Decolonizing Preaching: The Pulpit as Postcolonial Space
Scholar Sarah Travis argues that the personal and social identities of North American preachers and listeners continue to be shaped by colonialism and imperialism, and sermons play a crucial role in responses to empire and colonization.
Reader Recommendation: Decolonizing Preaching: The Pulpit as Postcolonial Space
Recommended by: Foster Frimpong
Why it might be helpful: This book argues that the personal and social identities of North American preachers and listeners continue to be shaped by colonialism and imperialism, and sermons play a crucial role in responses to empire and colonization. She offers 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. She casts a vision of a “perichoretic space” in which preacher and listener encounter the living God-in-Trinity.
Disciples preachers lay strong emphasis on the pulpit as a prophetic voice and the liberation of souls from human powers. This book touches on the ethical implications of Christian discourses dominated by colonialism and imperialism, and I believe Disciples preachers will appreciate the tools it offers to decolonize preaching to create a new space for us all to encounter God.
Reader Recommendations are suggestions submitted by Disciples preachers and are not created or fully reviewed by the Proclamation Project.
You might also find helpful:
- Preaching and Social Issues: Tools and Tactics for Empowering Your Prophetic Voice — a companion resource on prophetic preaching in contexts shaped by power and injustice
- This Here Flesh — Cole Arthur Riley on embodied spirituality, liberation, and the stories that shape and free us
- What’s Your Preaching Identity? — a reflection on the cultural and communal forces that shape a preacher’s voice
