Decolonizing Preaching

Decolonizing Preaching The Pulpit as Postcolonial Space

Sarah Travis

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781625645289, 9781498222297
• eBook ISBN: 9781630876623
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Colonialism and imperialism continue to impact the personal and social identities of North American preachers and listeners. In Decolonizing Preaching, Sarah Travis argues that sermons have a role in shaping the identity and ethics of listeners by helping them formulate responses to empire and colonization. Travis employs postcolonial theories to provide important insights for the practice of preaching today. She also turns to the social doctrine of the Trinity to offer a vision of the divine/human community that effectively deconstructs colonizing discourse. This book offers preachers and other practical theologians a gentle introduction to colonial history, postcolonial theories, and Social Trinitarian theology, while equipping them with tools to decolonize preaching and strategies for preventing, resisting, and responding to colonizing discourse. Travis effectively casts a vision of a "perichoretic space" in which preacher and listener encounter the living God-in-Trinity and are transformed, reconciled, and sent out to others in the church and beyond.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1: The Omnipresence of Empire
• Chapter 1: Coming to Terms with Empire
• Chapter 2: The Challenge of Preaching in the Midst of Empire
• Part 2: Developing an Alternative Discourse
• Chapter 3: A Theological Response to Empire
• Chapter 4: Postcolonial Theory for Preachers
• Part 3: A Toolbox for Decolonizing Preaching
• Chapter 5: Preaching with a Postcolonial Imagination
• Chapter 6: Rereading Scripture: Postcolonial Biblical Interpretation
• Chapter 7: Preaching in Trinitarian Embrace
• Bibliography