Abstract
How do we pray in a world filled with colonialities of religious and political forms of dominance, of religious institutions serving dominating powers? Where do we pray from? What language shall we use, especially when our very religious language traps us into the ontology of empire, capitalism, its thinking, and neoliberal pragmatics? The only way to start praying is to borrow the prayers of those in the margins, of other religions, and those who are resisting under the belly by the empire/colonial powers. Only by listening to others and to the earth we can pray again. For now, our prayer is way too clogged within our own systems of spirituality and only affirms coloniality instead of dismantling it. How can we pray?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
“A veces le llamo S/N (sin nombre), a veces dios-cómplice, a veces nada. Como a menudo lo he explicado, pienso que cada cual tiene derecho a inventar su propio dios y a diseñar su propia gnosis.” Pániker, Salvador. Adiós a casi todo (Diarios de Pániker 5) (Spanish Edition) (Kindle Locations 32–34). Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial España. Kindle Edition.
- 2.
Trinh T. Minh-ha, Lovecidal, Walking with the Disappeared (New York: Fordham Univ. Press, 2016), 1.
- 3.
Rey Chow, Not like a Native Speaker. On Languaging as a Postcolonial Experience (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2014), 8.
- 4.
He is after a form of free state where “a majority nation whose cultural dominance is plain and unquestioned, and against which resistance appears to be futile. Such a majority nation is strong enough not to fear challenges from national minorities, and so is able to grant them rights and liberties without damaging the internal integrity of the state. For the most part, they therefore assimilate themselves into the system of expectations established by the constitutional and religious culture of the majority nation, learning its language and resorting to violence only on rare occasions.” Yoram Hazony, The Virtue of Nationalism (New York: Basic Books 2018), 165.
- 5.
Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do With Our Brain? Foreword By Marc Jeannerod Translated By Sebastian Rand (New York: Fordham University Press, 2008).
- 6.
Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, A revolução faz o bom tempo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjbU1jO6rmE
- 7.
Ken Sawyer, Professor of Church History, in reading and praying this text with me.
- 8.
Adam Smith The Wealth of Nations (New York: Modern Library 1994).
- 9.
US Religion Is Worth $1.2T/Year, More Than America’s 10 Biggest Tech Companies, Combined, http://the-atlantic.blogspot.ch/2018/04/us-religion-is-worth-12tyear-more-than.html?m=1
- 10.
Anibal Quijano, “Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America,” Nepantla: Views from South 1.3 (2000) 533–580, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/23906
- 11.
Luis N. Rivera-Pagán, Towards a Decolonial Theology: Perspectives from the Caribbean.
- 12.
See the movie: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
- 13.
Coetzee, J. M. Slow Man: A Novel (New York: Penguin Publishing Group), Kindle Edition, (179–180). ‘I had three doses of the immigrant experience, not just one, so it imprinted itself quite deeply. First when I was uprooted as a child and brought to Australia; then when I declared my independence and returned to France; then when I gave up on France and came back to Australia. Is this where I belong? I asked with each move. Is this my true home?’ ‘You went back to France – I forgot about that. One day you must tell me more about that period of your life. But what is the answer to your question? Is this your true home?’ She waves a hand in a gesture that encompasses not just the room in which they are sitting but also the city and, beyond that, the hills and mountains and deserts of the continent. He shrugs. ‘I have always found it a very English concept, home. Hearth and home, say the English. To them, home is the place where the fire burns in the hearth, where you come to warm yourself. The one place where you will not be left out in the cold. No, I am not warm here.’ He waves a hand in a gesture that imitates hers, parodies it. ‘I seem to be cold wherever I go. Is that not what you said of me: You cold man?’ The woman is silent. ‘Among the French, as you know, there is no home. Among the French to be at home is to be among ourselves, among our kind. I am not at home in France. Transparently not. I am not the we of anyone.’
- 14.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Breathe, You Are Alive: The Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 2008), 114.
- 15.
Now the day is over, The Lutheran Hymnal, Author: Sabine Baring-Gould, 1865, (St Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941). Now the day is over, Night is drawing nigh, Shadows of the evening, Steal across the sky. Jesus, give the weary Calm and sweet repose; With Thy tend’rest blessing May our eyelids close Grant to little children Visions bright of Thee; Guard the sailors tossing On the deep blue sea. Comfort ev’ry suff’rer Watching late in pain; Those who plan some evil From their sin restrain. When the morning wakens, Then may I arise Pure, and fresh, and sinless In Thy holy eyes.
- 16.
Enrique Dussel, Epistemological Decolonization of Theology.
- 17.
Ignacio Ellacuría, Escritos teológicos, tomo II (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 2000), 135.
- 18.
Sylvia Marcos, Mesoamerican Women’s Indigenous Spirituality. Decolonizing Religious Beliefs.
- 19.
As quoted in Gil Bailie, Violence Unveiled (Spring Valley: Crossroad Publishing Cop., 1996), xv.
- 20.
Galeano, Eduardo. The Memory of Fire Trilogy: Genesis, Faces and Masks, and Century of the Wind (New York: Open Road Media, 2014), Kindle Locations 1379–1380z.
- 21.
Romans 8:26–27, Holy Bible, NRSV.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Carvalhaes, C. (2019). A Decolonial Prayer. In: Barreto, R., Sirvent, R. (eds) Decolonial Christianities. New Approaches to Religion and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24166-7_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24166-7_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24165-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24166-7
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)