be something that they don’t like either.
Didn’t Jesus say “Search the Scriptures” because he believed that the Old Testament referred to Him multiple times?
I would ‘like’ this 10 times if I could!
Thank you! I always enjoy your videos. However, I always love your mugs too! So unique!
We often get caught up in words rather than meaning intended. We also often see actions as intentions rather than reactions to underlying causes. Progressives may or may not be looking for a more genuine expression of spirituality. Find common ground in humility and speak the truth in love.
Galatians 5:23
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law
If someone has a different gospel, a gospel of oppression/oppressor, the most loving thing we can do is make sure they learn the true gospel before they perish for temporal gain. ALL have sinned, fallen short, deserve eternal punishment, are helpless to save themselves, but have a powerful Savior who is perfect and gracious, who took our sins, made us whole, gave us new hearts, and brought us into His family.
Galatians 5:22 mentions love, faithfulness, goodness. What are they? They are defined by Scripture. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. Telling someone they are morally inferior because of the skin color God gave them is evil. Telling people of color that they cannot succeed without government or white knights is a lie.
What is faithfulness? It is placing our trust in God, in His Word, and in is perfect plan. It is not dwelling in shame or bitterness for the skin color God gave us. It is placing our trust in Him, doing what us right (not what feels good), and not creating division out of bitterness or self-righteousness.
What is goodness? Biblical justice is goodness. Biblical justice judges fairly, not giving preference for the rich or the poor. Biblical justice judges the individual for his/ her own sin, not the sin of someone who shares their skin tone. It is unifying for God's family. It Remembers a that we are one in Christ Jesus. It does not divide up the body into worldly grievance groups, but seems to unite sinners saved by amazing grace. Goodness is keeping God's commands to love, forgive, be content, and live at peace with others.
Progressive Christianity focuses on the temporal while ignoring the true gospel, without which all perish. Progressive Christianity is particularly adept at cherry picking Scripture. The worst sin to a progressive is the "fundamentalism" of believing God's moral law remains, while it ignores the covetessness of CRT, the bitterness of blaming groups of people for wrongs committed by ancestors, the body defining sins of sex outside the bonds of marriage (man and woman), denies God's intent in creation by assuming God made a mistake when He created people who claim to be trans, and make excuses for the dismantling of babies inside the womb.
It's actually not the Christian's obligation to flatter those who promulgate falsehood, putting aside that calls for 'gentleness and self-control' in these circles are always unipolar.
I posted something on FB warning against Progressive Theology. A friend posted that she believed we need to, "decolonize the scripture". What???
I'm rather intelligent when it comes to complex and deep ideas, but these Critical-Theory ideas that don't make any sense require alot of effort to follow. Truth is easy, comes naturally, but this nonsense is like a puzzle that needs to be solved. Kinda exhausts my brain to step into those shoes for a minute.
Wow. Speechless.
How to decolonize the Bible:
1. To start, Jesus wasn't a White man, with blue eyes: this is just impossible for a Jew at that time, even if He was conceived miraculously. This means that whatever kid or person who claimed to have seen Jesus, and draw a Jesus with blue eyes, maybe saw a demon. I am not trying to be mean or insensitive, but Joseph Smith claimed to have seen Jesus and we have Mormonism.
2. The celebration of Christmas, which is one of the most protected Western Christian traditions, is not biblical and has pagan roots. So for Western Christians to talk about the war on Christmas, will be probably considered as heresy to most apostles in the Bible.
The list goes on and I could provide more examples.
What I wish from this video (when the full content is provided) is to watch/listen to a discussion about which commonly accepted modern day Christian practices in America (or even in the world) are not Biblical, but more rooted in the Western culture. Bashing Progressive Christianity is easy and comfortable to do ( i am a regular church attendant and I can do that). However, if we claim that we have a better idea of what the truth is compared to Progressive Christians, I feel we are lying to ourselves a littlr because the Christianity we are following is heavily influenced by Western traditions. Therefore, a more fruitful conversation, especially for ourselves, is to learn which tradition we may accept that is not Christian.
Early Christians put most of their Christian holy days, on pagan feast days, in a way of counterfeit paganism.. And bring a pagan culture to Christianity... St Paul talks about that.. As a Catholic I see this Amarican people, trunslating the Bible and I get confused... No wander the world is a mess... We are all over the place.... With Christianity...
@@MariaMartins-vc9yh this is a very interesting point that you are making: early Christians also celebrated pagan feast...
@@MariaMartins-vc9yh Clarification....Catholics celebrate pagan holidays. They did that as a tool of colonization. Took the pagan gods of the land and renames them as Saints. This is why catholicism is common mixed with witchcraft. I was hoping to here these points in the video 😦
I agree Jesus almost certainly wasn't blond-haired and blue-eyed. It annoyed me to no end when I was a little girl (and even when I was a teenager) because I knew that if Jesus had been a blue-eyed blond (which is a relatively rare trait in the world) then this would've been mentioned at least once in the Bible. (Also, and NOT incidentally, I was a little brown girl who wanted to look up to a brown Jesus.)
But now, as an adult, I think it's because the artists who painted Him were seeing Him through their own (limited) imagination; and that's how they "felt" about Jesus' image. Like it was their way of feeling close to Him, or something? Even though we know it's almost certainly inaccurate. And for people for whom blond hair and blue eyes aren't unusual, they didn't even think about it when they painted Jesus the way with which they felt most familiar.
