Brown Jesus and the liberation of Moses with Thandi Gamedze

Thandi Gamedze is a writer, a poet, a facilitator and soon to be post doctorate fellow at⁠ The Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice⁠, at the University of the Western Cape. The glue connecting all the varied bits and pieces of Thandi’s work is a deep commitment to the work of critique and reimagining (as both action and reflection) towards a world that is just, nurturing and kind. Thandi is based in Cape Town, South Africa, and works for⁠ The Warehouse⁠, an organisation which envisions a reality in which churches are living out the peace and justice of God for the world.

Thandi joins us for this episode, and she reflects on the stories that currently ground her. Our conversation meanders through the story of Moses's liberation from assimilation into the Egyptian Empire of the day and then morphs into the liberative potential of the story of brown Jesus. We also speak about the ‘D’ word. Decolonisation of the Bible or Jesus or God will take work still but we at least begin exploring some of dominant narratives in Christianity (and its impact on the world) and what it would mean to reframe it in a decolonised alternative narrative. 

We also hear two of Thandi’s original poems in the episode which is a catharsis and a balm. The first poem is “Jesus of Occupied Palestine” and the second is “Victory?”.

The James Cone quote in the episode is from his book “God of the Oppressed”:

“Christ is black, therefore, not because of some cultural or psychological need of black people, but because and only because Christ really enters into our world where the poor, the despised, and the black are, disclosing that he is with them, enduring their humiliation and pain and transforming oppressed slaves into liberated servants.”

The music in Episode 2 is composed, arranged and curated by Arkenstone (Rashid Epstein Adams) and Pursuit.