Ep117. Indigenous Theologies, Anne Pattel-Gray

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Ep117. Indigenous Theologies, Anne Pattel-Gray

This is a portion of the most recent Black Lives Matter and the Church in Australia panel discussion where Dr Anne Pattel-Gray joined the group to talk about Indigenous Theologies. She offers insight into the cost of developing a theology based in sovereignty and anti-colonialism, the work that remains, and what she's working on now.

The monthly panels are hosted by Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi of the Uniting Church Chaplaincy at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie and Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams of the Social Justice Pilgrim Presbytery NT. The panel is also comprised of me and Emma Jackson (a PhD candidate at Macquarie University. These panels happen on the final Sunday of the month at 3pm EST. To find out more contact Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi at ucc.csu[@]gmail.com (The next one will be January 2022).

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Ep96. Black Christology and the Quest for Authenticity, John H. McClendon III

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Ep96. Black Christology and the Quest for Authenticity, John H. McClendon III

I sat down with Prof John H. McClendon to discuss his philosophical appraisal of Black Theology/Christology and materialist critique of its claim of authenticity. We discuss how he became interested in the topic through study of Howard Thurman, the relationship between Black Theology and African American theology that preceded it, and the shift from a focus on racism and its attendant structures to whiteness. We also discuss his engagement with and critique of Professor James Cone and the implications he sees in making God dependant on Blackness and Blackness dependant on white oppression. Finally we discuss the whole problem of claiming the existence of an "authentic Christianity" independent of the Christianity we've got.

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Ep38. Theologising Brexit, Anthony G. Reddie

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Ep38. Theologising Brexit, Anthony G. Reddie

I sat down with Professor Anthony G. Reddie to talk about his book Theologising Brexit: a Liberationist and Postcolonial Critique (Routledge 2019). We discuss what lay beneath the Brexit vote – unexamined colonial attitudes of exceptionalism, the legacy of Imperial Christian ecclesiology and missiology, the scourge of White supremacy, entitlement and privilege. I ask him about writing theology that is “polemical and subjective”, what drew him to Black Liberation Theology, the array of tools he employs to help people grapple with race, history, and privilege, wrestling with the Bible in churches, and the treatment of the Windrush generation and assumptions about who gets to be a ‘British Christian’. We really do cover a lot!

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