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Womanist Theological Ethics: A Reader
Writing across theological disciplines, nine African American women scholars reflect on what it means to live as responsible doers of justice. With some classic essays and some contributions published here for the first time, each chapter in this new volume in the Library of Theological Ethics series presents analytical strategies for understanding the story of womanist scholarship in the service of the black community. The Library of Theological Ethics series focuses on what it means to think theologically and ethically. It presents a selection of important and otherwise unavailable texts in easily accessible form. Volumes in this series will enable sustained dialogue with predecessors though reflection on classic works in the field.
312 pages, Paperback
First published October 17, 2011
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June 26, 2024
AN EXCELLENT COLLECTION OF ESSAYS FROM PROMINENT WOMANIST SCHOLARS
This 2011 collection includes essays from many of the “big names” in Womanist Theology: Katie Geneva Cannon; Marcia Riggs; Emilie M. Townes; Renita J. Weems; Karen Baker-Fletehcer; Cheryl Townsend Gilkes; M. Shawn Copeland; Kelly Brown Douglas; and Angela D. Sims.
The editors explain in the Preface, “When we convened a working retreat in 2009 at Yale Divinity School to shape the vision for this volume of essays, we made a conscious decision to own our Christian womanist voices… Even as we struggle to maintain continuity with our distinct denominational identities, womanists critique the sacred writings, philosophical formulas, and theological reflections we inherited… by respecting the diverse voices among us, we strive for both depth and breadth in a variety of teaching styles… we maintain throughout this reader that God is not static, nor is God dead… This reader documents the intellectual prerogatives of eight senior and one junior African American women scholars … Its aim is to share Black women’s contributions … in relation to the growing significance of womanism within denominational Christianity. Most of all, the aim of this reader is to promote Black women’s innovative analytical strategies for balancing womanist pedagogical imperatives against a groundswell of institutional resistance as we translate womanist scholarship into the service of the church and community.”
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Emilie M. Townes says, “The task of the womanist ethic of justice is to move within the tradition descriptively yet jump for the sun to climb beyond the tradition prescriptively. An ethic of justice must be based on the community from which it emerges, for it can degenerate into flaccid ideology if it does not espouse a future vision that calls the community beyond itself into a wider and more inclusive circle. This circle is neither tight nor fixed.” (Pg. 38)
Later, she adds, “An important distinction must be made: liberation and freedom are not the same. Liberation is a process. Freedom is a temporary state of being. It is more of an event we point toward, work for, and hope for. Freedom is that moment of release in worship where we know that God loves us and holds us tenderly… Liberation is the product of freedom. Liberation is God’s work of salvation in Jesus… Liberation is the process of struggle, with ourselves and with each other that begets the transformation of all of us to our full humanity. Liberation establishes freedom, yet it must go on to explore greater dimensions of personhood…. Liberation is dynamic. It never ends.” (Pg. 41)
Renita J. Weems points out, “Even after its introduction as a term more than 15 years ago, ‘womanist scholarship’ remains a nascent conversation in religious and theological studies. The reasons for this are many. Many of them have to do with our lack of a critical mass of scholars writing and reflecting on womanist research, as well as the demands and pressures on our attention as black women in the Academy. The challenge over the years …has been having to… practice… amid obstacles designed to keep us as women in the Academy distracted… We have only to observe how little attention is given to the traditions, religious worlds, epistemologies and reading habits of non-Anglo, non-European women by mainstream feminist religious discourse to see how and why the work of womanists fills a crucial voice in gender and feminist studies.” (Pg. 55)
She observes, “a significant part of our work as womanist interpreters is to radically rethink what it means to continue to read certain kinds of obnoxious, oppressive stories in the Bible where women’s rape, abuse, and marginalization are romanticized, subjugated, and excused for the sake of some alleged larger purpose in the story… We have to find ways to break the hold that these and other androcentric biblical texts have on us as women by rereading these texts in ways in which they were not meant to be read… [by] resisting where necessary the moral vision of such texts. We may… have to follow the path of black Christian women readers in the past who in their struggle for freedom and dignity ignored outright certain biblical passages altogether.” (Pg. 59)
Karen Baker-Fletcher suggests, “God will continue perfectly well without us if we refuse to enter renewal. God does not NEED us to further well-being, but God invites our participation in God’s love for all of creation. We participate in this divine love not because we creaturely spirits can erase the problem of evil, but because we say yet to divine love for its own sake and become embodiments of love, like Jesus, in saying yes to the Great Lover of our bodies and souls.” (Pg. 77)
M. Shawn Copeland observes, “Womanist theology claims the experiences of Black women as proper and serious data for theological reflection. Its aim is to elucidate the differentiated range and interconnections of Black women’s gender, racial-ethnic, cultural, religious, and social… oppression. Hence, a womanist theology of suffering is rooted in and draws on Black women’s accounts of pain and anguish, of their individual and collective struggle to grasp and manage, rather than be managed by their suffering.” (Pg, 139) Later, she adds, “A theology of suffering in womanist perspective repels every tendency toward any ersatz spiritualization of evil and suffering, of pain and oppression… A theology of suffering in womanist perspective is REDEMPTIVE… [and] RESISTANT.” (Pg. 152-153)
In the closing essay, Angela D. Sims states, “How we view justice in a racially violent world can be a catalyst to facilitate the necessary work to promote interpretations from the underside in order to evaluate creative uses of surpluses… For as long as the dominant culture, especially those granted powerbroker status, can obscure the mode of verbal communication without being held accountable for their actions, they can, in effect, minimize the importance of a Christian ethic of resistance to address legally sanctioned forms of terror in America.” (Pg. 266-267)
This is a marvelous collection, that would make an excellent choice for classes, study groups, or anyone seeking an “introduction” to womanist thought and theology.
This 2011 collection includes essays from many of the “big names” in Womanist Theology: Katie Geneva Cannon; Marcia Riggs; Emilie M. Townes; Renita J. Weems; Karen Baker-Fletehcer; Cheryl Townsend Gilkes; M. Shawn Copeland; Kelly Brown Douglas; and Angela D. Sims.
The editors explain in the Preface, “When we convened a working retreat in 2009 at Yale Divinity School to shape the vision for this volume of essays, we made a conscious decision to own our Christian womanist voices… Even as we struggle to maintain continuity with our distinct denominational identities, womanists critique the sacred writings, philosophical formulas, and theological reflections we inherited… by respecting the diverse voices among us, we strive for both depth and breadth in a variety of teaching styles… we maintain throughout this reader that God is not static, nor is God dead… This reader documents the intellectual prerogatives of eight senior and one junior African American women scholars … Its aim is to share Black women’s contributions … in relation to the growing significance of womanism within denominational Christianity. Most of all, the aim of this reader is to promote Black women’s innovative analytical strategies for balancing womanist pedagogical imperatives against a groundswell of institutional resistance as we translate womanist scholarship into the service of the church and community.”
\
Emilie M. Townes says, “The task of the womanist ethic of justice is to move within the tradition descriptively yet jump for the sun to climb beyond the tradition prescriptively. An ethic of justice must be based on the community from which it emerges, for it can degenerate into flaccid ideology if it does not espouse a future vision that calls the community beyond itself into a wider and more inclusive circle. This circle is neither tight nor fixed.” (Pg. 38)
Later, she adds, “An important distinction must be made: liberation and freedom are not the same. Liberation is a process. Freedom is a temporary state of being. It is more of an event we point toward, work for, and hope for. Freedom is that moment of release in worship where we know that God loves us and holds us tenderly… Liberation is the product of freedom. Liberation is God’s work of salvation in Jesus… Liberation is the process of struggle, with ourselves and with each other that begets the transformation of all of us to our full humanity. Liberation establishes freedom, yet it must go on to explore greater dimensions of personhood…. Liberation is dynamic. It never ends.” (Pg. 41)
Renita J. Weems points out, “Even after its introduction as a term more than 15 years ago, ‘womanist scholarship’ remains a nascent conversation in religious and theological studies. The reasons for this are many. Many of them have to do with our lack of a critical mass of scholars writing and reflecting on womanist research, as well as the demands and pressures on our attention as black women in the Academy. The challenge over the years …has been having to… practice… amid obstacles designed to keep us as women in the Academy distracted… We have only to observe how little attention is given to the traditions, religious worlds, epistemologies and reading habits of non-Anglo, non-European women by mainstream feminist religious discourse to see how and why the work of womanists fills a crucial voice in gender and feminist studies.” (Pg. 55)
She observes, “a significant part of our work as womanist interpreters is to radically rethink what it means to continue to read certain kinds of obnoxious, oppressive stories in the Bible where women’s rape, abuse, and marginalization are romanticized, subjugated, and excused for the sake of some alleged larger purpose in the story… We have to find ways to break the hold that these and other androcentric biblical texts have on us as women by rereading these texts in ways in which they were not meant to be read… [by] resisting where necessary the moral vision of such texts. We may… have to follow the path of black Christian women readers in the past who in their struggle for freedom and dignity ignored outright certain biblical passages altogether.” (Pg. 59)
Karen Baker-Fletcher suggests, “God will continue perfectly well without us if we refuse to enter renewal. God does not NEED us to further well-being, but God invites our participation in God’s love for all of creation. We participate in this divine love not because we creaturely spirits can erase the problem of evil, but because we say yet to divine love for its own sake and become embodiments of love, like Jesus, in saying yes to the Great Lover of our bodies and souls.” (Pg. 77)
M. Shawn Copeland observes, “Womanist theology claims the experiences of Black women as proper and serious data for theological reflection. Its aim is to elucidate the differentiated range and interconnections of Black women’s gender, racial-ethnic, cultural, religious, and social… oppression. Hence, a womanist theology of suffering is rooted in and draws on Black women’s accounts of pain and anguish, of their individual and collective struggle to grasp and manage, rather than be managed by their suffering.” (Pg, 139) Later, she adds, “A theology of suffering in womanist perspective repels every tendency toward any ersatz spiritualization of evil and suffering, of pain and oppression… A theology of suffering in womanist perspective is REDEMPTIVE… [and] RESISTANT.” (Pg. 152-153)
In the closing essay, Angela D. Sims states, “How we view justice in a racially violent world can be a catalyst to facilitate the necessary work to promote interpretations from the underside in order to evaluate creative uses of surpluses… For as long as the dominant culture, especially those granted powerbroker status, can obscure the mode of verbal communication without being held accountable for their actions, they can, in effect, minimize the importance of a Christian ethic of resistance to address legally sanctioned forms of terror in America.” (Pg. 266-267)
This is a marvelous collection, that would make an excellent choice for classes, study groups, or anyone seeking an “introduction” to womanist thought and theology.
September 26, 2020
I keep going back to this book to re read and remember.
Want to read
August 17, 2021Emily M Towns: Ethics as an Art of Doing the Work Our Souls Must Have
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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