Me, Looking at Colonialism.
Knowledge and Belief
Before the Advance Meeting in Cape Town, I had a totally different perspective on the nature and legacy of colonialism, slavery, and religious empire. My thoughts about them are blurry and based on what I had learned before which was taken lightly as, just stories – no life to it. I envisioned that slavery and the religious empire rode on the back of colonialism, so to speak. In other words, I would say that as the empire expanded, the need of slavery increased as a necessity to the expansion. Not only that but, religion took advantage of the empire’s expansion by expanding the religious empire within their country’s empire. For instance, in the mid 1660’s, as the Spanish troops landed in the Marianans Islands along with Jesuits Priest and their helpers stated to evangelize the people of Guam.[1] Then it was started from Guam and then spread throughout the Micronesian region.
These are the stories that we were taught as part of Micronesian history as we grew up in elementary schools and high schools as part of learning about our history. Without being taught in formal education, we learned as stories of our great grandparents and elders were told. Culturally, we can see the see the after-effects of imperialism through the churches that built and how the Protestant Missionaries and the Catholic Jesuits were competing against each other. As a result of these incidents, somehow sub-consciously, we resorted to the idea of dependency on others. This would be an observation that I strongly believe.
The Reality of Slavery
The reality of slavery as we explored through the readings of ‘Colonialism’ and ‘A Brief History of Slavery,’ is an eye-opening for me personally as I had shallow and narrow perspective of slavery itself. Firstly, as Black introduced us to a brief slavery history, we see that slavery was universal, it was all over every empire even as the starting of civilization. And that slavery started way back and its happening throughout history. It is recurring and taking on different form as a means of exploitation. And slaves were not restricted to a certain ethnicity; there were Chinese, Japanese, European and Africans.[2] Secondly, or on the other hand, in ‘Colonialism,’ Biggar giving us another reality of the ‘necessity’ of slavery to an empire, as in the British Empire. He went further to argue that there were both undeniable injustices and significant contribution as well.
To dwell only on the negative aspects of history would not have painted the full picture; however, this is not to minimize the harms done through colonialism especially with regards to slavery. For instance, the British Empire was heavily into slave trades and employing slave labor for over two hundred years.[3] However, it began shift as the Parliament abolished the slave trade which took over 20 years to take effect empire-wide.[4]
Religion and War
During a sermon at Clermont, Pope Urban II called upon the West to take up arms to protect the eastern Christendom’s borders against Muslim’s imminent threat of invasion.[5] So, it began the First Crusade with the objective of rescuing Jerusalem, the Holy City from the hands of the Muslim Empire. Basically, the call of the Crusaders from the first to the rest of the crusades were to ‘take up the cross and fight the good fight.’[6] And the end, the lesson learned was that (1.) the Crusades were essential lynchpins in history that without it, the world we live in could be different place (2.) it did not occurred for the purpose of colonizing the mid-east, but to defend Christianity, and (3.) Finally, each side justified their actions.[7]
Is there a Benefits of Colonialism?
Now that my perspective on colonialism has improved a little, I could say that there are good takeaways from colonialism. That is not to discount the events and incidents that were unjust and brutal and unfit for humanity – they were part of history. Colonialism in many parts of the world had ushered in education, economic development, and the most important of all, is the Gospel! Just as the Scripture is not just filled records of events, but narratives that are filled with lessons to learn from, so is the history of human race. They are both narratives that God is seen as the one in control.
[1] Hezel, Francis X. SJ. Christianity in Micronesia. https://www.micsem.org/pubs/articles/religion/frames/christmicrofr.htm. Accessed October 9, 2025.
[2] Biggar, Nigel. Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (p. 69). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.
[3] Ibid (pg. 76)
[4] Ibid (pg. 79)
[5] Asbridge, Thomas. The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land (p. 36). Harper Collins. Kindle Edition.
[6] Wellman, Billy. The Crusades: An Enthralling Overview of an Event in Christian History That Took Place in the Middle Ages (Religion in Past Times) (p. 16). Kindle Edition.
[7] Wellman, Billy. The Crusades: An Enthralling Overview of an Event in Christian History That Took Place in the Middle Ages (Religion in Past Times) (p. 100). Kindle Edition.
About the Author
Noel Liemam
2 responses to “Me, Looking at Colonialism.”
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Thank you, Noel for your perspective specially concerning your Micronesia teachings and upbringing. What type of “slavery” from the broad definition that Black presents do you see in your country’s history or present day?
Noel,
Nicely written! I have appreciated throughout the blogs learning more about your home and how it has been impacted by outside forces. Wondering what your biggest takeaway from Cape Town was regarding these issues.