Abstract

Whilst ethnic and religious diversity in the postcolonial city is now normative rather than exotic, difference is increasingly demonised and presented as a threat to social cohesion. Multiculturalism, once a vibrant concept, has largely been appropriated by the political right as a synonym for ethnic and religious segregation. Against this backdrop we have witnessed the re-invention of the divisive politics of Empire on the streets of the postcolonial British city and at the despatch box in the House of Commons, which carries echoes of Samuel Huntington’s orientalist ‘clash of civilisations’ thesis. In the face of this demonising of difference this chapter will argue that the political and academic debate that surrounds multiculturalism no longer reflects the dynamic plurality of the contemporary postcolonial city. It has become a zombie discourse that fails to reflect social reality. The chapter will draw on these debates to offer a contextual theological reflection on a re-imagined vision of catholicity, the biblical injunction to ‘welcome the stranger,’ theologies of the ‘common good’ and a Christology of Jesus the Palestinian outsider. It will be suggested that a re-engagement with these theological themes alongside the forging of a liberative model of education can provide us with the tools to build a liberative postcolonial spirituality capable of defeating the zombie discourse of diversity that continues to impoverish life in the postcolonial city.