What is a Globally-informed Narrative on Colonialism, Slavery and Empire?
This post reflects on the current cultural grappling with our world’s Colonial past, and the shifting tide of a predominant Western cultural narrative that emphasizes the evils and calls for decolonization. I will explore five questions and then draw some conclusions.
Current Knowledge and Belief
My current view on the nature and legacy of colonialism, slavery and the modern Christian mission movement have certainly been informed by theological and cultural discussions. In relation to Canada’s ongoing journey towards truth and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, I lament the harm caused by dismissing Indigenous ways, in the name of colonial expansion. I have weighed Critical Race Theory’s invitation to consider how our legal, property and educational systems favour dominating Colonizer practices over Indigenous practices. I have witnessed the systemic harm of many who have not have the privileges I have been afforded in my lifetime. I was raised to know the struggle caused by the transatlantic slavery. My childhood home was not far from The Josiah Henson Museum (formerly called Uncle Tom’s Cabin, based on American author Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel), a key part of the Underground Railroad for the emancipation of slaves. [1] I have been inspired in more recent years by the theological work of Barbara Holmes, who maps how dislocation, oppression, resistance and overcoming have shaped the Black American Christian experience. [2] My beliefs about slavery and colonialism are deeply shaped by collective memory of Canadian society, grappling with a ‘how now shall we live’ lament over past injustice, and a desire to build a whole society that values every person.
The Global and Ongoing Reality of Slavery
As a white, male, Western church leader, I recognize that in the course of considering the work of two authors this week, I must locate them geographically as Western voices calling for some civility in what feels like a predominating cultural narrative that demonizes the West for its past. I’ll present some thoughts from them in a moment.
In order to frame the ongoing reality from a broader, more globally-informed context, I hold that the public discourse needs to include narratives from how the majority world, many of whom were colonized, have thought about slavery and colonialism.
This includes Edward Said, considered to be the founder of Postcolonial studies, whose perspective is often in reaction to being ignored for centuries by European histories, and the corresponding relationship of political, spiritual, intellectual cultural and moral power. [3] But it also includes other perspectives from the global south who simply accept the broader concept of slavery (beyond the specific transatlantic slave trade) as addressing labour needs. Nigel Biggar argues in his book, Colonialism : A Moral Reckoning, that African merchants were as responsible for the sale of African slaves as the European traders. [4] It is therefore not appropriate to simply declare slavery as a Western evil. And Robert Black notes the long history in the African and Islamic world long before Colonialism, under such names as “servitude”. [5] While there is a danger in completely villainizing all colonizers, there is a necessary critique from the majority world for not equalizing their perspectives, both good and bad.
Religion, War, and Counterfactual History
Religion is certainly understood to have been a part of the Colonial story. In fact, the ‘doctrine of discovery’ led colonizers to violently seize land from indigenous peoples in the New World. [6] However, as Biggar points out, the nature of the theological discourse changes from slavery to anti-slavery and costly liberationist policy in the second half of the colonial era. [7] The Christian theological narrative around God’s love for all people became the thrust of the first great missionary movement that went out to the nations on colonial ships. But not merely becoming “the lapdog of the Empire”, the mission-hearted engagement with people from around the world led to mission workers asking for restraint against native populations. Biggar rightly points out that ultimately “Christian conviction lay at the heart of the abolition of slavery”. [8] Christian Quakers were some of the first to call for the abolition of slavery in the United States, as early as 1787. [9]
Into our contemporary age, there are two aspects to relay when consider religion’s role in the carry-forward of the slave trade. On the one hand, we must think of the involuntary sale or trafficking of human beings. The Christian response is to seek justice for victims of human-trafficking. The moral ground of modern slavery is arguably worse than before, rather than taking people to meet labour shortages for productive purposes, we now see people taken for monetary exploitation for non-productive purposes.
But there is a secondary aspect to the carry-forward from slavery. Migration to address labour shortage. Here, nations like Canada have replaced demanding work from stolen people with offering work to immigrants based on their merit, which still produces an influx of people from other populous regions of the world to make up for our own lagging birth-rates and inadequate labour force for our country’s sustainability, but to do so in a way that honours the godly and humanitarian keys of consent, and honourable treatment of fellow human beings. We stand against human-trafficking. We stand for honourable treatment of immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. We lament the past wrongs.
