A. K. Chidgzey

Generally, postcolonialism refers to the study of the impact of colonialism on societies, particularly the conquering and colonisation of countries around the globe by European powers, and includes the oppression and displacement of the indigenous people of those countries.

the ongoing impact of colonialism is still very much a part of the fabric of society today, and so the word postcolonialism refers to the reaction to and critique of colonialism.

Colonialism has existed since the very beginning of humanity. It’s the desire to control more and have more and be more powerful. Nations would conquer and rule over other nations and would build empires. Like the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Persian Empires. The Han Dynasty, the Indus Valley Civilization, the Egyptian Civilization (though whether these are technically empires is disputed). The Greeks and The Romans, the Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongols, the Ottomans, the Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish, the Russians, and the British.

Christianity gave European colonialism a theological justification, perhaps even a spiritual or moral imperative. Civilization was inseparable from the Christian church.

Slavery, the exploitation of natural resources, genocide…all justified within a colonialist mindset.

The usual depiction of the world map is itself a product of colonialism. Converting a globe to a 2D map is very difficult, if not impossible, and flattening that globe out requires taking certain liberties. The map that most of us are most familiar with reflects a Eurocentric bias, with Europe in the middle, but if you are to compare the actual land mass of countries, you’ll see that Europe and North America are overrepresented. But various maps have been created recently that try to reflect a more accurate world in terms of land mass to better reflect those non-European countries. This is an act of postcolonialism, and I recommend looking at the AuthaGraph world map here.

There’s a heap of postcolonial theology, history, and Biblical studies out there, which highlight colonized voices, pointing out injustices in terms of class and power, critiquing structures of authority and economics, and this postcolonial lens can give us a much broader picture of who God is and who we are. Because after all, who did Jesus come to save? Of course, all of us, but he has a particular heart for the downtrodden, for the oppressed, and the marginalized. He was speaking to a colonized people.

The New Testament, and much of the Hebrew Bible, was written by people who were on the wrong end of the colonial stick and were living under the thumb of an imperial power. By the time of Jesus, the Israelites had existed for several hundred years under the power of various empires, the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, and in the first century the Israelites were really feeling the strong arm of Roman rule. Violence was part and parcel of this empire.

Christianity itself was birthed out of the ultimate expression of Roman colonial brutality: the crucifixion of Jesus.

Coded critiques of empire are found in the New Testament: the empire depicted as a beast with seven heads, Rome depicted as a sex worker, the use of the number 666 to refer to Emperor Nero. Giving titles to Jesus that were traditionally ascribed to the Roman emperor, portraying the emperor as a parody of the true ruler. The cross itself, a tool of shame, pain, and persecution, turned into a symbol of victory and salvation.

Parable of Talents (Matthew 25) could be interpreted as a criticism of economic systems built upon exploitation.

The whole Bible could be seen as a revolutionary document, a critique of tyrannical earthly powers. The writing, preservation, and retelling of Scripture could be seen as a postcolonial act.

This is a valuable reminder for those of us who are in the position of the empire, of the colonizer, such as myself. Scripture is still very much for us, but it is imperative that we acknowledge that it was not written to us, and our context is vastly different to that of the original audience. When read correctly, Scripture places a great responsibility on those of those with power and money to use that power and money to help those who have neither.