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Embracing the Spirit: Womanist Perspectives on Hope, Salvation, and Transformation
Once again, Emilie Townes brings together essays by leading womanist theologians, interweaving a concern for matters of race, gender, and class as these bear on the well-being of the African-American community. Her emphasis is not on evil and suffering, but on "hope, salvation, and transformation" for individuals and their communities.
A sequel to A Troubling in My Soul in which African American women offer stimulating and thoughtful essays for all those concerned with the life and health of the Black churches today.
A sequel to A Troubling in My Soul in which African American women offer stimulating and thoughtful essays for all those concerned with the life and health of the Black churches today.
300 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1997
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June 26, 2024
AN EXCELLENT ANTHOLOGY, CONTAINING MANY IMPORTANT AUTHORS
The Rev. Dr. Emilie Townes (b. 1955) is dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, as well as Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society. She has also written/edited books such as Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope,In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness,Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil,Breaking the Fine Rain of Death: African American Health Issues and a Womanist Ethic of Care, etc.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 1997 anthology, “This volume is designed to continue the conversations begun in A Troubling in My Soul. I am convinced that evil and suffering should never be our last or only word about the nature of humanity and the way in which the divine works in our lives… There is a blend of new voices and returning voices in this anthology… As with the first collection, however, the essays in this volume are both theoretical and practical. The contributors are Protestant… and Roman Catholic, lay and ordained, academicians and practitioners, and a range of ages of women, from their thirties to their sixties… The aim of this volume is to explore some of the many dimensions possible in this search for justice through a womanist commitment to an interstructured analysis employing race, gender and class…. The contributors deal with questions of rationality, objectivity, historicity, value-free established knowledge, social location, institutionalized radical doubt, and knowledge as hypothesis.” (Pg. xi-xii)
She adds, “This anthology offers no final solutions. Rather, it is an attempt to expand the current discussions within the academy and the church as each seeks to understand and offer solutions to the thorny issues of our day. The attempt in this volume is to provide methodological musings and praxeological constructs that are centered on justice and on a richer vision for our lives together.” (Pg. xix) Contributors include Diana Hayes, Delores Williams, Karen Baker-Fletcher, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Kelly Brown Douglas, Toinette Eugene, and Cheryl Townsend Gilkes.
Diana Hayes asks, “What hope is there in attempting to rebuild our cities and, more importantly, our souls so that at least those events in which humanity can be said to have played an instrumental role will not happen again? Or has religion in all of its manifestations become so superfluous in our world today that its leaders, for fear of becoming entangled in the sticky, bureaucratic web of politics and secular matters, must remain forever silent, relegated to the sidelines, thereby revealing its impotence for all to see? Or do they themselves become merely political tools of exploitation and oppression, forcing a religiosity on peoples unwilling and uninterested?” (Pg. 10)
Rosita deAnn Methews suggests, “Womanist theology, using a hermeneutic that views the world through the lens of African-American women, can empower us and keep us thriving. This is the bridge we can travel from soullessness… and spiritual emptiness or injury to hope and meaning. Womanist theology offers us a place to see ourselves as God sees us and to love ourselves as She loves us. When we use the tools to deconstruct and reconstruct our theological reasoning and to infuse our faith, our souls can be saved repeatedly.” (Pg. 38)
Teresa Fry Brown points out, “womanist scholars must become more than special guest lecturers, token program participants, photo opportunities, or preachers at academic or women’s conferences with brief, theoretically profound insights into the lives of Black women, or we will asphyxiate also… We must remember out inextricable link to our sisters… to share the empowering vision of womanist thought… Our social location has changed and our worldview is at a slightly different slant as privileged Black women in the academy. But we can be relevant, authentic bridges for our sisters who yearn to stop the madness and be free.” (Pg. 76) Later, she adds, “Black biblical hermeneutics is the quest for identity as God’s believing, unified people… Biblical studies or sacred text studies led by womanists, or any religiously oriented seminars are crucial vehicles for planting seeds of change.” (Pg. (86)
Delores Williams suggests, “Contrary to emotionalism, constructive critical thinking creates responses reflecting a balanced blend of reason, imagination and emotion. It broadens the mind’s vision so that women see oppression emerging from sources within the Black community as well as from beyond the community… Now it is time for Black women to reflect constructively upon their place and work in the church. Their thinking is constructive when it holds leadership accountable for its moral posture in the church and community… African-American imagination, intelligence, ingenuity and resources can be used to save Black families, homes, churches and communities.” (Pg. 117)
Karen Baker-Fletcher states, “Black women and men can transform present existence by actively remembering and practicing the prophetic, generative wisdom of the ancestors, particularly the greatest of our ancestors: Jesus. Such transformative activity is salvific, communal, and, for Christian womanists, based in the God of Jethro, Moses, Zipporah, and Jesus. For womanists… the words ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand’ have profound meaning for how we live our lives on a daily basis in our present experience. The ‘hereafter’ is not so far off.” (Pg. 129)
Dr. Townes says, “Suffering that moves us to pain that can be named and then addressed is, in a word, formful. By extension it has a deep moral character and helps the discipline of social ethics do its work. For a communal lament happens IN COMMUNITY, and this corporate experience of calling for healing makes suffering bearable and manageable in the community… We are living in structures of evil and wickedness that make us ill. We must name them as such and seek to repent… It is only then that we can begin to heal.” (Pg. 183)
Kelly Brown Douglas argues, “[White racism’s] most penetrating impact has been upon Black sexual discourse. The Black church and community have been most reluctant to engage issues pertaining to sexuality. The fear that such discourse might only affirm the stereotype that Black people are obsessed with sexual matters no doubt inhibits the discussion. Likewise, a history of having their sexuality exploited and used as a weapon to support oppression also prevents the Black community from freely engaging with sexual concerns… it has also functioned to foster attitudes, behaviors and structures within the Black church and community that threaten Black life and wholeness.” (Pg. 240)
This is a broad and diverse collection, that will be of great interest to anyone concerned with Womanism, contemporary theology, African-American studies, and similar subjects.
