Dissension and Tenacity

Embodying dissension and tenacity at the core of its substance, scope and style, this eclectic collection of essays lays bare the sinews of a 'theology with nerves'. Prose and poetry, the playful and the profound kiss each other as passion, contemplation and liberation intertwine in intricate and insightful ways to open up not just new paths for 'doing theology', but for living lives of faith which, in the face of forces of death, prophetically pro(a)nounce life! For too long the Western world dictated what a normative theology should look like. This is the case no more. Theologies from the global south have been rising up, resisting the empire with its ideologies, theologies and norms. This volume is an excellent expression of vibrant and articulate voices that are troubling stagnant theological waters, thus inviting readers into new territories where native voices are heard, and marginalised bodies are recognised; a much-needed volume in these troubled times. The authors in this collection interrogate Christianity's involvement with past and present empires; critique Christian normative teachings and practices, particularly those aspects that sustain and profit from the empire; as well as foreground and celebrate the Christian principles and practices which resist, restrain, and reject the empire's avarice. This is a timely academic contribution during the current decolonial era. This lively, incisive, and stimulating collection of creative reflections bears witness to the dis-ease, chaos, and butchery of our times, and to hope's protests that mark life's endurance amid the managements and empires of death. The contributions celebrate that theologies can controvert brutal orthodoxies, and show that those that do that best are marked by courage, exegesis, humility, defiance, resistance, provocation, and disrupting imaginations. They animate and subvert. They travel upstream to discern and interrogate the headwaters that affect real lives. They risk unfeigned speech at the borderlands, and where unjust powers exercise their violent trickeries.