Yanan Rahim Melo (he/him) is a writer from Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, whose research has been featured on Christianity Today, Sojourners, Inheritance Magazine, the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture, and more. He is currently pursuing his M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he studies race, ecology, Asian American theology, and American religious history. Follow him on Substack, Sacred Sonder, and on Instagram, @yananrahim.
Posts By This Author
The Gospel Belongs to the ‘Heathen,’ Not White Saviors
Mapuche Indian activists raise their sticks during a demonstration to demand justice for indigenous Mapuche inmates as well as for their indigenous rights and land for their communities, in Santiago, Chile, November 21, 2016. Image credit: Reuters/Ivan Alvarado.
In current times, the idea of the heathen underpins “a White American Christian superiority complex.” Lum explores this through the white savior trope, pointing to the historical example of how many white Americans positioned themselves “in opposition to the heathen world… [in order] to give themselves a venue for the evangelizing work that marked them as the givers [rather] than recipients of aid.” Within the context of the United States, “heathen” has become a racial and classist designation meant to distinguish between the so-called “first world” and the “third world.”
Four Things to Know About Going to Seminary
Image: Shelves of theology books.
We are students of theology. One of us (Amar) has just recently graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary. The other one of us (Yanan) is currently in his first year at Princeton Theological Seminary. Bringing our perspectives together, we hope to offer advice for seminarians from two sides — beginning and end — of the degree program.
Nine Bible Verses About Indigenous People and Land Rights
Señor Cautivo de Ayabaca peregrination in Ayabaca, Peru. Image credit Carlos Mora/Alamy via Reuters.
If God tends to the lilies of the field, how much more will God protect the poor and oppressed (Matthew 6:25-34)? This is the correct definition of divine providence: God cares for, loves, and empathizes with the meek who will one day inherit the earth. This is the providence that theologian James H. Cone imagined in his seminal work God of the Oppressed: “God has not ever, no not ever, left the oppressed alone in struggle. He was with them in Pharaoh’s Egypt, is with them in America, Africa, and Latin America, and will come in the end of time to consummate fully their human freedom.”
My Country Is Ravaged By Typhoons; the U.S. Military Is Responsible
Protesters in Manila, Philippines hold signs that read "U.S. Troops Out Now" and "Down With U.S. Imperialism" outside the U.S. embassy in 2018. Romeo Ranoco / Reuters.
Due to climate change, people — entire tribes and cultures — are losing their homes and are being displaced from their lands. Indeed, the United States military needs to be held accountable for polluting the planet. For example, if preventive measures and legislation like the Green New Deal are not enacted to curb U.S. imperialism, more Indigenous peoples will perish due to climate disasters.
My Lola Is Decolonizing the Garden of Eden
Even in the midst of our lands groaning for their future restoration (Romans 8:22), the body of Christ dismantles the colonial systems that have privatized God’s creation. For in Christ, land and resources are not meant to be segregated but rather shared through hospitality for the flourishing of local communities, especially for the vulnerable and oppressed among us (1 John 3:17-18). In this way, Christ’s body is a new ecology between all lands, nations, and peoples through a common love for each other.