Decolonizing Interreligious Education

Beyond interreligious literacy, beyond interfaith collaboration in civic engagement, this book frames a pedagogy of interreligious liberation. Frediani builds on the insights of scholars of color from around the globe, courageously showing how interreligious studies replicates oppressive systems of power—and imaginatively honing tools so the field can help dismantle these systems instead. -- Rachel S. Mikva, Chicago Theological Seminary
An exceptional contribution of Shannon Frediani’s rich analysis of coloniality and education is her focus on the grief, loss, and self-loathing that haunt those on the underside of history. Drawing on two decades of justice work with the incarcerated and her own experience of spiritual disenfranchisement, she boldly explores how trauma warps intergenerational religious practice. Equally powerful, she challenges definitions of interreligious that perpetuate Christocentrism and invites a kinder, more inclusive engagement among all who seek the sacred. -- Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Vanderbilt University
A critically beneficial book that fills a big void in current interreligious education and dialogue in its approaches and intentionally chosen dialogue partners! Frediani compellingly persuades her readers of the criticality and urgency of the decolonial approach to interreligious education, departing from the dominant white normative framework. She presents a decolonial framework to address systematic injustice and intergenerational trauma and grief shared among people pushed to the fringe of our society. This is a needed textbook for teachers and practitioners of interreligious education and those who have been searching for a new approach that overcomes white Christian hegemony in their social justice theological education and ministries. -- Boyung Lee, Iliff School of Theology