The Rev. Dr. Emilie Townes (b. 1955) is dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, as well as Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society. She has also written/edited books such as Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope,In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness,Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil,Breaking the Fine Rain of Death: African American Health Issues and a Womanist Ethic of Care, etc.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 1997 anthology, “This volume is designed to continue the conversations begun in A Troubling in My Soul. I am convinced that evil and suffering should never be our last or only word about the nature of humanity and the way in which the divine works in our lives… There is a blend of new voices and returning voices in this anthology… As with the first collection, however, the essays in this volume are both theoretical and practical. The contributors are Protestant… and Roman Catholic, lay and ordained, academicians and practitioners, and a range of ages of women, from their thirties to their sixties… The aim of this volume is to explore some of the many dimensions possible in this search for justice through a womanist commitment to an interstructured analysis employing race, gender and class…. The contributors deal with questions of rationality, objectivity, historicity, value-free established knowledge, social location, institutionalized radical doubt, and knowledge as hypothesis.” (Pg. xi-xii)
She adds, “This anthology offers no final solutions. Rather, it is an attempt to expand the current discussions within the academy and the church as each seeks to understand and offer solutions to the thorny issues of our day. The attempt in this volume is to provide methodological musings and praxeological constructs that are centered on justice and on a richer vision for our lives together.” (Pg. xix) Contributors include Diana Hayes, Delores Williams, Karen Baker-Fletcher, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Kelly Brown Douglas, Toinette Eugene, and Cheryl Townsend Gilkes.
Diana Hayes asks, “What hope is there in attempting to rebuild our cities and, more importantly, our souls so that at least those events in which humanity can be said to have played an instrumental role will not happen again? Or has religion in all of its manifestations become so superfluous in our world today that its leaders, for fear of becoming entangled in the sticky, bureaucratic web of politics and secular matters, must remain forever silent, relegated to the sidelines, thereby revealing its impotence for all to see? Or do they themselves become merely political tools of exploitation and oppression, forcing a religiosity on peoples unwilling and uninterested?” (Pg. 10)
Rosita deAnn Methews suggests, “Womanist theology, using a hermeneutic that views the world through the lens of African-American women, can empower us and keep us thriving. This is the bridge we can travel from soullessness… and spiritual emptiness or injury to hope and meaning. Womanist theology offers us a place to see ourselves as God sees us and to love ourselves as She loves us. When we use the tools to deconstruct and reconstruct our theological reasoning and to infuse our faith, our souls can be saved repeatedly.” (Pg. 38)
Teresa Fry Brown points out, “womanist scholars must become more than special guest lecturers, token program participants, photo opportunities, or preachers at academic or women’s conferences with brief, theoretically profound insights into the lives of Black women, or we will asphyxiate also… We must remember out inextricable link to our sisters… to share the empowering vision of womanist thought… Our social location has changed and our worldview is at a slightly different slant as privileged Black women in the academy. But we can be relevant, authentic bridges for our sisters who yearn to stop the madness and be free.” (Pg. 76) Later, she adds, “Black biblical hermeneutics is the quest for identity as God’s believing, unified people… Biblical studies or sacred text studies led by womanists, or any religiously oriented seminars are crucial vehicles for planting seeds of change.” (Pg. (86)
Delores Williams suggests, “Contrary to emotionalism, constructive critical thinking creates responses reflecting a balanced blend of reason, imagination and emotion. It broadens the mind’s vision so that women see oppression emerging from sources within the Black community as well as from beyond the community… Now it is time for Black women to reflect constructively upon their place and work in the church. Their thinking is constructive when it holds leadership accountable for its moral posture in the church and community… African-American imagination, intelligence, ingenuity and resources can be used to save Black families, homes, churches and communities.” (Pg. 117)
Karen Baker-Fletcher states, “Black women and men can transform present existence by actively remembering and practicing the prophetic, generative wisdom of the ancestors, particularly the greatest of our ancestors: Jesus. Such transformative activity is salvific, communal, and, for Christian womanists, based in the God of Jethro, Moses, Zipporah, and Jesus. For womanists… the words ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand’ have profound meaning for how we live our lives on a daily basis in our present experience. The ‘hereafter’ is not so far off.” (Pg. 129)
Dr. Townes says, “Suffering that moves us to pain that can be named and then addressed is, in a word, formful. By extension it has a deep moral character and helps the discipline of social ethics do its work. For a communal lament happens IN COMMUNITY, and this corporate experience of calling for healing makes suffering bearable and manageable in the community… We are living in structures of evil and wickedness that make us ill. We must name them as such and seek to repent… It is only then that we can begin to heal.” (Pg. 183)
Kelly Brown Douglas argues, “[White racism’s] most penetrating impact has been upon Black sexual discourse. The Black church and community have been most reluctant to engage issues pertaining to sexuality. The fear that such discourse might only affirm the stereotype that Black people are obsessed with sexual matters no doubt inhibits the discussion. Likewise, a history of having their sexuality exploited and used as a weapon to support oppression also prevents the Black community from freely engaging with sexual concerns… it has also functioned to foster attitudes, behaviors and structures within the Black church and community that threaten Black life and wholeness.” (Pg. 240)
This is a broad and diverse collection, that will be of great interest to anyone concerned with Womanism, contemporary theology, African-American studies, and similar subjects.
July 27, 2008
This book is the main reason why I decided to study theology. I was inspired by the clarity and strength of the womanist thinkers who contributed to this book. Very good read indeed :)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews