WESTERN TRANSNATIONAL TEACHING: THEOLOGICAL FREEDOM OR IMPERIALISM?
WESTERN TRANSNATIONAL TEACHING: THEOLOGICAL FREEDOM OR IMPERIALISM?

Summary/Abstract: Cross-cultural theological education is practiced in many parts of the non-western world. Often teachers are recruited from the west to travel to seminaries, conferences, and Bible schools in the non-western world due to the abundance of theological teachers and resources in the west. This has led some to question the appropriateness of the custom, citing the possible confusion and possible harm resulting from the differences in culture between the educator and host country. The accusation is that there are many problems with transnational teaching, the primary one being the idea of imperialism which is described as any form of west to non-west hegemony. Complaining that the west cannot understand the problems of the non-west, those opposed to cross-cultural teaching complain that problems that are not western should not be addressed by non-western teachers. Typically, there is no disagreement with the reverse practice of non-western teachers teaching in the west, as it is seen as not constituting an imperialistic atmosphere. Truly, imperialistic behaviors and/or imperialistic attitudes can be found in all forms of cross-cultural ministry, including missions, social work, and church planting. Imperialism is also not strictly a western problem. This essay describes the elements of imperialism with a particular focus on theological education and seeks to offer a balance of true imperialism with cautions about over-generalization leading to a net harmful effect in education.

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