500 Years of Christianity and the Global Filipin@: Postcolonial Perspectives
The year 2021 marks the five-hundredth anniversary of Christianity’s entry into the Philippines. With over 90% in the country identifying as Christian and with more than eight million Filipin@s all over the world, Filipin@s are a significant force reshaping global Christianity. This anniversary thus not only calls for celebration but also reflection and critique. This two-day conference will gather theologians in the Philippines, United States, Australia, and around the world to examine Christianity in the Philippines through a postcolonial theological lens. The “post” here is not used in the temporal sense, as if colonialism has ended, but rather, suggests the desire to go beyond the colonial in all its contemporary manifestations.
The first panel, “Rethinking Encounters,” will focus on introducing the context of Christianity’s arrival in the islands and its effect on its peoples. The second panel, “Reappropriation, Resistance, and Decolonization,” will grapple with the enduring presence of coloniality in Filipin@ religious practices as well as celebrate the ways Christianity as a gift has been critically and creatively reimagined.
This event is co-sponsored by Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University; the Department of Theology and Religious Education at De La Salle University; and BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education. It is supported by the Catholic Studies Program, Georgetown University; Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Georgetown University; Southeast Asian Research Center and Hub, De La Salle University; Ecclesiological Investigations Network; DaKaTeo; Department of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University; Religious Educators Association of the Philippines; Lode Wostyn Webinar Series, Maryhill School of Theology Alumni; San Carlos Major Seminary; Pacific School of Religion and Graduate Theological Union ; University of San Francisco; and Union Theological Seminary.
Schedule
Tuesday, February 8
Rethinking the Encounters
7:00-9:00 p.m. EST | 4:00-6:00 p.m. PST
Agnes M. Brazal, De La Salle University, Philippines (Chair)
Daniel Franklin Pilario, CM, St. John’s University, USA
Vivienne Angeles, La Salle University, USA
Ma. Marilou Ibita, De La Salle University, Philippines
Albert Alejo, S.J., Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome
Wednesday, February 9
Reappropriation, Resistance, and Decolonization
7:00-9:00 p.m. EST | 4:00-6:00 p.m. PST
Cristina Lledo Gomez, BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education, Australia (Chair)
Leny M. Strobel, Sonoma State University, USA
Rev. Ferdinand Anno, Union Theological Seminary, Philippines
Rev. Revelation Velunta, Union Theological Seminary, Philippines
Antonio Sison, CPPS, Catholic Theological Union, USA