Biography
Colton is from Plainfield Illinois, a Southwest suburb in the Chicagoland area. He is a student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary where he is pursuing a Masters in Theological Studies with a concentration in Theology and Ethics. He is interested in questions at the intersection of theology, race, and colonialism.
Paper Abstract
Carlos Bulosan's semi-autobiographical novel 'America is in the Heart' narrates how imperial, colonial, and white-supremacist relationships to the natural world led to alienating and "despairing" conditions for Filipinos. Reflecting on 'America is in the Heart' and the social context of Spanish colonialism and American imperialism in the Philippines, a question is raised: is being at home in creation possible for Filipinos-Americans? To answer this question, I draw on theologian Willie Jennings to argue that the practices that led and continue to lead to the marginalization and alienation of Filipino-Americans are rooted in colonial creation theologies of "exploitation." Jennings argues that the way we imagine creation and space today — as inanimate and nothing but commodities to be organized around racialized white-bodies — are rooted in this colonial creation theology of exploitation. One implication of this is that race and nation in general, and whiteness in particular, become mediating categories for determining who does and does not belong in particular lands, who should own the land and who should work the land. Within this creation theology, non-white bodies are reduced to exploitable labor, and forced to work in ways that destroy a true communion with creation. We see this alienation in Carlos Bulosan and the history of Filipino migrant labor. Thus, what is needed is a re-working of creation theology. If our views of the relationship between creation and God animate the ways societies interpret and interact with creation, then how might we re-imagine creation theologies that resist alienation and open up the possibility of being at home in creation? Drawing on the theologies of Willie Jennings, Ted tinker, and Mark I Wallace, I outline a creation theology of collaboration and communion as one way to open up the possibility of being at home in creation.