Sartre

This article addresses an area of French colonialism, specifically French Algeria, through the critical lens of Jean-Paul Sartre’s theories on race and colonialism developed in Colonialism and Neocolonialism. I focus in particular on two key components of Sartre’s critical commentary: first, the way in which French colonialism established practices that assigned full humanity only to the European colonizers; indigenous Muslim Arabs were systematically confined to the category of “sub-humans.” Second, my article examines in detail how promised reforms to colonial rule were consistently thwarted by practices mired in deception and fraud. Finally, I suggest that the application of liberal humanist principles in this colonial context was designed to create further inequality between Arabs and Europeans.

The other’s humanity with or without the other’s religiosity? Reflections on the affirmation and limitation of human dignity in early Afrikaner missionary discourse in Central Africa

Taking Wentzel van Huyssteen’s work on early human uniqueness in relation to symbolic or religious awareness as a starting point, this article raises a question whether an implicit connection between humanity and the capacity for religiosity had anything to say about how one could evaluate the so-called other’s religion and their humanity. Does the recognition of the other’s full humanity demand an equal recognition of their religiosity, or are these separable? Rather than attempting to answer this hypothetically, the question is approached historically. The article touches on how the capacity to evaluate religion from the outside emerged in modernity and discusses some of the ways this capacity played out in Christian theology. In reference to the colonial era Afrikaner missionaries in Central Africa, the article argues that even partial recognition of the other’s religiosity might have detrimental consequences particularly where this is tied to a partial recognition of their humanity as had happened during the apartheid and proto-apartheid periods.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article challenges both critical and affirmative scholarly views of religiosity by positing an essential link between humanity and religiosity whilst simultaneously suggesting that a scientific approach to religiosity, which has uncovered important relationships between religiosity and humanity, might be the appropriate approach for full recognition of the other’s humanity.

Religion and the Republic

This chapter attempts to enter into the ongoing debate over Calvinism’s place in the politics of the American Revolution by considering, in the persons of Phillis Wheatley and Lemuel Haynes, the black Calvinist tradition as generative of a distinctive theo-political imagination. Taking as its focus the thematics of providence and liberty, this chapter argues that black Calvinists in the Revolutionary period possessed a more sober, self-critical outlook on divine providence and a more comprehensive, consistent spirit of liberty than many of their Anglo counterparts. Wheatley and Haynes evidenced a critical patriotism and commended an aspirational vision of nation building that had as its hope the full humanity and equality of all people. Their cautionary theo-politics anticipated future national tensions, the implications of which continue to be felt today.

Sharing Our Stories and Holding Our Past to Task

The structures that maintain systemic racism frequently keep us from seeing and valuing the full humanity of all those around us, especially when they are of a different race. This article describes a process to create safe dialogues between people of different races to inform our understanding of systemic racism so that we can work together to end its reign.

Opowieść o tym, jak się stałem politycznym aktywistą

I’m going to tell you about how I became a political activist. What made me take to the streets, so I broke a taboo: political commitment? I put forward the thesis that in the present political system, participation in political life is abhorrent, so that it remains the domain of a narrow and permanent group of citizens who thus profit (in various dimensions) at the expense of the rest of society. I am talking / writing about how I interacted with other residents of Szczecin and what this experience was for me. I am not going to convince anyone of the so-called „my political option”. I argue that you should get involved, that this is the stage to full humanity.

Christian-Muslim Women in Religious Peacebuilding – Breaking Cycles of Violence

In a broader context, the main focus of this paper is the question of women’s religious peacebuilding, which is understood in its widest sense, in terms of women’s active participation in building liberating theologies and societies. It is about the promotion of the full humanity of women. While elaborating this theme, the paper takes up Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite’s assertion that the “violence against women is the largest and longest global war.” Just peacemaking is very much an interfaith and interreligious work and should be placed as a crucial starting point of the urge for transformation of “violent” theologies and living everyday praxis. While women have been marginalised from peacebuilding generally, the emerging field of religious peacebuilding has been particularly challenging for women. The liberating theme of this paper is illumination of the ambivalence of invisibility and marginality of women in religious peacebuilding, good practices and future issues.

What Skills Should Be Taught in Health Humanities Education?

This essay argues that those working and teaching in the new field of Health Humanities should avoid definitions of their work that borrow from existing disciplines and focus instead on three fundamental skills. A case study is provided to differentiate health humanities questions from those typically asked by bioethicists. Three skills are given detailed examination: empathic listening, involving the capacity to expand our imagination to others; emotional equanimity, involving the ability to understand and learn from our emotional responses; and the de-centering skills of taming our moral vanity and recognizing the full humanity of others. These are not the only skills in play in health humanities, but these three are basic and will lead to the other skills needed.