In this episode, Trixie, Celine, and Maria unpack their experiences growing up and breaking up with White Jesus, the damaging assumed default of whiteness when depicting the Divine, and how White Jesus functions to uphold the power of those at the top of the social and political hierarchy. They also discuss problematic white saviourism as apparent in colonialism (both historic and contemporary iterations), missions, and development work, and re-envision liberatory ways to represent God, Christ, and the sacred, as well as to reclaim cultural practices in decolonizing their spiritual journeys.
Transcript available: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/02/episode-2-on-unlearning-white-jesus.html
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Episode Notes & Annotations:
Celine mentions Black liberation theologian James Cone, specifically his book “The Cross and the Lynching Tree.”
Trixie mentions mujerista theology as a form of liberation theology, such as the work and writing of Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz.
The hosts mention the podcast Reclaiming My Theology as an "adopted ancestor," or auntie podcast to Resetting The Table. The specific episodes that relate most to this one are on Paternalism, Objectivity, and White Centering.
Celine mentions white saviourism as not just a symptom of church and faith spaces, but also prevalent in the non-profit and development sphere. For more on this, see Teju Cole’s 2012 essay “The White Saviour Industrial Complex,” and “No White Saviours,” a women-led advocacy group in Uganda (https://www.instagram.com/nowhitesaviors).
