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Assimilation and Otherness: the Theological Significance of Négritude
Author(s) -
WILLIAMS A.N.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of systematic theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.149
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1468-2400
pISSN - 1463-1652
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2400.2008.00406.x
Subject(s) - consummation , alterity , sanctification , christology , philosophy , genocide , universalism , theology , relevance (law) , root (linguistics) , epistemology , religious studies , sociology , linguistics , politics , political science , law
This article argues that otherness is a root concept in Christian theology, functioning as such in Christology and the doctrines of the Trinity, creation, sanctification and consummation. Recent philosophical and theological treatments of otherness or alterity have, however, focused on its problematic aspects, its link to ills such as racism, sexism and genocide. The thought of the Senegalese statesman and poet Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) is proposed as an aid in mediating between the tradition's conceptions of otherness and contemporary debates and contexts, illuminating root concepts which have not been recognized as such, their systematic interconnectedness and their enduring relevance.