Liberalism and Colonial Violence: Charting a New Genealogy of Spiritual Care - Hardcover

by Hellena Moon (Author)

This book explores the aporias of liberal democracy, freedom, care, and justice--with the seemingly at-odds ideas of neoliberal fascism, racism, sexism, and other forms of violence. As Derrick Bell and others have argued that racism is inherent in US democracy, I examine the intertwined concepts of justice and freedom with fascist ideas that unsettle democratic practices of freedom and political equality. There is ongoing tension that uproots democratic practices driven by the very ideals of democracy itself. Freedom is acquired for one group while circumscribing it for others. In analyzing the troubling neoliberal fascist leanings of our times, I explore the origins of US liberalism to diagnose our current state of politico-theological abyss. In that regard, our own field of pastoral care needs to address its complicity in the current devolving situation of the neoliberal fascist ideologies in US society. Fascist and nationalist ideologies rely foremost on perpetuating mythic ideologies, masking reality, and controlling our epistemologies. In charting a new genealogy for spiritual care, I argue that the image of care as articulated by W. E. B. Du Bois--one of Third World liberation that addresses the decoloniality of the entombed soul--should be the primary genealogy of spiritual care for our field today.

Author Biography

Hellena Moon is part-time assistant professor in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department at Kennesaw State University. She is co-editor of Postcolonial Images of Spiritual Care: Challenges of Care in a Neoliberal Age (2020). She is also co-editor of Postcolonial Practices of Care: A Project of Togetherness During COVID-19 and Racial Violence (2022).