Faith, Difference, and Freedom in the 21st Century - Chris Shannahan

B R I L L Internationaljournal ofPublic Theology 1 (2007) 364mdash381 wwwbrillnlijpt

Babel or PentecostFaith Difference and Freedom in the

Twenty-First Century The Challenge For Publie Theology

Chris ShannahanUniversity ofBirmingham

AbstractThis article emerges from many years wnrk in diverse inner city communities It sng- gests that nrban Britain will be nnderstnnd properly and pnblic thenlngy engaged fully w ith cnntempnrary society by seriously exploring the normative and contested nature o f difference The article critiques the view that diversity poses a threat to communal life and exposes current examples o f essentialist identity politics It argues that identities premised on raciology are unsustainable and this poses a challenge to which peo- pie o f faith should respond with urgency Thus the article asserts that critical patterns o ^ u ltic u ltu ra lism provide the basis for inclusive patterns of faith and identity and that existing public theologies still need to engage in sufficient depth with the fluidity o f identity in twenty-first century Britain At heart the article offers the new hermeneutical principle o f liberative difference as having the capacity to reinvigorate patterns o f faith and resource an inclusive liberative struggle in urban societies

Keywordsurban diversity liberation racism hermeneutics

P r o d u c t io n

I first met Miriam andDseph behind Digbeth bus statinn in central Birming- ham They were tanking fnr a warm spnt tn sleep alnngside nther destitute end nf processrsquo asylum seekers The roupie had travelled from Darfur in Sudan where nseph was a jnurnalist nn a Christian newspaper tn claim asylum in

٥٠ 101163156973207X231671

Not their real names رل

زلسآلله1ع copy Brill NV Leiden 2007

C Shannahan International Journal o f Public Theology 1 (2007) 364mdash381

Britain follnwing an attempt ص kidnap Miriam by the anjaweed militia nseph had written an editnrial condemning the militias practice of ethnic cleansingrsquo and they wanted to silence him Once in Britain oseph and Miriam were ostracized by church members who muttered ldquoCanrsquot trust these asylum seekersrdquo They were excluded by Sudanese community groups because oftheir Christian faith and their involvement in non-violent opposition to the militia in Darfur ^ i s article emerges from oseph and Miriamrsquos story and attempts first to

- Demonstrate that urban life in the twenty-first century cannot be understood unless the existential significance of urban encounters with difference is fully recognised

- Illustrate exclusionary responses to difference which depict diversity as a th rea t

- Show that responses to difference must become central themes within contemporary public theology

- Introduce the hermeneutical principle o f lsquoliberative differencersquo and demonstrate its potential to transform action and reflection within foe Christian community and its capacity to generate inclusive public dialogue

The Challenge ofNormative Difference

Andrew Davey correctly notes that The city is a microcosm of foe w orld a place where worlds meetT It is therefore a mistake to refer to a cityrsquos history geography or culture because the twenty-first century city is characterized by multiple histories geographies and cultures as Leonie Sandercock and Michael Smith recognized The fo^cation-relocation experience of diaspora raises cru- cial questions for contemporary public theology such as how belonging is defined what it means to be British how foe experience of difference shapes identity how new forms of ethnicity challenge white supremacism and black essentialism and how a liberative expression of faith emerges from and speaks to this fluid dynamic context

^ r e e common responses to normative difference exemplify its contested nature First there are those who revel in a postmodern plethora ofidentities

2) Andrew Davey Urban Christianity and Global Order (London SPCK 200 ل ) p 33) Leonie Sandercock Towards Cosmopolis (Chichester ]ohn Wiley amp Sons 8وول ) Leonie Sandercock Cosmopolis II Mongrel Cities ofthe 21st Century (London Continuum 2003) andMichael Peter Smith Transnational Urbanism Locating Globalisation (Oxford Blackwell 2001)

366 C Shannahan International Journal ofPublic Theology 1 (2007) 364mdash381

and cultural forms difference is tasted and celebrated uncritically without commitment to any single narrative Secondly there are those who see difference as a threat to apparent cultural national or theological unity diversity translocal belonging and dialogical identities are the enemy because they pollutersquo the essential purity of the racial or religious group ^ ird ly there are those who simply recognize difference as an unremarkable marker of an everyday urban world where neighbours exchange Eid Diwali and Christmas cards marry across defended ethnic borders and record urban pop music which interweaves hip-hop ragga bhangra and rock as a natural expression of life in a translocal society It is to the second of these responses that this article now turns

Raciology pre-dates modernity as eter Fryer and Robert Beckford demon- strate4 However as onathan Hearn indicates race as a fixed signifier ofvalue and belonging arose as a companion of European colonialism nationalism and the Euro-enlightenment ^ i s narrative ofinclusion and exclusion can be seen in contemporary discussions about multiculturalism immigration asylum the war on terrorrsquo and the ethnic absolutist racism of the BN all of which have become moulding factors in urban British life

Identity Politics

Manuel Castells comments on the search for meaning in this fragmented urban world suggesting that the critical ccio-political development of the 1990s was the construction of social action and politics around primary identities either ascribed rooted in history and geography or newly built in an anxious search for meaning and spiritualityrsquo At a point in time when active engagement with parliamentary politics has reached a historically low level the emergence of identity politics signals a re-birth and a re-routing of political activism Models of religious faith which seek to engage in progressive dialogue within the public sphere will find themselves sidelined unless the significance of new patterns of politics is explored and understood Identity

Peter Fryer Staying Power The History o ر4 f Black People in Britain (London Pluto Press 84ول ) and Robert Beckford Dread and Pentecostal A Political Theology for the Black Church in Britain (London SPCK 2000) pp 69-75fonathan Hearn Rethinking Nationalism A رأ Critical Introduction (Basingstoke Palgrave Mac- millan 2006) pp 13-196) Manuel Castells The Rise ofthe Network Societymdash the Information Age Economy Society and Culture vol 1 (Oxford Blackwell 1996) p 22

C ShannahanInternationalJournal ofPublic Theology 1 (2007) 364mdash381 67وpolitics which revolves around so-called primary identities can he seen as both a defensive reaction and a proactive response to the psycho-social splintering of modernist metanarratives It is a model of activism that can he seen at work within marginalized urban black white and Muslim communities

Beckford demonstrates how the Rastafarian philosophy expressed through Bob Marleyrsquos music offered the tools for alienated black liberation across the urban world in the 1970s During the 1980s a second form of black identity politics arose essentialist black nationalism was tied to the iconic status of Malcolm X and the ongoing influence ofthe Nation of Islam within the urban black community8 Within such essentialism meaning is found solely within the cultural history of a black race A more recent example ofmeaning making within the urban black community has revolved around a renewed interest in Africa as the prime location for black validation Afrocentrism asserts an essential black identity that is rooted in pre-slave trade Africa which remains identifiable in spite ofthe historic rupturing of slavery and colonialism

The raciological essentialism ofthe British National Party typifies a model ofwhite supremacist identity politics that is premised upon an ethic o flsquooppres- sive differencersquo as the partyrsquos constitution reveals The BNP stands for the preservation ofthe national and ethnic character ofthe British people and is wholly opposed to any form of racial integration between British and non- European peoplesrsquo Such demonizing of diversity plays on a fear of difference within de-industrialized urban communities where the BNP has achieved limited electoral success in the early years of the twenty-first century ^ i s ethic of raciological oppressive difference was uncovered in the Channel 4 reality TV show Celebrity Big Brotherrsquo early in 2007 ^ r e e white-British celebrities appeared to bully the Boll^vood actor Shilpa Shetty apparently because she was not the same as them In front of millions the lsquopostimperial melancholia to which Paul Cihoy refers was played out exemplifying the camp mentalityrsquo which inhibits a progressive engagement with difference in urban Britain10

A third expression of camp mentalityrsquo identity politics relates to marginalized sections ofthe British-Muslim community In the face of post 911 and

7) Robert Beckford Jesus is Dread Black Theology andBlack Culture in Britain (London Darton Longman and Todd 1998) and Beckford Dread and Pentecostal8) For mom iôrm ation see lthttpwwwmuslimhopecomBlackMuslimsgtgt See رو l^p w w w bnp ogm k^ [accessed 10 March 2007]

10) Paul Gilroy After Empire Melancholia or Convivial Culture (Abingdon Routledge 2004) pp 98 and 125-32


77 scapegoating sections of the urban Muslim community have advocated the development ofa self-enclosed Muslim identity ensconced within specific majority Muslim inner city communities Towards the end o f2006 an article in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph by ]ack Straw the former Foreign Secre- tary ignited a polarized discussion about the wearing of the niqabT Straw suggests that while he supports a womans right to wear the full veil it inhibits cross-cultural ommunication emphasizes difference and has the potential to foster mistrust and fear ofthe Muslim community Alongside debates about language and education the wearing of the niqab has been portrayed by some as a throw-back to a pre-modern Islam a barrier to integration or the re-discovery of a conservative Muslim identity However it is possible that such Muslim identity politics is in fact a postmodern response to the challenges posed by globalization and the splintering of previously solid identities Any engagement with the current British-Muslim experience within public theology therefore must recognize the dangers of essentializing or homogenizing the dynamic fluidity of Islam which Ayaan Hirsi All and Ramadan discuss12

Multiple Urban Identities and Multiculturalism

In translocal urban societies identity cannot justifiably be premised on argu- ments that assume cultural isolation w hile recognizing its continued useful- ness in the face of racialized oppression Gilroy is right to dismiss models of identity formations that rest on the invalid assumption that race is an objec- tive reality He suggests that essentialist identities will not be able to withstand lsquothe destructive effects of globalisation and localisationrsquo1 In a world marked by interwoven transnational urbanism only dialogical identities can provide the template for liberative citizenship in the twenty-first century

Frameworks of meaning premised on a multicultural identity stand in ten- sion with resurgent monoculturalism During 2004 Trevor Phillips the Direcshy

n) The niqab is the full-face veil worn by a small minority ofM uslim women which should be clearly distinguished from the more commonly worn hijab or آتبمكصل pound See lsquolack Strawrsquo Wiki- pedia The Free Encyclopedia (5 ]uly 2007) ltlau^wwwemwiH^[accessed 22 June 2007] and for reference to wider responses see lsquoTalk About Newsnightrsquo (5 October 2006) lthttpwwwbbccoukblogsnewsnight200610thursday_5_october_2006 htmlgt [accessed 22 June 2007]12) Ayaan Hirsi Ali The CagedVirgin A Muslim Womans Cry for Reason (London The Free Fress2006) andTariq Ramadan Western Muslims and the Future o f Islam (Oxford Oxford University Press 2005)13) Paul Gilroy SmallActs (London Serpents Tail 1993) p 20

369C Shannahan International Journal o f Public Theology 1 (2007) 364mdash381

tor of the Commission for Racial Equality stimulated renewed debate about the nature oûlticulturalism in Britain hillips argues that integration must be based on a core of Britishnessrsquo -However within a post-colonial diaspo ئran context attempts to define this core are problematic Tariq Modood argues that an interactive model of integration can offer a broader understanding of Britishness in a diasporan urban age he states

An interactive idea of integration will clearly mean that we are always re-thinking what means to belong to this society to be British We reqnire Britishness to be an inclnsive identity not one that says lsquowell yon are here bnt yon are not British until you are sufficiently like usrsquo15

It is the assertion of this article that liberative transformation in twenty-first century translocal urban societies can only rest on the challenges posed by everyday mffidculturalism As Chris Baker demonstrates tbe lsquo i r d spacersquo created witbin hybrid urban communities provides the ground from which a new public theology of liberation and difference can grow and challenge cultural purists theological imperialists new racists ethnic essentialists and political scaremongers alike16 A new critical multiculturalism has the capacity to resource a liberative politics of difference that can challenge both the exclud- ing models of cultural puritanism and the uncritical relativist celebration of difference which falsely polarize approaches to urban diversity Gilroy suggests that such critical multiculturalism has the potential to force national- isms and bio-social explanations of race and ethnicity into more defensive posturesrsquo17 ^ i s is a vital arena within which progressive public theology must become increasingly and confidently involved

Oppressive Difference and the British Church

The corrosive force of oppressive difference has been partially recognized by white-led churches in Britain in recent decades A brief summary of Metbod- ismrsquos engagement with raciology over the past thirty years exemplifies steps

14) Trevor Phillips lsquoInterview with Tom Baldwinrsquo The Times (4 April 2004) 815) Tariq Modood lsquoMulticulturalism or Britishness A False Debatersquo Connections Quarterlyfrom the Commission for Racial Equality (Winter 20045) 8-9 at 916) Christopher Baker The Hybrid Church in the City Third space Thinking (Aldershot Ashgate2007) pp 107-4617) Gilroy Afier Empire p 244


taken by other denominations As far back as 1978 the Methodist Conference asserted that lsquoRacism is a sin [which] must be resisted wherever it is found day in day out week in week out year in year o u t-w ith passion urgency and tenacityrsquo In 1981 the educational initiative Methodist and Ecumenical ىLeadership Racism Awareness Training Workshops was established in South London to enable the exploration of raciology and ingrained racism within the church Eocus on internal Methodist structures stimulated the 1985 report A Tree God Planted in which Heather Walton attempted to bring the voices of black Methodists into the centre of the churchrsquos thinking thus uncovering a pattern of endemic raciology within British Methodism إ The وstudy was followed two years later by the Methodist Conference Report Faith־ fu l and Equal which asserts an anti-racist future for Methodism As a consequence foe church appointed a Connexional Racial ustice Secretary to oversee movement towards a faithful and equal church ^ i s important period of change and reflection was completed by foe initiation in 1989 of an annual lsquoRacial ustice Sundayrsquo within Methodism In foe early years of a new century this tradition has infused foe emerging black practical theology of Anthony Reddie that while tending towards essentialism has begun to establish a ere- ative tradition of radical black British public theological reflection on race identity and racism within Methodism which recognizes foe endemic nature of urban raciology its translocal implications and foe central position fois challenge must assume within new expressions of engaged public theology^

Alongside other white-led denominations Methodism has focused its twenty-flrst century anti-racist praxis on asserting foe rights of asylum seekers and refugees and opposing foe resurgent BNP21 Prior to local and European elections in 2004 and 2007 foe church issued a statement that while not naming foe BNP asserts an anti-racist ethic It states that it lsquoexpects members of foe Methodist Church to practise and promote racial justice and inclusion and reject any political parties that attempt to stir up racial and religious hatred and fear of asylum seekersrsquoT

1S) For more iHormation see lthttpwwwmethodistchurchorgukgt [accessed 12 April 2007] Heather Walton Robin Ward and Mark lohnson A Tree God Planted Black People in the روMethodist Church (London Ethnic Minorities in Methodism Working Group 84ول )20) Anthony Reddie Nobodies to Somebodies A Practical Theology for Education and Liberation (London Epworth Fress 2003)21) In 1993 the BNF gained its first local government councillor in a hy-election on the Isle of Dogs in the east end ofLondon In 2003 the BNF had seventeen local councillors hy 2006 this figure had risen to fifty-three22) The Methodist Church Countering Political Extremism (2006) ltHtpwwwmethodist- churchorgukgt [accessed 12 April 2007]

C ShannahanInternationalJournal ofPublic Theology 1 (2007) 364mdash381 371

This brief summary uf the engagement of one white-led denomination with race illustrates a progressive heritage of anti-racist praxis at an institutional level which should not be minimized However in the translocal and fluid twenty-first century the relevance of the churchrsquos action and reflection must be called into question for three reasons First it rests on an understanding of identity that implicitly reinforces the raciology it seeks to challenge resistance to racism has not stimulated a convincing move beyond race Secondly national church-based anti-racist initiatives must be read against a backdrop of enduring raciology within local congregations Black church stewards who are accountants at work but are not left to count the weekly offering unsuper- vised the fragments of bread left abandoned on the floor as a black steward assists at Holy Communion the white church members bringing their own food to the annual Caribbean evening the black church members who are school teachers being asked where they learned to read so well and the assumption that black input in worship naturally equates to gospel music ^ ird ly offer urban faith traditions have often been objectified The response of the institutional church to urban religious difference is typified by ffe Methodist Churchrsquos 2006 guidelines on political extremism which attempt to map an ethic of hospitality towards offer faith communities The guidelines are pre- sented as resources for churches and can provide useful if limited encourage- ment to local Christian communities which are set in multifaith contexts However ffe bullet-point approach within ffe guidelines only serves to unin- tentionally objectify neighbours friends and family members from offer faith communities Such objectification is tempered by ffe recent summary of Methodist engagement wiff offer religions that has been produced by ffe Connexional Committee for Inter-Faith Relations ^ i s report proposes a more interactive approach to offer urban faith communities which revolves around ffe following four suggestions first multi-faith society is an expression of ffe diverse human community created by God secondly Christians are called to lsquoextend ffe hand of friendshiprsquo at work to neighbours and through inter-faith groups thirdly inter-faith encounter can enrich both ffe communities and ffe individuals taking p a rt [and] can be a source of har- mony and a positive aid towards ffe elimination ofprejudice and tensionrsquo and fourthly dialogue is an open-ended and long-term commitment so that to refuse to engage in such praxis lsquowould be a denial of both tolerance and Chris- tian loversquo23

Such questions must increasingly inform public theologies if they are to speak from and to contemporary urbanism In this article I am suggesting

23) Ibid


that there are urgent pastoral pnlitical and thenlngical reasons for foreground- ing the exploration of responses to difference within public theology From a pastoral perspective urban communities of faith can reflect corrosive raciology or exemplify an ethic of liberative difference If public theology is to aid diverse communities of faith which are scarred by an ethic of oppressive difference to provide holistic liberative pastoral care then it is important that convincing reflective tools are fashioned that can enable a progressive response to difference Politically such a move is ofvital importance if sisters and broth- ers in faith are to forge coalition based forms of resistance to foe oppressive difference that divides urban communities w here communities of faith are situated along foe faultlines in Britainrsquos inner cities foe demonizing of difference is a central political and missiological issue and not a point of theological debate Consequently normative diversity and oppressive difference must be viewed as central themes within a reconfigured public foeology for five reasons First raciology and racism contradict foe doctrine of foe creation wherein God declares foe diversity of creation to be good and shapes a united humanity in foe divine image Secondly foe oppressive homogeneity exemplified by foe ethic of oppressive difference is subverted by foe egalitarian diverse community of foe Trinity ^ ird ly foe Incarnation expresses Godrsquos total solidarity with foe whole human family thus undermining all ideological attempts to divide or essentialize humanity and assertions that some communities are more valuable than others Fourthly raciology partitions humanity in a manner that contradicts a holistic understanding of foe community of faith as one body that is damaged whenever a single part is harmed Finally oppressive difference advocates an unsustainable isolationism in an age of translocal urbanism whereas foe Christian emphasis on catholicity and foe Muslim assertion of a unified umma subvert raciological separatism and exemplify an ethic of egalitarian and mutual glocalized interdependence

Tcopywads س Epistemology of Liberation and Difference

The challenge to those engaged in foe fashioning of an inclusive urban public foeology is to forge an epistemology that is rooted in a stringent exploration of translocal urban marginalization Sandercock and Baker have recently begun to explore an epistemology of multiplicityrsquo which can challenge essentialist models of identity formation^ The provisional diasporan epistemolo-

See Sandercock Towards Cosmopolis Sandercock Cosmopolis a n d Baker The Hybrid Church in the City


gies that characterize the landscape nf urban Britain can provide a foundatinn upnn which a new hermeneutical principle nf liberative difference is built and tested not in the academy but on the contested streets of inner city communities recently diverse city suburbs and outer city estates

Over the past ten years some engaged in the forging of contemporary publie theologies have begun to engage in depth with contemporary expressions of cultural hybridity and a lsquo i r d spacersquo which arises out of the dynamic interaction of diverse urban cultures in a translocal and diasporan society Against a backdrop of resurgent monoculturalism and ethnic introversion the insurgent discourses of coalitions ofthe marginalized have begun to force their way through the cracks of contemporary urban society Baker suggests that such post-colonial lsquo i r d spacersquo expressions of insurgency emerge from out- side the control or influence of the state and represent the perspectives of disempowered im m unitiesrsquo م lsquo Baker argues that this و i r d spacersquo is a space of translation a place of hybridityrsquo^ w hile Bakerrsquos reflections on hybridity as a basis for lsquo i r d spacersquo theology draw on the work of the postcolonial critic Homi Bhabha his analysis invites comparisons with the thinking of the Brit- ish cultural theorist Stuart Hall who suggests that the black Atlantic diaspora is defined not by essence or purity but by the recognition of necessary heterogeneity and diversity by hybridityrsquo and the emergence of dynamic new ethnicitiesrsquo^ ^ e s e new models of diasporan ethnicity find faces and names as in increasing numbers black white and Asian Britons settle down with partners from different ethnic groups Beople of dual heritage are the postmodern children of diaspora^ ^ i s weaving of new urban identities cannot be reduced to the hybridity to which Hall and Baker refer ه philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari use an alternative but comparable biological image to evoke heterogeneous diasporan multiculturalism29 Rhizomes are forms or systems which do not have a single root but which are characterized

25) Baker ibid p 1826) Ibid p 2127) Stuart Hall lsquoCultural Identity and Diaspnrarsquo in Braziel Jana Evans and Anita Mannur eds Theorizing Diaspora (Oxford Blackwell 2003) p 24428) The 2001 Natinnal Census pninted to the fact that three percent of foe population of Bir- I n g h a m defined themselves as dual heritage (approximately thirty thousand adults a figurethat does not include children) Across England and Wales just over one percent o fth e population defined themselves as dual-heritage (677000 people) while fifteen percent ofthe minority eth- nie community of England and Wales defined themselves as dual-heritage See lthttpwww statisticsgovukgt [accessed 14 March 2007]29) Cilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari A Thousand Plateaus (Eondon University of Minnesota Press 1987) pp 3-18

374 C Shannahan International Journal ofPublic Theology 1 (2007) 364-381

by multiple imer^nnectiuns Such imagery like that ufhybridity successfully expresses the rupture and re-ruuting of contemporary urbanism However as Baker admits talk about hybridity inevitably echoes botanical grafting late eighteenth and nineteenth century assertions about supposed racial hierar- chies and an almost pathological colonial horror of lsquomixing the racesrsquo in the Caribbean colonies of the British Empire The model of urban identity صexpressed by people of dual heritage is not a purposeless example of biological fusion one finished ethnicity being grafted onto another equally completed camp Cuattari and Deleuze exclude the conviction that lies at the heart of progressive patterns of faith diversity is not only normative it is a purposive expression of a creator who rejoices in difference a reflection of the diverse unity of a trinitarian God an echo ofthe boundary hopping ministry of]esus of Nazareth and the generator of liberative social change A hermeneutics of liberative difference stands as a challenge to directionless relativist and purposeless hybridity and has the capacity to resource progressive translocal publie theology in diasporan and diverse urban societies

Seeds copyfa New Hermeneutic^ Principie Liberative Difference

Discussions of culture faith marginalization globalization power identity inclusion belonging and resistance in twenty-first century urban societies cluster around interpretations of difference ^ e s e ontological crises feed upon an alienating ethic of oppressive difference within which diversity is portrayed as a dangerous threat to neighbourhood national ethnic or religious identity Twenty-first century urbanism is defined not only by normative diversity but by translocal diasporan communities within which new forms of fluid ethnicity are constantly emerging A hermeneutical principle which grapples coher- ently with such difference on the basis of a liberative ethic is needed to resource a convincing theology of liberation and difference In this article I explore such a defining interpretive tool which reflects the dynamic provi- sionality of postmodern urban Britain and can reinvigorate a new critical multiculturalism

Liberative difference enables a new engagement with religious diversity thus correcting the disengagement and superficiality that characterizes much urban theological reflection on the multifaith nature of twenty-first century Britain Liberative difference acknowledges existing models of inter-faith dia-

30) Baker The Hybrid Church in the City pp 13mdash14


logue but will move beyond them towards a new model of engagement Exclusivism inclusivism and pluralism have dominated Christian engagement with other world faiths for almost a century they still hold centre ground within foe Christian community but are incapable of expressing either foe complexity of contemporary urbanism or foe inclusive liberative thrust of the divine bias to foe oppressed in a plural globalized age Liberative difference exposes dogmatic exclusivism that while finding its roots in foe work ofHen- drick Kraemer Karl Barth and Lesslie Newbiggin^ still finds a home in churches that exclude any possibility of glimpses of lsquotruthrsquo emerging from other communities of faith Furthermore liberative difference challenges foe inclusivism popularized by Karl Rahner^ wherein foe liberative potential of foe worlds religions is reduced to an unrecognized consequence of foe salvific power of]esus Finally a hermeneutic of liberative difference exposes foe inad- equacy of the pluralism developed by ohn Hick33 His important recognition of foe necessity of a post-imperial theology of religions fails to acknowledge foe centrality of conflicting truth claims within urban communities yet where such commitment is bracketed out or dismissed as contextually prede- termined liberative dialogue becomes inauthentic and implausible

Liberative difference resists attempts to simplify or homogenize dynamic cultures An ethic of liberative difference is built upon foe social reality of messy heterogeneity instead of the myth of tidy homogeneity If public foeology is to engage authentically with postmodern uncertainty post-religious questioning and dynamic translocal urbanism it must root itself in a pattern of hermeneutics that is avowedly non-conformist only such a meaning-making relationship with the world can explore sufficiently normative diversity and the corrosive effects of oppressive difference only such a hermeneutical stance can generate a pattern of progressive faith that is characterized by liberative difference In his exploration of black music and suffering Anthony Pinn introduces foe idea of a lsquonitty-grittyrsquo hermeneutics which he suggests engages more openly and honestly with foe black experience of racism than tradition^