But if you visit Christian churches in other parts of the world, you'll see all kinds of paintings of Jesus, in all different colors of skin and hair and eyes -- some lightest blond and some darkest black, and lots of shades in between. It's kinda cool, how each artist can "emote" his or her own vision of the way he or she imagines Jesus to be.
I think maybe the best way is for all of us to envision Jesus in whatever way speaks to our hearts. Ultimately it wasn't His earthly body that mattered, but His soul, and ours. I love the idea of each person seeing Jesus in our own ways, because we are all different, and Jesus came to save ALL races and colors of people.♥️
Edit: I just wanted to add -- I don't mean we should all have "our own version" of Christianity. I'm just commenting on the colors with which Jesus is portrayed.
But the Bible is the Bible.
We actually CAN claim to have a better understanding than progressive Christians, just as we CAN claim to understand better than Word of Faith practitioners. How? Because the things they, themselves, say are obviously at odds with Scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers. It's actually not a complicated process at all.
The fault lies not with progressive christianity; evangelicals themselves are to blame. They allowed sin to enter through the doors. They could have stopped it from the beginning, but chose not to. Preferring the pleasures of this world, rather then the holiness of God.
Every human and every group has allowed sin to enter their lives. The question is, what is the standard? You do not correct a wrong with another wrong. You do not end racism by dividing people into groups, attaching moral terms to them based on color, and ignoring that believers are called to be one in Christ, regardless of our status, ethnicity, or gender.
@@eurekahope5310 Not sure where you are coming from, particularly by , "The question is, what is the standard?" As a Christian I always assumed it was the scriptures, which are very clear what is sin. Francis Schaffer has written much about this topic, and the results that follow once we abandon this truth. It is true that racism has existed in white churches, but this was not the fault of the Bible; rather it was the lack of reading it. Most churches today have overcome this; black and whites worship together. My wife is black, and we attend a white church, that has other blacks. I have seen black leaders in white churches. I have been welcomed graciously in black churches. These churches didn't need Marxist ideology, just the Bible where there is neither Greek or Jew. The Bible today is under attack by demons; using every means at their disposal to discredit it. My suggestion is read the Bible. Read it daily, read it prayerfully, and read it literally. Those who do will see through these false prophets and antichrists. Perhaps I sound narrow minded, but the gate to heaven is narrow, and FEW will find it. The word FEW should frighten everyone. And I want to say one more thing that is becoming less popular among both Evangelicals and Catholics; Jesus is the ONLY way to salvation.
Maybe you could explain, in any detail at all, what you're talking about. How are evangelicals to blame? Preferring the pleasures of the world? What on earth is that even a reference to?
Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the POWER of GOD that brings Salvation to EVERYONE who believes first to the Jew then to the Gentile. All are sinners, Wages for our sins....Death= Separated from GOD. 1 Cor 15:1-4 Death, Burial, Resurrection.......that simple. The Gospel is Good News because there is Bad News.......W/O Being Born Again ALL will Perish. Repent! and Believe in the Gospel. Paul stated "I preach Jesus Christ and Him Crucified." Decolonize??????????
The answer should be a clear and emphatic, 'no.' This term always gets used with little elaboration on what it actually means, and what's more, we don't need to take concepts from secular academia and use them to guide the Church; we need the Church to guide the academics.
The church has gone from ludicrous crazy to plaid!!!!
Is hell forever ?
Insanity, madness.
Isn’t Neil shinvi supporting another gospel by defending his southern baptists pastors who have controversial views on CRT?
You’re doing what the world is doing. Satanic doublespeak.
Would you like to expound on that accusation?
I would suggest that the concepts of biblical inerrancy and infallibility is a post enlightenment phenomena particular to the reformed tradition
If we do not have biblical inerrancy there is no objective standard. It is man's words or ideas versus man's words or ideas. If that is the case, where can we find truth? Don't tell me it is experiential because my experience will contradict the experiences of others.
@@eurekahope5310 I guess you have to define inerrancy. Does it mean "without error"? If so, then the writer of 1st Samuel 15 accurately and without error reports that Jesus told Saul to wipe out out the Amalekites including all infants and nursing babies? Or did the author just report unerringly that Saul and Samuel just "thought" that is what Jesus told them to do?
And you really think Jesus would command the murder of babies?
I smell a whiggist.
@@jaredwilliams1031 just an honest question.
@@marcusanthony488 Where was the question? It was a statement. In any case, there is little evidence that people in the Early Church had a cavalier attitude towards the Scriptures.
Now it is time for change, for truth, and lifted are the burdens of the heart on the mind, for things taught in error carry great weight. Christians controllers using God as the avenue to control people through fear, doubt and worry. God Almighty is of freedom, love, comfort, and growth; anything else that is said and surrounding God Almighty is taught in error! Glory be to God Almighty!
Inerrancy is not a biblical concept. It is a. conclusion drawn from your idea of God and then imposed upon scripture
Jesus said: The Scripture cannot be broken.(John 10:35) . He also said..The word is truth...(John 17:17).
Inerrancy simply means that when all the facts are in, and proper hermeneutics are used, the Bible will be found to.be true.