colonialism general

Question 1

key theme

Answer 1

Key Theme for lecture = Enlightenment

• • The Enlightenment drove the 19th century European colonisers to Africa, the Middle East, Asia…
• Some of our most cherished values are products of our experience
• Without thinking about it, the West, by which we mean principally Western Europe and North America has developed attitudes, permeating attitudes, that impact strongly on how we perceive things that are not western.

Question 2

fortesque

Answer 2

• This is typified in texts with titles such as Adrian Fortesque’s ‘The Lesser Eastern Churches’ (published by Catholic Truth Society, London, 1913)
  o Fortesque writes well but can see motives
  o The title betrays an attitude that not only considers these churches to be small, but definitely less important, less sophisticated, les thought through. They are certainly different, many of the churches under consideration in the book derive from early splits in the church, at the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE, or at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE, and so are in some ways regarded as ‘heretical.’
  ♣ In a lot of cases, what is considered ‘heretical’ is that which does not conform with the Roman norm
  ♣ Some non-Chalcedonian churches do actually have the same fundamental belief in JC as Chalcedonian churches
  o Filled with outlook of Victorian ‘civiliser’
  o This attitude still remains – scholars are simply better at disguising it

Question 3

problem

Answer 3

• Thinking about how we approach the religious practice, and thought of other religions (or in this case other expressions of Christianity) is not straightforward
  o As students of theology, we probably shouldn’t reject the notion of ‘heresy’ altogether
  o A deeper problem with Fortesque, and many others, is that they have not engaged deeply with the context, the philosophical frameworks, the assumptions, or anything really!
  o Another root problem of his approach is the assumption that the Western standard is fundamentally the right way, and the way against which to judge other religions

Question 4

centre of xianity

Answer 4

• In so many ways the centre of gravity of Christianity has ‘moved’ away from Europe and North America, and rests securely in Africa, or South America or South East Asia – the Ethiopians, who are set to become the largest Orthodox Christian community in the world, and the second largest Protestant Christian community in the world by 2050, may disagree that the centre of gravity has moved back to Africa – in that they have never understood it to have migrated in the first place. Interesting here is how little ‘western’ scholars have taken interest in the ancient expression of Christianity that is found in Ethiopia
• This is rooted in the Enlightenment humanism that drove 19th century colonisers to Africa, Middle East, Asia etc… (see below)

Question 5

assumptions

Answer 5

• The way that we as westerners (or whatever our origin may be) engage with the world is through the propagation of ideals
• This is not inherently negative – or Orientalist (seeing Arab (or other) culture as exotic, backward, uncivilized, and at times dangerous…)
• Also, it is not possible to work everything out from first principles as we relate to others
• The problem arises if (as was almost certainly the case with Fortesque) we don’t realise what is going on
  o Need to be aware of our assumptions etc.
  ♣ Cannot assume that the secular humanist ideal = best
  ♣ Many societies in India, Africa etc. adhere to beliefs that western humanists view as primitive

Question 6

greek world

Answer 6

o Need to recognise that our narrative asserts some sort of continuum from the Greek world through to our present western tradition (whether this is true or not). This has led to a considerable neglect of the intellectual traditions that were not understood to be part of this. In the study of Oriental Christianity, the pre-eminent scholarship of Sebastian Brock has, over recent decades, exposed the sophisticated Christian theology of Syriac writers such as Ephrem the Syrian, who were dismissed as unsophisticated and shallow by scholars in the west who first encountered them.

o Heroditus
♣ Began the binary of Persia and Greece
♣ Freed vs. slaved, progressive vs. backwards

Question 7

mill and the enlightenment

Answer 7

o JS Mill in On Liberty – ‘not yet’ historicism (words of Chakrabarty)
♣ Barbarian class from non-West have not developed enough to be able to govern themselves
♣ Sets idea of linear timeline towards progress

Question 8

subaltern schools

Answer 8

• Emphasis on voice and their experience – strong connection between ethnographic method and subaltern school
• If voice is from above you will get a very different perspective to from below
• 1970/80s used colonial archives to ascertain truth
• but now considering contemporary texts and using them to understand society in that period – don’t dismiss if written by them
• Emphasis on voice and their experience – strong connection between ethnographic method and subaltern school
• If voice is from above you will get a very different perspective to from below
• 1970/80s used colonial archives to ascertain truth
• but now considering contemporary texts and using them to understand society in that period – don’t dismiss if written by them