The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of RaceWhy has Christianity, a religion premised upon neighborly love, failed in its attempts to heal social divisions? In this ambitious and wide-ranging work, Willie James Jennings delves deep into the late medieval soil in which the modern Christian imagination grew, to reveal how Christianity's highly refined process of socialization has inadvertently created and maintained segregated societies. A probing study of the cultural fragmentation-social, spatial, and racial-that took root in the Western mind, this book shows how Christianity has consistently forged Christian nations rather than encouraging genuine communion between disparate groups and individuals. Weaving together the stories of Zurara, the royal chronicler of Prince Henry, the Jesuit theologian Jose de Acosta, the famed Anglican Bishop John William Colenso, and the former slave writer Olaudah Equiano, Jennings narrates a tale of loss, forgetfulness, and missed opportunities for the transformation of Christian communities. Touching on issues of slavery, geography, Native American history, Jewish-Christian relations, literacy, and translation, he brilliantly exposes how the loss of land and the supersessionist ideas behind the Christian missionary movement are both deeply implicated in the invention of race. Using his bold, creative, and courageous critique to imagine a truly cosmopolitan citizenship that transcends geopolitical, nationalist, ethnic, and racial boundaries, Jennings charts, with great vision, new ways of imagining ourselves, our communities, and the landscapes we inhabit. |
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Other editions - View all
The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race Willie James Jennings No preview available - 2011 |
The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race Willie James Jennings No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
Acosta African America articulated become beginning believed Bible biblical body bound called carried central Christ Christian church claim Colenso colonial colonialist connection constituted continue created creation cultural death desire discern displacement divine draws Duke University effect encomiendas entered Equiano established European existence faith formation Gentile given hand human Ibid idea identity imagination important Indian inside intellectual Israel Jesus Jewish Jews John joining kind knowledge land language literary living logic marked matter means missionary moral move narrative Natal native nature notes offers operation performance political position possibilities practices precisely present problem question race racial reading reality reflection relation religious Scripture sense ship shows simply slave social space Spirit story suffering suggests theologians theological things thinking thought tradition transformation translation turned understand University Press vernacular vision writing York
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race |
| Author | Willie James Jennings |
| Edition | unabridged |
| Publisher | Yale University Press, 2010 |
| ISBN | 0300163088, 9780300163087 |
| Length | 384 pages |
| Subjects | › › Religion / Christian Living / Social Issues Religion / Christian Theology / General Religion / General Religion / Theology Social Science / Discrimination Social Science / Sociology of Religion |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |