Women Theologians Research Articles

Fragmented Voices with Guilt and Apologies: Interrogating Narratives on Ordination of Women in Nagaland Churches

The category ‘women’ is one of the majority members in the Nagaland churches of Northeast India. Institutionalization of associations and churches according to denominations has contributed to the bureaucratization of churches, arranging the church positions in vertical hierarchy. Today, churches in Nagaland struggle with complex gender hierarchies. Women are underrepresented in church leadership in Nagaland. Historically, Naga Women theologians have been absent in the process of licencing and ordination. This article attempts to explore both the structural dynamics and local practices in the process of gendered licencing and ordination. The study assesses two associations and churches within those two associations under Nagaland Baptist Church Council. Narrative from the two associations brings out the tacit but visible practices of differentiated licencing requirements between men and women theologians in Nagaland churches. The almost exclusive ‘Reverend’ title reserved for men in Nagaland demonstrably explains the near absence of ordained women in most of the Nagaland churches.

Da Blood of Shesus: From Womanist and Lyrical Theologies to an Africana Liberation Theology of the Blood

The theme of suffering is intimately tied to the possibilities of the blood as redemptive in theology. Potentially considered a universal pathway to salvation and racial transcendence for people of African descent, “Da Blood of Shesus” asks: Is there redeeming power in the blood for people of African descent? Turning to Womanist and lyrical theologians to postulate an African theological framework which explores redemptive suffering not glorified as inevitable and intricate to the historical Black experience and the church. Lyrical theologians affirm Jesus’ redemptive power of the blood in Hip Hop portraying the ways in which the cross reveals the attributes of God. Womanist theologians challenge the “classical” interpretation of redemptive suffering, illuminating the ways it contributes to Black oppression and wretchedness. Arguably, Womanist and lyrical theologians conjointly point towards liberatory and alternatives to examine redemptive suffering for people of African descent by offering sites to scrutinize and nuance the blood as an indispensable pathway to redemption. An African theological perspective decenters the logics of anti-Blackness proposing suffering is inevitable to Black life and the historical Black experience.

Hadewijch: Mystic or theologian?

This article engages with the reception and naming of women by contemporary historians and theologians. The core question is as follows: when is a woman received as a theologian? This question is looked at via the works of Hadewijch, a 13th-century Flemish writer. Scholars easily group together women from the High Middle Ages as mystics, referring to the experiential character of their theology and their writing in the vernacular. These criteria of gender, language and experience then disqualify them as theologians and qualify them as mystics. In this article, the dichotomy between spirituality and theology is revisited and examples of a growing discourse where Hadewijch and some of her contemporaries are called theologians are given. The genre of theology is then widened to recognise the worth not only of scholastic discourse but also of vision, poetry and bodily experience.Contribution: The renaming of historical woman figures is of utmost importance in the understanding of what constitutes women theologians in the present day as well as for the healing of the divide between ‘spirituality’ and ‘theology’.

Hannah’s Suffering: The Power of Voice

Hannah’s story in the Old Testament has been written about considerably by Jewish feminists, womanist theologians, and other biblical scholars. This paper strives to build upon these works in asking the reader to consider Hannah’s story from a liberatory theological theory of suffering by Sölle, as well as a postmodern and non-religious lens as discussed by Sandoval’s Theory of Oppositional Consciousness in Methodology of the Oppressed and Lorde’s “Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”. This paper asks if this narrative can serve as an example of taking back one’s power by confronting a complex system of power and oppression for Black women. Intercessory prayer aptly defines the personal as political, especially with the multiple minoritized identities of Hannah. I argue that Hannah’s story can serve as a complex narrative of differential consciousness and the reclamation of one’s own power, by using her voice. Her audacity to correct a prophet, fight for her valid desire of motherhood, and determine her own happiness is evidence of an empowerment ethic that is necessary for minoritized women in a post-modern era and political climate where the erasure of all forms of difference and consciousness is the priority.

African biblical hermeneutics in a state of flux – towards refocusing its trajectory

This study attempts to critically re-examine certain key hermeneutical concerns of a representative group of African biblical and religious studies scholars, who ground African theological reflection on traditional African values, cultures and social realities. Most of the scholars examined are united by a focus on the past and by an attempt to interpret the present and future on the basis of it. The article critiques the backward-looking hermeneutic implicit in the work of the scholars, especially Jesse Mugambi’s backward-looking metaphor of reconstruction. It proposes a hermeneutic based on the metaphor of liberation, as employed, for example, by African women theologians or by Gerald West or Emmanuel Katongole, who focus on building the present and future on the basis of a new liberative transformative narrative and praxis that prioritises the sacredness and inviolability of human life in the context of the web of life, and in particular foregrounds the dignity of African lives, as well as all others.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article engages exposition and understanding of biblical texts by African scholars. Aspects of NT Christology or Ecclesiology are connected to theologies of traditional African socio-cultural realities. The relevance for an African theology of liberation and African theology of women is defended as necessitated by a new liberative transformative hermeneutic.

A charge to keep I have: Black women teachers’ spirituality and the implications for educational leadership

ABSTRACT Black educators represent a small percentage of the educator workforce. In this manuscript, we examine the institutional and leadership conditions which contribute to the liminal presence of Black women educators specifically. We nuance the discussion about Black women educators to help educational leaders gain a deeper understanding of their: commitments to Black students, experiences with organizational oppression, and navigational techniques. We outline the ways that four Black women educators center religio-spiritual praxis in their classrooms. We use a phenomenological case study design to explore the narratives and religo-spiritual perspectives of four Black women educators. The authors leverage womanist theology to examine Black women educators’ work, commitments and ways of knowing. This manuscript utilizes interviews, artifact and document collection to paint a holistic picture. There are three major themes: strength, peace and womanist activism. These findings suggest that Black women educators are uniquely positioned to navigate, and help their Black students navigate, oppressive schooling conditions. This manuscript nuances the discussion about Black women educators in three key ways: (1) repositions their expertise in supporting Black students, (2) can increase educational leaders’ understanding of their commitments and realities, and (3) expands the teacher turnover discussion.

Unpacking of a Legacy: Womanist Theology and Clinical Implications

Rev. Dr Renita Weems is a pioneering foremother of womanist theology whose work also poses significant implications for the practice of clinical psychology and integration. Although Dr Weems’ work describes several topics worthy of deeper exploration, this article will examine four distinct themes that speak to the core experience of Black womanhood, followed by the clinical implications of these themes and a case illustration. Dr Weems provides encouragement for the everyday Black women to see herself reflected in the Biblical text and demonstrates this practice as she weaves parallels between their stories and those of women in the scriptures. Dr Weems also offers an analysis of the social conditions that Black women find themselves in and addresses these injustices through a faith lens. She makes it clear that a key component of faith entails acting out justice, which serves to empower those on the margins. Her work offers up a vision for human flourishing for Black women that is fostered through interpersonal connectedness and community relationships. Finally, Dr Weems models creativity in her own work and urges others to be inspired to use their God-given artistic expressions as a source of restoration and healing. Although uncommon in APA style, the balance of this article will continue to use Dr Weems professional title when discussing her. Within the African American tradition, elders are commonly referred to with the inclusion of their titles as a sign of honor and respect; we will celebrate this practice by giving reverence to our esteemed foremother.

Mary McLeod Bethune: Village of God by Yahya Jongintaba

Reviewed by: Mary McLeod Bethune: Village of God by Yahya Jongintaba Ida E. Jones Mary McLeod Bethune: Village of God. By Yahya Jongintaba. ( Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2021. Pp. xxii, 327. $60.00, ISBN 978-1-62190-621-6.) The life, legacy, vision, and reach of Mary McLeod Bethune indelibly marked the twentieth century. Known as Mrs. Bethune, Dr. Bethune, Mother Bethune, or Sister Bethune, she lived a selfless life shaped by the cultural, emotional, and spiritual deposits made by her grandmother, mother, and father. She was born with a birth caul, which in folklore was purported to mean that she would see possibilities and potentialities beyond the average person. Her parents cultivated her innate talent and encouraged her quest for education. Clearly, these prophecies manifested over her nearly eighty years of life. During her retirement years, she sought to pen an autobiography. In her essay "How God Has Helped Me," she wrote, "I am conscious of the increasing power of God all through the years. He is today a sustaining power, comforting and controlling the way I take" ("How God Has Helped Me," in Chiazam Ugo Okoye, ed., Mary McLeod Bethune: Words of Wisdom [Bloomington, Ind., 2008], p. 63). In this essay, she recounted her life from the little village school in South Carolina to the campus of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida. This essay is the foundational document Yahya Jongintaba uses to situate Mary McLeod Bethune: Village of God. Jongintaba employs the idea of a village as a scene, story, place, being, language, idiom, and mission through which the life of Bethune is infused with divinely ordered steps. This biography of Bethune deviates from the chronological structure, preferring a religious structure in five parts: Freedom, Creativity, Integrity, Discipline, and Love. Jongintaba posits, "Who knows but that the foregoing five virtues are the framework by which God enables Mary to read into deeper and deeper layers of books over the course of her years" (p. 25). Chapters 1 and 2 provide an exegesis of Rackham Holt's Mary McLeod Bethune: A Biography (Garden City, N.Y., 1964) filtered through ideals of Christian freedom and creativity. Here Jongintaba shares that Bethune's initial desire was to become a missionary sent to Africa. Her longing for Africa was fulfilled in 1952 when she traveled to Liberia at the age of seventy-six. Africa, nature, and closeness to God were interconnected and contributed to her sense of purpose and her worldview. "Africa is a blessed place to Mary but so is the nature and history of the land with its African retentions into which she was born in rural Sumter County, South Carolina," Jongintaba writes (p. 47). Chapter 3 examines integrity: Jongintaba writes, "Woman is the custodian of the future. If she fails in the home, she fails forever … because the home is the link between the womb and the further forms of [the] village" (p. 136). Chapters 4 and 5 feature the demonstrative elements of Bethune's spiritual ideals, discipline, and love. These traits were infused throughout her institutional and organizational affiliations as essential building blocks for faith-led women. In closing, Jongintaba provides an exhaustive presentation of Bethune's writings, which allow Bethune to speak directly to the reader. The use of her diaries, lectures, and speeches demonstrates the divine intervention in her life. However, the spiritual filter used is esoteric at times, making the larger work [End Page 186] hard to follow. Other distractions were the use of Mary in lieu of Bethune and citing her birthday as May 10, not July 10, throughout the book until page 266. Lastly, the foundational essay, "How God Has Helped Me," should have been included for reference. The best audiences for this book are Bethune scholars, womanist theologians, historians, and sociologists. Ida E. Jones Morgan State University Copyright © 2022 The Southern Historical Association

Womanist Theology and Relational Cultural Theory: Counseling Religious Black Women

ABSTRACT Black women face significant stressors that impact their emotional and mental health. Counselors have a unique opportunity to provide culturally responsive and affirming counseling that works toward the liberation of Black women from oppression, marginalization, and psychological distress. However, there is not a current theory that specifically addresses the nuances of Black women’s experiences, focusing especially on the vital relevance of religion and spirituality. To that end, we propose an integrated model of Relational Cultural Theory and Womanist Theology. This article provides an outline of the proposed model, suggestions for therapeutic application, and considerations for counselors.