The Costs and Benefits of Colonialism
Reading Black and Biggar have not caused me to support or endorse the use of the word colonialism, which in 2025 is still defined as asserting outside rule by force and extraction of resources. [10] In picking up on Biggar’s ledger, though, I do see it as helpful to talk about the pros and cons of global trade and sharing of the advancements of technologies and legal and moral frameworks that seek to create a more fair, just and equitable society. [11] This does not allow for an assumption of superiority because of race or ethnicity. Rather, no society is indiscriminately inferior, or treated as such. The ongoing work of global mission is now required in the postcolonial era, to affirm the value and gifts God has given to everyone, in every context. Al Tizón, in his book, Whole and Reconciled calls for the church to engage in in interdisciplinary missiology that affirms both church and culture that could serve “to offer healing for the nations suffering from postcolonial trauma”. [12]
What I Believe Now and Why
Both Jeremy Black and Nigel Biggar call for us to not become lazy by simply demonizing Western colonialism. Rather than allow the current predominating Western cultural narratives to simply become self-deprecating, they call for one of two essential things to occur.
They call for clear-eyed analyses of the past, both good and bad. Rather than simply speak of the pure evil of all empires, they ask for historical awareness to not give way to the path of total decolonization. This is controversial. Is decolonization necessary, or too-far-reaching? I believe that overall, what is important about decolonization is my willingness to admit wrongdoing, and remain open to hearing the indigenous and majority world voices from those who’ve been displaced.
However, there is a second step I would add, which is not explored in these works – we need Majority world voices to shape our future narratives, and make our maps of understanding. In order to know how to make sense of both the good and evil of religious and colonial expansion, we need more than simple Western perspectives.
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[3] Edward W. Said, Orientalism, (New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, 1994).
[4] Nigel Biggar, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (London: William Collins, 2023), 97.
[7] Colonialism, Chapter 2.
[8] Colonialism, 66.
[9] “In 1787 the Quaker-inspired Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery was headed by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush, two of the most respected and influential living Americans”, in Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God: How Monotheism led to Reformations, Science, Witch Hunts, and the End of Slavery, (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. 2003), 342.
[10] Joash P. Thomas, The Justice of Jesus, (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2025), 26.
[11] Colonialism.
[12] Al Tizón, Whole and Reconciled : Gospel, Church, and Mission in a Fractured World, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018), 19-20.
About the Author
Joel Zantingh
Joel Zantingh is a catalyst for peacemaking and intercultural teams, speaker, theologian and consultant. He is the Canadian Coordinator of the World Evangelical Alliance's Peace and Reconciliation Network, and the Director of Engagement with Lausanne Movement Canada. He has served in local and national roles within the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada, and led their global mission arm. He has experience teaching in formal and informal settings with Bible college students and leaders from various cultures and generations. Joel and Christie are parents to adult children, as well as grandparents. They reside in Guelph, Ont., situated on the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, and home to many past, present and future First Nations peoples, including the Anishinnabe and Hodinöhsö:ni'.8 responses to “What is a Globally-informed Narrative on Colonialism, Slavery and Empire?”
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Joel,
Thanks for your perspective. I know historically many African Americans slaves fled to Canada, but will admit ignorance on much of Canada’s history. Was Canada ever involved with the slave trade and did they historically get involved in abolishing it?
Jeff, great question.
New France / Lower Canada, and British Upper Canada were part of Transatlantic trade, and had African and Indigenous slaves as early as the 1620s. Indigenous tribes are also understood to have practiced slavery. There was also maltreatment of and prejudice towards black people who came to Canada from the Caribbean and the USA, as well as enslavement of Africans. We didn’t have the large-scale commodity crops like sugar cane and cotton that required a large labour force, which reduced Canada’s role.
The involvement in the Underground Railroad happened in the latter part of the seventy-year gap after Upper Canada passed the Act Against Slavery in 1793, one of the world’s earliest anti-slavery laws, and before the US’s Emancipation Act in 1865.
