The Christian Imagination Theology and the Origins of Race

Why 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 hi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jennings, Willie James
Format: eBook Book
Language:English
Published: New Haven Yale University Press 25.05.2010
Edition:1
Subjects:
Christianity
Race
Race > Religious aspects > Christianity
Religion
RELIGION / Christian Life / Social Issues
RELIGION / Theology
Religious aspects
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination & Race Relations
Sociology
ISBN:9780300152111, 0300152116, 9780300171365, 0300171366
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Why 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.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index
ISBN:9780300152111
0300152116
9780300171365
0300171366
DOI:10.12987/9780300163087