31) See ]copyhn Hick and Brian Hebblethwaite Brian eds Christianity and Other Religions (Glasgow Fount Fress 80ول ) Hendrick Kraemer The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World (Edin- burgh Edinburgh House Press 1938) and Lesslie Newbiggin Truth to Tell (Eondon SFCK 1991)32) Karl Rahner Theological Investigations vols 5 and 17 (London Darton Eongman and Todd 1963-1981)33) ]ohn Hick God Has Many Names (London S e m illan 1980) and John Hick The Rainbow ofFaiths (London SCM Press 1995)


Christian understandings nf redemptive suffering34 Nitty-gritty hermeneutics is prnvisinnal open-ended and resistant to received orthodoxy Pinn suggests that such a pattern of mening-making lsquoridicules interpretations and inter- preters who seek to inhibit or restrict liberative movement The nitty-grittyrsquo lsquothangrsquo so to speak forces a confrontation with the lsquofunky stuffrsquo of lifersquo35 A nitty-gritty model of hermeneutics can liberate contemporary public theology from inflexible dogmatic parameters which reduce dismiss or spiritualize fluid normative difference A hermeneutics of liberative difference that draws on a nitty-gritty ethic can resource a dialogical model of public theology which meets difference on its own fluid dynamic and potentially ontradictory terms without imposing a priori judgements on the other However because it rests on the assertion that theology must articulate the divine bias to the oppressed a nitty-gritty hermeneutics of liberative difference should not be equated to a rudderless relativism as the criteria below indicate

While depictions of oppressive difference portray a lsquoBabelrsquo of misunder- standing a hermeneutics of liberative difference articulates an intra-contextual lsquoPentecostrsquo of potential mutual liberation It is recognized however that diversity is not inherently liberative A hermeneutics of liberative difference therefore does not equate to an uncritical postmodern relativism within which no judgements about truth can be made rather dialogical urban praxis will be judged according to foe follow criteria first does foe urban dialogue partner express foe dynamism of contemporary urban life secondly does foe urban dialogue partner articulateembody foe bias to foe oppressed thirdly is foe urban dialogue partner explicitly committed to shared liberative struggle fourthly is foe urban dialogue partner open to constructive challenge fifthly is foe urban dialogue partner committed to mfoti-dimensional equality and finally does foe urban dialogue partner recognize foe open-endedness of struggle and foe provisional status ofherhis own perspective

^ i s hermeneutical shift within public theology enables a new engagement wifo normative difference because

- lsquoLiberative Differencersquo is built upon foe Divine Bias to foe Stranger and foe Excluded

- lsquoLiberative Differencersquo expresses foe fluid intra-contextual character ofurban society

34) Anthcopyny Pinn why Lord Suffering and Evil in Black Theology (New York Continuumgtووول35) Ibid p 117

C ShannahanInternationalJournal ofPublic Theology 1 (2007) 364mdash381 77و- lsquoLiberative Differencersquo recognises the contested nature of urban space

the hegemony of the ruling space of flowsrsquo and proposes a new counter- hegemonic community of flows which arises from excluded diasporan urban com m unities

- lsquoLiberative Differencersquo moves urban faith and politics beyond all forms of lsquoraciologyrsquo

- lsquoLiberative Differencersquo resources glocalized liberative praxis- lsquoLiberative Differencersquo challenges the falsity of binary modernist Urban

Geologies- lsquoLiberative Differencersquo understands the diversity of the oppressed as a chal-

lenge to the homogeneity of the globalised urban elite- lsquoLiberative Differencersquo lsquodubsrsquo prevailing antagonism towards difference which

becomes the driving force behind inclusive neôrked liberative praxis- lsquoLiberative Differencersquo enables a new critical multiculturalism to emerge

which recognises foe importance of foe development of a progressive lsquoCrit- ical Whitersquo identity

Liberative Difference Dubs R eceived Faith

It should be recognized fully that black and urban theologians have grappled wifo racism and cultural diversity since foe 1980s However although Ken- neth Leech John Wilkinson and David Haslam^ have asserted an often underrepresented white anti-racism while Mukti Barton^ has subverted foe implicit ethnic essentialism that has tended to characterize much public theological reflection on race and bofo Robert Beckford and Inderjit Bhogal^ have sought to broaden reflection beyond an urban Christian community there has been little detailed engagement wifo foe dynamic and fluid interactive identities and normative religious diversity that characterizes twenty-first century

36) Kenneth Leech Struggle in Babylon (London Sheldon Publishing 1988) Kenneth Leech The Sky is Beiquest (London Darton Longman and Todd 1997) and Kenneth LeechDoing Theology in Altab Alt Park (London Darton Longman and Todd 2006) John Wilkinson The Church in Black and White (Ldinburgh St Andrews Press 1993) and David Haslam Race for the Millen- nium A Challengefor Church and Society (London Church House Puhlishing 1996)37) Mukti Barton Rejection Resistance and Resurrection speaking Out on Racism in the Church (London Darton Longman and Todd 2005)38) Beckford Dread and Pentecostalmiddot Inderjit Bhogal lsquoGrieving in a Multifaith Societyrsquo in Row- land Chris س iquest Vincent John ed Liberation spirituality (Sheffield Urban Theology Unit 1997) and Inderjit Bhogal A TableforAllrsquoA Challenge to Church and Nation (Sheffield Penistone Press 2000)


urbanism within existing patterns of black and urban theology As a result neither discipline has to date exhibited the capacity to forge a transformative hermeneutical stance that has foe capacity to resource liberative difference although Beckfordrsquos challenge to develop a progressive critical white identity and Bakers engagement with hybrid lsquo i r d spacersquo thinking may have foe potential to contribute to an urgently needed new discussion

