Lonergan, Decolonization and First Nations Peoples: An Apologetic from an Insider on the Outside

Abstract The purpose of this article is to respond critically to a research project initiated out of the Board of the Lonergan Research Institute that seeks to expose colonialist assumptions in Lonergan's thought. Some of the initiatives seek to link Lonergan with complicity in Canadian residential schools, spiritual violence, and cultural genocide. The essay provides a critical response to those latter endeavors, demonstrating that such claims are unfounded and incorrect. By contrast, this essay provides an apologetic for Lonergan, who was on the forefront of decolonial discourse, and highlights his ongoing influence on contemporary scholars in contextual theology and other areas. But the issues go beyond the debate within Lonergan studies, in responding to a broader and more pervasive climate at times of decolonial overreach.