Religions, Theologies and Coloniality: Towards the Decolonization of the Academic Studies of Religions and Theologies

Abstract

This text analyses the routes to develop decolonial academic studies of religions and theologies. Based on a literature review of the subject, the text discusses the following questions: What does it mean to advance decolonial academic studies of religions and theologies? To what extent is it possible for the academic study of religion and theology to go beyond the dominant colonial matrix of power? What specific challenges are faced by scholars interested in developing decolonial discussions of religions and theologies?

Neoliberalism and Religion in Latin America

“…Plata's study shows the case of a Pentecostal Church, the Evangelical Foursquare Church, which, faced with the arrival of drug trafficking and paramilitary groups in its region, oriented its preaching of individual conversion towards a community faith practice of social organization and peaceful resistance. In Aguirre (2021), I propose some academic parameters to carry out decolonial discussions of religions and theologies.…”