Episode Details

🎙️ 28. Rev. Joash P. Thomas (Saint Thomas Christian / Evangelical Anglican tradition) – The Justice of Jesus & Decolonizing Our Faith

Who taught me my theology - and who is missing from the table? From his roots in the ancient St. Thomas Christian tradition in India, through white American evangelicalism and Georgia Republican politics, to ministry in Canada, Rev. Joash shares how reclaiming his Global South perspective transformed his understanding of Jesus, justice, and the global church.

What we cover

• Why it’s “dangerous to only learn from one branch of the church”
 • The 2,000-year story of St. Thomas Christians
 • How colonization reshaped Western theology and our picture of justice
 • Re-centering the table: why Eucharist once sat at the heart of Christian worship
 • Seeing Christ on the margins—survivors of trafficking, refugees, the poor
 • Deconstruction vs. decolonization, and why justice is good news for bodies and souls
• Being “politically agnostic” except on behalf of our marginalized neighbors
• A pastoral blessing and the Prayer of St. Francis for listeners who need prayer

💡 Key takeaways

• It’s dangerous to only learn from one wealthy, powerful branch of the church
• Christianity is global and ancient; it never belonged exclusively to the West
• Deconstruction without decolonization can recreate the same power structures
• Jesus is already on the margins; we’re invited to recognize and join him there

⛪ About our guest

Rev. Joash P. Thomas (@joashpthomas) is a Saint Thomas Christian with deep Anglican roots, born and raised in India within one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, tracing back to the apostle Thomas. He holds two master’s degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary and a master’s in political management from George Washington University. A former political consultant and international human rights worker, he now serves in Hamilton, Ontario, helping the church recover a justice-centered, decolonized vision of the gospel in his book The Justice of Jesus.

📚 Resources mentioned

• The Justice of Jesus – Rev. Joash P. Thomas (@joashpthomas)
• James H. Cone – The Cross and the Lynching Tree (Black Liberation Theology)
• Dr. Willie James Jennings – The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (theology, race, ecclesiology)
• Gustavo Gutiérrez – A Theology of Liberation (founder of Liberation Theology; Peruvian Catholic theologian)
• Dr. Jamar Tisby (@jemartisby) – The Color of Compromise, How to Fight Racism, historian of race, religion & justice
• Leonardo Boff – Liberating Theology / Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor (Latin American liberation theologian)
• René Padilla – Mission Between the Times (Latin American evangelical theology / “integral mission”)

Podcasts

• Bodies Behind the Bus – Joanna Harris (spiritual abuse survivors & church power) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bodies-behind-the-bus/id1601586078

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