Women Hip-Hop Artists and Womanist Theology

Hip-Hop is a cultural phenomenon steeped in the conservative ideologies of individualism and capitalism. It sells a lifestyle and its most recent surge of rap music and popular culture spotlights Black women more than ever before. Although Black women have always been significant piece in Hip-Hop culture, their artistry has jolted its systemic capitalism and patriarchy to engage intersectionality through a discourse of classism, sexual orientation, and racism while upending White supremacy’s either:or binary. Applying the principles of Womanism, Black female Hip-Hop artists negotiate cultural identity politics as activists to innovatively expand thought on gender performance and produce a fusion of contemporary Blackness for the 21st century. Their artivism builds a safe environment of differences within society using conscious thought, language, and performative methods to defy the White American ethos of sexism, misogyny, and materialism. By garnering a better knowledge of their existence through Indigenous African spirituality, Black women reclaim ownership of their bodies from Western European standards, including race, and gender to challenge Christianity’s meaning of martyrdom. This act of reclamation provides a reformative tool of inclusion and being fluidity through Hip-Hop music and its culture.

Gendered small-scale crops and power dynamics: A case of uninga (sesame) production amongst the Ndau of south-eastern Zimbabwe

Women in Ndau communities, like in many African communities, are the fulcrum of household economies that ensure improved livelihoods of their communities. Thus, they are an indispensable factor in the sustainable development equation of their communities. It is sadly true that women do not own land in most African societies. Consequently, most studies analyse the realities of gender inequality in the distribution of resources that include land. However, very few studies recognise, appreciate and amplify the role of women in reproducing and transforming the society through their participation in agricultural activities even on pieces of land that they do not call their own. In this article we examined the power and influence that women derive from their agricultural activities, especially their association with the cultivation of crops that have often been labelled as feminine. We sought to recognise the agency of women not only in transforming livelihoods, but also gender inequalities in terms of control and influence on the use, valorisation and sale of agricultural produce. We examined the phenomenon of the crops associated with female gender from a new perspective that compels a rereading of the narratives that often dwarf women’s agricultural activities and crops associated with them. This article focussed on the production of uninga [sesame] amongst the Ndau of Musikavanthu and Chipinge South Constituencies covering areas that include Rimbi, Manzvire, Mwanyisa, Rimai, Rukangare and Garahwa in south-eastern Zimbabwe. The article’s overall theoretical framework is the African women theology that emphasises on African women as agents, not subordinated and passive subjects of history. The study is qualitative, and it used interviews, focus group discussions and observations as instruments for gathering data.Contribution: The study amplified the transformative role of women in society through their participation in agricultural activities. The findings acknowledged the complementarity of women and men in uninga production in a religio-cultural setting that has often shown biases towards patriarchy. The results are in sync with the reconstructive and liberative motif of the African women theology, which envisage a transformed African society that celebrates gender inclusivity through facilitation of dialogue between the two genders.

Re-framing women’s agency in #Blessed sex: Intersectional dilemmas for African women’s theologies

The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians has since its inception, affirmed the agency of women in their theological reflection and praxis. In doing so, they have called on their male colleagues to stand in solidarity with them in forging alternative masculinities that renew culture, curb gender-based violence and mitigate HIV infection. This essay argues that there are three assumptions that form the basis of the work of the Circle theologians. Firstly, that women seek to be in egalitarian relationships with men that bring dignity and respect. Secondly, women assert their agency to achieve this goal and in so doing bring healing and wholeness to both groups who are transformed through this process. Thirdly, women assert their agency in solidarity with other women as they build alternative egalitarian communities. Yet, the recent phenomenon of the #Blessed community of young women who seek out ‘blessers’, older men who engage them in transactional sex, in order to fund opulent lifestyles contradicts these assumptions. Their agency embraces non-liberative ideology and practice and chooses not to unseat the dominant ideologies of hetero- and econo-patriarchy.Contribution: The essay concludes that a lack of sustained economic analysis and engaged theological reflection on sexual ethics means the Circle is ill-equipped to respond to the challenge posed by the #Blessed community of young women.

Engagement with Mission Magazine Archives: A Black Laywoman’s Perspective

ABSTRACT As part of the Council for World Mission’s Legacies of Slavery project, the author, from her perspective as a descendant of enslaved Africans, explores the themes that emerged during her initial encounter with historical missionary magazine material. Drawing on insights from Black and Womanist theologies, she asks questions about what reflection on these themes can offer to contemporary practice and church mission.

Giving up privilege: A sermon on Philippians 2:5–11

The hymn in Phil 2:5–11, which may be the earliest statement about Jesus’s death on the cross, omits typical concepts of substitutionary atonement. This hymn sees the cross within the story that Jesus gave up the privilege of divinity to become human and offers a fresh way to see the intersection of Jesus’s death and Christian discipleship. Feminist and womanist theologians have rightly criticized substitutionary atonement, because the powerful inevitably place the message of sacrifice and suffering upon women and the marginalized. The hymn, however, speaks not of sacrifice and suffering, but of God’s willingness to give up privilege to create solidarity. For those with privilege to be of the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (v. 5), they must choose not to exploit that advantage, but to empty themselves of it and collectively create atonement through solidarity with one another.

No Condition Is Permanent: Time as Method in Contemporary African Christian Theology

Abstract This article argues that contemporary African Christian theology has largely understood time from a modern, linear perspective, which sees history as progress. Interestingly, the perception of history as progress is the straitjacket into which the story of Africa in the modern world has been told, often depicting the continent as needing to catch up with the progressive time of the modern world. This progressive, linear view of time is, however, quite problematic. This article argues that time is palimpsestic, rendering discourses of progress problematic but without nullifying the quest for improved overall well-being. The palimpsestic view of time fits the popular West African outlook that “no condition is permanent” and is demonstrated especially in the work of African women theologians such as Mercy Amba Oduyoye and Musa Dube, whose use of story as method challenges the linear view of time and is thus methodologically instructive for African theology.

‘The Faithful Remnant of the True Church of England’: Susanna Hopton and the Politico-Theology of the Nonjuring Schism

Abstract Susanna Hopton (1627–1709) is best known for her devotional literature, and her association with the Anglican clergyman and poet, Thomas Traherne (1636–74). Significantly less scholarly attention, however, has been devoted to her role and influence as a Nonjuring theologian. By analysing some neglected letters and publications, this paper not only illuminates Hopton’s independence as a theological controversialist but also explores her role as an evangelist for the Nonjuring cause. Fresh evidence is advanced to elucidate the ways in which Hopton’s theological trajectory differed from those of Nonjuring divines. Furthermore, by exploring Hopton’s friendship with the prominent Nonjuring divine, George Hickes (1642–1715), this paper enhances our knowledge of clerical perceptions of women theologians during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom ed. by Pamela Ayo Yetunde and Cheryl Giles, and: Buddhist-Christian Dialogue, U.S. Law, and Womanist Theology for Transgender Spiritual Care by Pamela Ayo Yetunde