An ethic of liberative difference has the capacity to re-configure received patterns of faith as tools of resistance and hope for excluded communities Draw- ing on foe template described above tools provided by ideological criticism and the dub practice of the dancehall D] which Beckford explores it becomes possible to deconstruct-reconstruct received faith on foe basis of a renewed liberative ethic Beckford describes the mechanics of dub practice in this way bass guitar drums horns and vocals are deconstructed separated from each other and then reconstructed cut and remixed repositioned and recastrsquo39

Deconstruction

Reconstruction

Liberative Ethic

Organic Liberative Interpretation

Black Experience

DominantInterpretation

Cultural Text or Theological Model

Figure 1 Dub practice in public foeology

Dub is not a directionless post-structuralist technique since dominant sounds narratives and values are deconstructed so that an alternative liberative and contextual musical form can be constructed Beckford summarizes Dub is more than a musical technique it is also a quest for meaningrsquo40 It is because sound like language is not neutral that Beckford suggests that foe sound system mi^ can be read as a theory of social resistancersquo^ If it is guided by a

39) Robert Beckford Jesus Dub Theology Music and Social Change (Abingdon Routledge 2006)

٥١ Ibid p 6741) Ibid p 52


hermeneutics uf liberative difference and a clear emancipatory ethic dub practice has the capacity to resource a new liberative engagement with difference which critiques existing theological camp mentality and an ethic of corrosive oppressive difference A creative engagement with dub can reinvigorate urban public theology in the twenty-first century and resource inclusive models of urban resistance to raciology camp mentality and homogenizing globalization Thus it becomes possible to see a dubbed public theology of liberative difference emerging in the process

Trinity Dub

In spite of its roots in the political pragmatism ofthe patristic period a trinitarian ethic has glocal liberative potential in the context of the crises of contemporary globalized urbanism ه Trinity models a society that is characterized by mutuality justice and inclusive community because as ^ o m p - son summarizes The triune God breaks through our divisions and isolationrsquo^ While certain dogmatic approaches to the Trinity exclude the possibility of truth emerging from non-trinitarian communities of faith the emphasis has the potential when allied to a use ofideological criticism to frame a model of action and reflection that reflects the dynamic and complex fluidity of contemporary urban life A new urban faith framework will dub the trinity as shown below

Social God Egalitarian God Divine Diaspora

Flnidity Dialogne

Commnnity of Flows Option for Commnnity

Jonrneying Relational Mntnality

CampMentality

Belonging DeconstrnctionOrthodoxTrinitarianEmphasis

Atomisatiorr

ReconstrnctionPlnralityGlobalisation

Figure 2 lsquoTrinity dubrsquo

42) John Thompson Modern Trinitarian Perspectives (Oxford Oxford University Press 1994) p 107


Catholicity

The ancient Christian emphasis on catholicity provides potentially liberative resources for people offaith in the new globalized urbanism Such glocal praxis can challenge the hegemony of homogenizing globalization providing a meet- ing place for the oppressed within translocal urban communities Catholicity can reinstate the dynamic multiplicity of the local place thus providing a counterpoint to Castellsrsquo assertion that the global space of flows has rendered the local impotent A new theology of liberation and difference will draw on and stretch orthodox understandings of catholicity in an attempt to engage fully with the inherently multi-faith character of urban Britain ظ shape of

At a point in time when urban society has become increasingly atomized and communities increasingly ghettoized an emphasis on koinonia has the potential to reinvigorate liberative community cohesion ه biblical conception of koinonia speaks of a relationship of solidarity however dominant Eurocentric theologies have individualized a communal relationship thus privatizing and (^politicizing the liberative thrust of relational koinonia Within a new urban theology koinonia becomes a necessarily inclusive response to the divine solidarity expressed through the incarnation w hen allied to a new urban catholicity and a hermeneutics of liberative difference the new koinonia demands a radical planetary humanismrsquo capable of resourcing intra-contextual move- ments of solidarity that subvert hegemonic definitions of centre worth and

a lsquoCatholic urban dubrsquo is sketched out below

Diasporan Reflection Glocal Praxis Liberative Reconciliation

Dialogue Inter-Contextuality Network Building

LocalGlobal Diverse Unity

Belonging RaciologyDominantCatholicEmphasis

Deconstruction

GentrificationGhettoes

ReconstructionContested

Urban Islamophobia

Figure 3 lsquoC tholicitydubrsquo

Koinonia Dub

power


Interconnected Oppression

Liberative Solidarity Multidimensional

Shalom Planetary Humanism Koinonia as Action Organic Inter Faith

Dialogue HolinessWholeness

BelongingIndividualismDominant

KoinoniaEmphasis DeconstructionContested

ace (Anti-Dialogical Struggle

ReconstructionCentre and Margins raphy

Inequality

1wure 4 Koinonia dubrsquo

Conclusion

The struggle to forge a transformative pattern of faith and political action that is characterized by a progressive ethic of liberative difference will be of central and abiding importance in the translocal world of diasporan urban society in the twenty-first century Within the Gospels when he is faced with exclusion or oppressive essentialism and when he is challenged to broaden his own gaze esus embodies the faithful openness that must mark inclusive models of dis- cipleship in this fluid and interwoven century w hen models of urban public theology grapple with the complex web of normative difference and the corrosive ethics of oppressive difference that characterize urban society then a convincing expression of liberative difference can emerge A new hermeneutical paradigm is required to meet people like oseph and Miriam in their need ^ i s paper has begun to chart the journey ahead

