Religion, education, and postcolonial theory: decolonizing the curriculum reconsidered

Book section : Chapter

If ‘decolonizing the curriculum’ aims to broaden the view of what is taught in the Academy to include what is forgotten, or forged out of history by the supposedly founding prejudicial positionings of scholarship itself, among the most neglected of these encounters is the domain of religion and education. Given the predominant focus of postcolonial theory and criticism with Western colonialism and imperialism, the presumption that both Catholic and Protestant Christianity in particular are indelibly associated with European empires is often vouchsafed. The parameters of a redrawn postcolonial theory of Christianity incorporate an argument for a more inclusive view of the tradition’s historical engagements with political power. If anything, given Christianity’s history of persecution, from the earliest centuries to the present, including throughout the centuries of imperialism, it would seem Christianity should be re-positioned in decolonizing the curriculum debates as an ally rather than an enemy of those challenging oppressive political powers, including across the Academy itself.

Authors: Gearon, LF

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Host title: The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Education
• Pages: 703-738
• Chapter number: 41
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Place of publication: Oxford
• Publication date: 2025-05-22
• Edition: 1
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198869511.013.49
• EISBN: 9780198869511
• ISBN-10: 0198869517
• ISBN-13: 9780198869511
• Language: English
• Keywords: education; postcolonial Christianity; postcolonial theory; religion and empire; religion
• Subtype: Chapter