Reviewed by: Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom ed. by Pamela Ayo Yetunde and Cheryl Giles, and: Buddhist-Christian Dialogue, U.S. Law, and Womanist Theology for Transgender Spiritual Care by Pamela Ayo Yetunde Carolyn Jones Medine BLACK AND BUDDHIST: WHAT BUDDHISM CAN TEACH US ABOUT RACE, RESILIENCE, TRANSFORMATION, AND FREEDOM. Edited by Pamela Ayo Yetunde and Cheryl Giles. Boulder, CO: Shambhala Press, 2020. xxxii and 189 pp. BUDDHIST-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE, U.S. LAW, AND WOMANIST THEOLOGY FOR TRANSGENDER SPIRITUAL CARE. By Pamela Ayo Yetunde. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. ix and 144 pp. Pamela Ayo Yetunde and Cheryl Giles offer a variety of Black Buddhist voices in their co-edited volume, Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom. Yetunde extends this work in her single author volume, Buddhist-Christian Dialogue, U.S. Law, and Womanist Theology for Transgender Spiritual Care. In this review essay, I, first, will give brief information about the two authors and turn to each work, looking at key themes and insights they offer us about African American Buddhist practice, in general, and about pastoral care and chaplaincy. Finally, I would like to suggest the importance of these two works. the work of two lives Pamela Ayo Yetunde has emerged as an innovative voice in Black Buddhist Studies. Dr. Yetunde is a Buddhist chaplain, having trained at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, and pastoral counselor who has been active in hospice work, having founded the Zen Caregiving Project; she also co-founded the Center of the Heart and the Audre: Spiritual Care for Women with Cancer. She is a professor at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and a faculty member at the Upaya Institute and Zen Center and a Community Dharma Leader in the Insight Meditation tradition. [End Page 327] She has written for Buddhadharma, Lion's Roar, and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. In addition, she has a law degree and has written a book about women and finance. With other practitioners, she founded the Buddhist Justice Reporter: The George Floyd Trials (www.buddhistjustice.com). Yetunde brings all this to her intersectional work on Black Buddhists and on Buddhism and pastoral care, and her work is trailblazing, opening up conversations around race, gender, and religion in the books under review and in her 2018 work, Object Relations, Buddhism, and Relationality in Womanist Practical Theology, which includes interviews of African American lesbian Buddhist practitioners in the Theravada Insight Meditation tradition. Dr. Cheryl A. Giles is the Francis Greenwood Peabody Senior Lecture on Pastoral Care and Counseling at Harvard University. She is a member of the Buddhist Ministry Initiative. Her books include the co-edited pioneering work, The Arts of Contemplative Care: Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work, which gathered voices from a variety of Buddhist lineages to explore contemplative care in hospital chaplaincy, prison ministry, college and military chaplaincy, and end-of-life care. Her Buddhist-Christian writings include "Self-Care for the Beloved Community" in The Christian Century (2016), which asks important questions about compassionate leadership and the preparation and resources needed for the work.1 Her work focuses on adolescent psychology, healthcare and African Americans, and contemplative care—providing spiritual, emotional, and pastoral support in a way that is informed by a "personal, consistent contemplative, or mediation practice"2—at the end of life. A practitioner of Tibetan meditation, she is a member of the Natural Dharma Fellowship. In "Beyond the Color Line: Cultivating Fearlessness in Contemplative Care" in The Arts of Contemplative Care, Giles confronting the racism present in Buddhism and, therefore, in care, asks us to cultivate fearlessness and to bring this to our meditation, to our work, and to our interactions. None of us will ever be perfect nor can we expect to live without fear. But we can aspire to be open to the unfolding present moment. We can help in this small way to make a real impact: we can vow to practice fearlessness every day for ourselves and others to alleviate suffering. We can stay true to a strong intention while opening to our own vulnerability and that of...

I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation by Chanequa Walker-Barnes

