Mission, Race, and Empire: The Episcopal Church in Global Context

Description

"Mission, race, and empire have shaped the development of global Christianity as a whole, and studies of modern world Christianity pay close attention to how the practice and beliefs of the faith have been reshaped through the agency of converts and new churches in new cultures. This book explores how Christianity has been transformed and contextualized through the experience of mission, race, and empire from the "other side": closely examining the history of The Episcopal Church for the ways in which it was shaped and changed through its experiences of mission and colonialism from roughly 1580 through 2021. The book traces the denomination's many trials and errors in missional ideology and practice, in concert with colonialism and racial projects, from the first English contact with the Algonquin cultures in Roanoke and Jamestown, through embroilment in slavery and anti-slavery, Christianizing and civilizing both white settlers and Native cultures, missional critiques, liturgical renewal, suburban expansion, Civil Rights, and the development of an entirely new understanding of mission, missio dei, in the second half of the 20th century, focused on inclusion and justice. By focusing on "mission," the way in which the church tries to incorporate and relate to those outside of its existing boundaries, both the understanding of the Episcopal Church and its relationship to larger global processes and patterns in world Christianity shift towards greater complexity, conflict, dynamism, and diversity"--