Canada marks its beginning as a Dominion in 1867, so this story often gets framed as our pre-history. But there is an exhibit at our National Museum of Human Rights, in Winnipeg Manitoba.
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Winks, Robin W. Blacks in Canada: A History. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1997. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zq6b.
https://www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news/2020/07/the-enslavement-of-african-people-in-canada-c-16291834.html
Thanks for your clear-eyed perspective on this challenging topic, Joel. I especially appreciate your statement, “We stand against human-trafficking. We stand for honourable treatment of immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. We lament the past wrongs.” This sentiment certainly “sticks it to” the current administration.
Going along with that, you write, “…what is important about decolonization is my willingness to admit wrongdoing, and remain open to hearing the indigenous and majority world voices from those who’ve been displaced.”
What would you hope the US learns about lamenting and repenting of past wrongs, so we can learn something new and valuable?
Debbie,
Pointing to learning and repenting of past wrongs, and to what’s valuable in this present moment applies to both our countries.
There are two dynamics I wonder about. The first is something we gained by reading Frank Furedi’s “The War Against the Past: Why The West Must Fight For Its History.” He states, “We must study the present as part of an ongoing history.” (War, 325) We can idealize our own time, and therefore reinterpret the past from our contemporary lenses, which produces a ‘presentism’, or a sense of moral superiority not on merit but rather on “the ascendency of the 16th-century ideal of individual conscience” (War, 329) We diminish our past to reinforce feeling better about ourselves in the present.
The second question is to stop and think, what are we actually looking at in our current moment? Is it an ideological battle for the narrative that wins? Is it an emotionally-driven, fear-based reaction from System 1 thinking? (Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow) Is it, as Jason Clark has proposed, “outsourcing of thinking” altogether? The very way through is in the fabric of our doctoral readings, causing us to be leaders who ask these questions, and offer them to others.
How will anyone lament without learning to sit still and think more deeply?
How will we keep the memory alive, even if our museums and curriculum erases it?
Keep listening to voices outside of the US to understand your story arc.
Bless you.
Joel,
I love that you highlight at the end the need for majority world voices. This is so true. Many of us in the West struggle to do this as we are often told things that are hard for us to hear. I especially think in the theological realm how many Christians often balk at theology that is produced outside of Western academia.
Hi Joel – thanks for your post. In your work on reconciliation in Canada, how do you help people navigate the reckoning between the good and evil, and engage in “clear-eyed analyses of the past”?
Christy, thanks for the inquiry. It’s tricky, because like many complex issues, there are competing narratives. I’ll illustrate with the Canadian Indigenous-Settler conversation.
Martin Bunton in “The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” laid out the colonial-settler dynamic, making a connection with the Canadian journey of Indigenous / non-indigenous reckoning with our past to the Colonial-settler dynamics around the world. Many Indigenous friends in Canada find solidarity with First Nations’ populations around the world, addressed collectively by the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf
As a Canadian, hearing from other Indigenous voices around the world helps me to respond to this not as a unique or even localized battle that is unwarranted, but a global issue related to a narrative of progress, excluding the pain of broken treaties, stolen land, and extracted resources.
But nearly a decade after the 2015 conclusion of our Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada, We still have Canadians who downplay or deny harms done through the years. One example is the denial of unmarked graves of indigenous children at residential schools. Our Canadian government appointed an independent special interlocutor to research it, and release the findings, in order to help address the denialism. The report came out a year ago – https://osi-bis.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/1.OSI-Sites-of-Truth-Sites-of-Conscience.pdf.
Facilitating dialogue for reconciliation involves understanding and giving space for competing narratives. Ironically, Indigenous peoples practice this well in what is known as ‘Circle process’, where each person is offered a chance to speak in a circle of equals, regardless of position, often holding a sacred emblem such as an eagle feather.
I am learning to hold space for divergent ideas in circles, to broaden all of our understanding of lived experience, emotions, and perspective on our storied past. This will help our communities to gain some semblance of clear-eyed analysis.
Hi, Joel, thank you for your post. I enjoyed reading it. In you closing, you said that “in order to know how to make sense of both the good and the evil of religious and colonial expansion, we need more than simple Western perspectives,” could you same more about it? Thanks again, Joel.