The Arts and Education Committee of the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition is assembling a new resource on the topic of reparations and repair. It will contain biblical and theological reflections as well as stories about how people have practiced reparative justice on the ground. Our intended audience is Anabaptist congregations, but our past resources (see here) have been used far and wide and are not limited to church folks!
1) Biblical and Theological reflections submissions:
Contact Mary Schertz mschertz@ambs.edu
- Proposals accepted until Jan 22nd, accepted proposals due in full April 15th.
- Final reflections should be 1,500–2,000 words or less, written in a conversational style, and submitted as a Word doc.
- Authors of accepted submissions will receive a $150 honorarium or the option of directing their honorarium toward an Indigenous group working for justice.
Details on Biblical/ Theological Proposals:
We lament the twisted ways the Bible has been used to justify the Doctrine of Discovery and its accompanying extraction, extinction and enslavement. How can Christ-followers wrestle with “texts of terror” and also listen deeply to the alternate texts that can offer new vision, ancient wisdom, and imagination today? We invite your biblical study and theological reflections on reparative justice. Below are some generative questions that we hope might animate your writing pen!
- How might doctrinal understandings of original or ancestral sin shape settler Christian responses of reparations?
- How does power affect (and infect) our origin stories and lead to domination and oppression? How can telling the truth and practicing repair offer new lenses to our reading of these texts?
- What would the Jubilee framework of Leviticus 23 proclaimed again by Jesus in Luke 4 sound like if re-written in current times and your context? Imagine a Jubilee declared in the occupied Indigenous territory where you live…
- What can we learn from restorative justice processes developed in Mennonite communities? When does the restorative justice framework fall short?
- Who do you identify with: Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10) or the Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-23)? Or another character in those stories? How do Jesus’ words speak to you?
- How do practices of reparation shape our understanding of salvation? Who is saved? Who is healed? Who is liberated?
- How can reparations and seeking “right relations” be included in worship and church practice?
- What does it mean to sing or recite the Magnificat in light of reparations? How do we understand the “rich going away empty?” If we identify as rich people, how do we choose to understand emptiness?
- What other questions do we need to be asking, and what are unique perspectives you can offer?
2) Stories of Repair Submissions:
Contact Alison and Sabrina, pastor@ccmcil.org and s.porter.lindquist@gmail.com
- Proposals accepted until Jan. 22nd; accepted proposals due in full April 15th.
- Final stories should be 500-1,000 words, written in a conversational style, and submitted as a Word Doc.
- Authors of accepted submissions will receive a $50 honorarium or the option of directing their honorarium toward an Indigenous group working for repair of the harms of the Doctrine of Discovery.
Details on submitting stories:
Settler folks: Do you have a story to share about a way you or your settler community have returned land or wealth, and/or worked in other ways towards repairing relationships with Indigenous Peoples?
Indigenous folks: How have you and/or your Indigenous community experienced settlers attempting such repair?
We’re interested in hearing from many different angles–inspiring or cautionary tales, from individuals and communities, from settlers and Indigenous folks, and those from both/ multiple communities and different racialized identities. We hope this resource can spark our collective imagination about ways individuals, congregations, and other communities can address the tangible harms done by the Doctrine of Discovery in reparative relationship with Indigenous Peoples.