The universal imperial power of the Christian Text and yet the vulnerability of its message

• Main Author: Johann-Albrecht Meylahn
• Format: Article
• Language: Afrikaans
• Published: AOSIS 2017-04-01
• Series: HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies
• Subjects: Power; Decolonial thought
• Online Access: https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/3857

Is there anything outside the Christian Text or is the Christian Text all there is? The article will argue that the Christian Text has formed and shaped Western thinking to such an extent that it is impossible to think in the global world, co-created by various Western texts, without Christianity. The fact that the West colonised the world, and that today the Western media dominates the language of the global village, makes it nearly impossible to think outside the Christian Text and thus the universal domination by the Text. This article will first argue that for the Western-influenced world, there is nothing beyond the Christian Texts, and then it will argue that although this Text has universal (global) dominance, there is an interpretation of its central message as a message of weakness and vulnerability, which challenges (deconstructs) its imperialism. This leads towards the question: what is a possible praxis of such a universal and ‘imperial’ Text with its message of vulnerable weakness, specifically from a post-colonial context like South Africa?