An Emancipatory Pedagogy of Jesus : Toward a Decolonizing Epistemology of Education and Theology

The power of this text lies in its ability to recapture the essence of the message of Jesus. It ignites an emancipatory pedagogical authority that speaks life to the oppressed and empowerment to the marginalized. For the educator of the Black student, this book provides a truly emancipatory pedagogy rooted in love and substantiated in humanity.

An Emancipatory Pedagogy of Jesus: Toward a Decolonizing Epistemology of Education and Theology is an in-depth analysis on the emancipatory power of love exhibited and exemplified in the life, pedagogy, and praxis of Jesus Christ. This book takes its reader on an intellectual and spiritual journey that uncovers the importance of how culture, identity development, spirituality, and ethnicity are essential elements in the intellectual, academic, and spiritual development of Black, bi-cultural, and indigenous students, teachers, educational leaders, and researchers who have traditionally been oppressed and marginalized. It courageously presents Jesus Christ as the quintessential critical educator, who Himself was also bi-cultural, marginalized, and oppressed. This book provides a unique perspective on Jesus the Teacher. Oftentimes scholarship seeks to examine only the ethics and teachings of Jesus; however, this work looks to unearth the emancipatory power of the pedagogy of Jesus and its foundational contributions to social movements such as Liberation Theology in Latin America and the fight for Justice and Civil Rights for African Americans here in North America. By examining both the theological and pedagogical offerings of Jesus, this book seeks to determine not only what can be learned from a critical pedagogy of Jesus, but more importantly, who benefits most from engaging in His praxis. Through Jesus’ masterful integration of theology and pedagogy, He is presented as the literal embodiment of the spiritual, physical, and intellectual liberation from all forms of oppression. It is in Jesus’ emancipatory pedagogy where both theology and education find their greatest fulfillment through an emancipatory praxis for liberation, ultimately resulting in a pedagogy that reconciles humanity back to God and God to humanity.