Can "White" People Be Saved?: Triangulating Race, Theology, and Mission (Missiological Engagements Book 12)

by Willie James Jennings

some would argue that decolonization requires the end of missionization altogether. But missionization is fundamentally structured around sharing beliefs one holds strongly with people who do not share those beliefs. Missionization is thus an inescapable part of life because we live in a world where not everyone agrees with us. The answer is not pretending we (whoever we are) do not have the convictions that we do. The answer is decolonizing missionization so that we fundamentally respect, and understand, that the people with whom we engage are our relatives—that they are fully human, even if they are never convinced by what we say. We need not require people to become human/White in order to hear the gospel. We must decolonize our perceptions of Christianity by recognizing how Western imperialism shapes what we think the gospel is. In doing so, we save not only others with whom we wish to share the gospel, but we save ourselves as well.