Reviewed by: I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation by Chanequa Walker-Barnes Yvonne D. Hawkins (bio) Chanequa Walker-Barnes. 2019. I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans. 280 Pp. $24.99. In I Bring the Voices of My People, Chanequa Walker-Barnes presents a textured argument that U.S. society needs to envision a new model of racial reconciliation if we intend to respond to our nation's original sin of racism. Walker-Barnes argues that this charge is particularly relevant for the Christian church. "That is, we are held captive by the understanding that reconciliation is core to the gospel, that it reflects God's intention for humanity, and that it is central to our identity as Christians." In presenting her model, Walker-Barnes, a professor of practical theology and pastoral counseling at Columbia Theological Seminary, combines the precision of her training as a clinical psychologist with the insights of womanist theology to demonstrate the waywardness of current models. The result is an unflinching exposé of prevailing distortions of race, gender, and racism that lead to faulty understandings of racial reconciliation and, ultimately, disappointing outcomes. Walker-Barnes argues that a womanist vision for reconciling work facilitates more holistic healing and liberation. The womanist vision centers the voices and lived experiences of women of color. As a womanist, Walker-Barnes largely focuses on Black women's voices. This approach indeed highlights gaps in prevailing paradigms of racial reconciliation that ignore gendered aspects of racism. Meanwhile, Walker-Barnes stays faithful to womanism's commitment to including other voices beyond those of Black women; she brings the experiences of Asian, Latina, and Native American women regarding racism into view. Indeed, Walker-Barnes's primary goal is to challenge the predominance of White, male experiences that currently inform most racial reconciliation models. Walker-Barnes begins with a historical overview of the major players in the 1990s racial reconciliation movements, turning her focus to Promise [End Page 317] Keepers (PK). She notes that in the nineties, evangelical organizations played a prominent role in the racial reconciliation movement as they sought to make racial reconciliation central to their missions. For example, she notes that PK's sixth primary commitment asked men to reach beyond racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate biblical unity. Such movements, Walker-Barnes argues, failed to consider how race and racism are gendered. Walker-Barnes explores three forms of gendered racism: colorism, mammification, and hypersexualization. She deploys an intersectional framework developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw that acknowledges that gender- and race-based inequalities interact in unique ways to impact the lives of women of color. She argues that considering the ways in which women of color experience racism provides a more comprehensive understanding of how racism operates. For Walker-Barnes, racism is about White supremacy, which is transmitted in gendered ways. She defines White supremacy as "an evil ideology that relies on brute power to enforce and maintain itself." Meanwhile, she rejects the popular definition of racism as "prejudice plus power"—the occurrence of individuals having the power to act on negative feelings toward those with different racial identities. Instead, Walker-Barnes offers a definition that underscores racism's link to White supremacy: Racism is an interlocking system of oppression that is designed to promote and maintain White supremacy, the notion that White people—including their bodies, aesthetics, beliefs, values, customs, and culture—are inherently superior to all other races and therefore should wield dominion over the rest of creation, including other people groups, the animal kingdom, and the earth itself. She further dismantles the racial reconciliation approach of facilitating good feelings toward others who hold different racial identities and developing cross-racial friendships. Walker-Barnes argues that these models fail to reckon with the fault lines that emerge from whiteness, a racial identity that "was created as a way of determining who got to partake of the benefits of White supremacy." Walker-Barnes's writing is strongest and most cogent when she again deploys an interdisciplinary approach in explicating the connection between whiteness and White supremacy. This is perhaps where Walker-Barnes is...

Gender Issues in the Patriarchy of the Igbo Culture of Southeastern Nigeria

The main thesis of this work is that women’s rights and dignity are still respected in the cultural setting despite the fact that Igbo is a patriarchal society. Through the organization of women groups in different Igbo localities, women mobilize themselves and gain political power in solidarity to protect and uphold their rights and dignity as human beings. This work suggests that African women theologians, particularly those from Igbo origins, may join hands together and trace the action of Igbo women in the past in protecting their rights and dignity. This implies that they must study the recorded history of the land in Igbo culture and connect it to the present for the good of the current generation.

A HISTORY OF THE CIRCLE OF CONCERNED AFRICAN WOMEN THEOLOGIANS (1989–2007). By Rachel N.Fiedler. Mzuzu: Mzuni Press, 2019. Pp. 3–215.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 46, Issue 3 p. 412-412 Short Reviews of Recent Publications: History of Christianity: Modern/Global A HISTORY OF THE CIRCLE OF CONCERNED AFRICAN WOMEN THEOLOGIANS (1989–2007). By Fiedler, Rachel N.. Mzuzu: Mzuni Press, 2019. Pp. 3– 215. First published: 11 November 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14801Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume46, Issue3Special Issue: Religion and SexualitySeptember 2020Pages 412-412 RelatedInformation