My word – indigenous!

I absolutely loved the current edition of Anvil – exploring the emancipation of indigenous theologies in light of the rise of world Christianity (and it’s free). 

I was in a conversation with friends over a meal recently and someone asked us what our word of the moment was in a sense of something you wanted to lean into. I said that my word was ‘indigenous’. I have so enjoyed and been stirred by various things related to indigenous spirituality, community, theology over the last few years – visiting Maori in new Zealand; reading various books – Huia Comes Home, Braiding Sweet Grass, First Nations Version of the New Yestament, Rescuing The Gospel From The Cowboys; hearing of CMS gathering in S America to name a few.  So it was great to find this deeper dive through Anvil. 

I also really liked the book reviews and found that having them individually linked to made a big difference – they all sound interesting. Thanks to everyone who contributed and worked on it.

I was then enthusing with someone about it and they said something along the lines of ‘but the articles are long’ implying that it is a bit specialist and not an easy read. I was a bit discouraged by that to be honest. So if that’s you, to give a flavour of the articles I have picked one author – Jay Matenga – and taken quotes from his editorial and article and put them over photos I took when In New Zealand in 2020. His article by the way is so poignant especially I think at a time when the Church of England at least could do well to stay in for the difficult conversations.