آلمآورلم

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This journal is made available to you through the ATLAS eollection with permission from the eopyright holder(s) The eopyright holder for an entire issue ٥۴ ajourna typieally is the journal owner who also may own the copyright in each article However for certain articles tbe author ofthe article may maintain the copyright in the article Please contact the copyright holder(s) to request permission to use an article or specific work for any use آس covered by the fair use provisions of tbe copyright laws or covered by your respective ATLAS subscriber agreement For information regarding the copyright hoider(s) please refer to the copyright iaformatioa in the journal if available or contact ATLA to request contact information for the copyright holder(s)

About ATLAS

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Britain follnwing an attempt ص kidnap Miriam by the anjaweed militia nseph had written an editnrial condemning the militias practice of ethnic cleansingrsquo and they wanted to silence him Once in Britain oseph and Miriam were ostracized by church members who muttered ldquoCanrsquot trust these asylum seekersrdquo They were excluded by Sudanese community groups because oftheir Christian faith and their involvement in non-violent opposition to the militia in Darfur ^ i s article emerges from oseph and Miriamrsquos story and attempts first to

- Demonstrate that urban life in the twenty-first century cannot be understood unless the existential significance of urban encounters with difference is fully recognised

- Illustrate exclusionary responses to difference which depict diversity as a th rea t

- Show that responses to difference must become central themes within contemporary public theology

- Introduce the hermeneutical principle o f lsquoliberative differencersquo and demonstrate its potential to transform action and reflection within foe Christian community and its capacity to generate inclusive public dialogue

The Challenge ofNormative Difference

Andrew Davey correctly notes that The city is a microcosm of foe w orld a place where worlds meetT It is therefore a mistake to refer to a cityrsquos history geography or culture because the twenty-first century city is characterized by multiple histories geographies and cultures as Leonie Sandercock and Michael Smith recognized The fo^cation-relocation experience of diaspora raises cru- cial questions for contemporary public theology such as how belonging is defined what it means to be British how foe experience of difference shapes identity how new forms of ethnicity challenge white supremacism and black essentialism and how a liberative expression of faith emerges from and speaks to this fluid dynamic context

^ r e e common responses to normative difference exemplify its contested nature First there are those who revel in a postmodern plethora ofidentities

2) Andrew Davey Urban Christianity and Global Order (London SPCK 200 ل ) p 33) Leonie Sandercock Towards Cosmopolis (Chichester ]ohn Wiley amp Sons 8وول ) Leonie Sandercock Cosmopolis II Mongrel Cities ofthe 21st Century (London Continuum 2003) andMichael Peter Smith Transnational Urbanism Locating Globalisation (Oxford Blackwell 2001)




Identity Politics





























23) Ibid









































Deconstruction

Reconstruction

Liberative Ethic


Black Experience









Trinity Dub



Flnidity Dialogne



CampMentality


Atomisatiorr





Catholicity








Deconstruction



Urban Islamophobia


Koinonia Dub

power










Inequality


Conclusion


آلمآورلم

Copyright and Use




About ATLAS






Identity Politics





























23) Ibid









































Deconstruction

Reconstruction

Liberative Ethic


Black Experience









Trinity Dub



Flnidity Dialogne



CampMentality


Atomisatiorr





Catholicity








Deconstruction



Urban Islamophobia


Koinonia Dub

power










Inequality


Conclusion


آلمآورلم

Copyright and Use




About ATLAS





























23) Ibid









































Deconstruction

Reconstruction

Liberative Ethic


Black Experience









Trinity Dub



Flnidity Dialogne



CampMentality


Atomisatiorr





Catholicity








Deconstruction



Urban Islamophobia


Koinonia Dub

power










Inequality


Conclusion


آلمآورلم

Copyright and Use




About ATLAS











































Deconstruction

Reconstruction

Liberative Ethic


Black Experience









Trinity Dub



Flnidity Dialogne



CampMentality


Atomisatiorr





Catholicity








Deconstruction



Urban Islamophobia


Koinonia Dub

power










Inequality


Conclusion


آلمآورلم

Copyright and Use




About ATLAS





Trinity Dub



Flnidity Dialogne



CampMentality


Atomisatiorr





Catholicity








Deconstruction



Urban Islamophobia


Koinonia Dub

power










Inequality


Conclusion


آلمآورلم

Copyright and Use




About ATLAS




Catholicity








Deconstruction



Urban Islamophobia


Koinonia Dub

power










Inequality


Conclusion


آلمآورلم

Copyright and Use




About ATLAS












Inequality


Conclusion


آلمآورلم

Copyright and Use




About ATLAS



آلمآورلم

Copyright and Use




About ATLAS



Faith, Difference, and Freedom in the 21st Century - Chris Shannahan

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Transcript of Faith, Difference, and Freedom in the 21st Century - Chris Shannahan