Panel: INEQUALITY IN THE CONTEMPORARY CATHOLIC CHURCH



206.4 - CRITICAL EPISTEMOLOGY: TOWARDS AN ACCOUNTABLE SOTERIOLOGY

AUTHORS:
De Ridder J. (Catholic University of Leuven ~ Leuven ~ Belgium)
Text:
Traditionally, Christian soteriology has been grounded in a teleological framework oriented toward ultimate salvation. This Western narrative of progress has often been uncritically universalized and has failed to acknowledge the wounds and ruptures produced by colonial violence. Marianne Moyaert argues that the absence of a decolonial perspective within this traditional epistemological framework is no longer understood merely as a form of ignorance, but rather as a systemic exclusion that sustains inequality. Therefore, Moyaert proposes to uncover these injustices by critical epistemology, challenging the notion that the narrative of salvation is distinct from the question of race. Drawing from critical philosophical frameworks (Fricker, Bernasconi, Mills, and others), as well as postcolonial theologies (Jennings, Douglas, Moyaert, and others), this paper explores the under-examined relationship between marginalized epistemologies and racial hierarchies in Christian soteriology.