The reformed identity and mission from the margins

Abstract

This paper interrogates the reformed identity that has been bequeathed through the Reformation and appropriated by the contemporary church within the Global South, to determine the extent to which it affirms life for those that live on the margins. It postulates that the reformed identity as bequeathed by John Calvin and his school of thought, fashioned a reformed identify that was to a great extent, shaped through its missional engagement with people from the margins. Yet, within an era when European colonialism with reformed identity complicity expanded throughout the world, commoditizing, enslaving and de-humanizing lives, Calvin and his school failed to name and embrace the suffering of “the non-European others†as part of their reformed missional agenda. It argues also that in this postmodern era the reformed identity is experiencing “arrested missional development†because of its uncritical alliance with neoliberalism and neo-conservative socio-economic, political and theological discourses. Therefore, the notion that there can be a generic homogeneous reformed identity is questionable. The reality suggests contestations of multiple reformed identities. This has had far reaching consequences, especially for people who live on the margins who are experiencing many threats to life.