The Post-Colonial Thing

Youth can sometimes bring a certain innocence to complex issues. So I was intrigued to read a short explication of the trials facing global Anglicanism this morning written by a staffer for, would you believe, the Yale Daily News.

I found this student’s words merely charming until I realized that the writer—female, I think—appeared to be Chinese, and because of her heritage, she had a very particular view of the British. To wit: “If you grew up in America reading about the exploits of Paul Revere, you thought of the British as the redcoats. But since I grew up in China, I thought of them as top hat-wearing drug dealers who peddled yapian by the boatload.”

Well… OK, then.

Despite past quarrels, Americans have always had a sort of affection for all things English. The same, apparently, is not true in other former colonies. I suspect that one form of this post-colonial lashing out is the glee with which the provinces of the southern hemisphere thumb their noses at the Church of England, Rowan Williams, and worst of all, the Americans. At at least one level, this is an argument more about power than theology. You messed with us; now we’ll mess with you.

Now, with that all said, our young Chinese reporter goes on to provide a succinct summary of why the Anglican Communion may shortly be neither Anglican nor a communion. You can read it all here.