- [UNTITLED]
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- African American History and African American Theology
- Reading and Using Scripture in the African American Tradition
- African American Religious Experience
- The African American Christian Tradition
- Culture/Cultural Production and African American Theology
- Reason in African American Theology
- Theoretical Commitments in African American Theology
- Methodologies in African American Theology
- Doctrine of God in African American Theology
- Christology in African American Theology
- The Holy Spirit in African American Theology
- Humanity in African American Theology
- World/Creation in African American Theology
- Liberation in African American Theology
- Evil and Sin in African American Theology
- The Church in African American Theology
- Eschatology in African American Theology
- Heaven and Hell in African American Theology
- Womanist Theology as a Corrective to African American Theology
- Humanism in African American Theology
- Audiences of Accountability in African American Theology
- Embodiment in African American Theology
- Pedagogical Praxis in African American Theology
- Religious Pluralism and African American Theology
- Sexuality in African American Theology
- The Problem of History in African American Theology
- Social Theory and African American Theology
- Black Ontology and Theology
- African American Theology and the Global Economy
- African American Theology and the American Hemisphere
- The <i>African</i> in African American Theology
- Prosperity Gospel and African American Theology
- African American Theology and the Public Imaginary
- Cultural Boundaries and African American Theology
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
During the 1980s, womanist theology emerged as a corrective discipline to address the plight of global African diasporan women in general and of black women in the United States in particular. Coined by poet, novelist, and activist Alice Walker, the concept became a discipline after scholar-activist Katie G. Cannon adapted Walker’s definition as an analytical rubric. Cannon and others like Delores Williams, Jacqueline Grant, Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, and Emilie Townes began to use womanist thought to expose oppression and to correct some of the systemic and personal challenges faced by black people around the world. This essay examines themes, concepts, and categories that have been used, from an interdisciplinary perspective, in womanist theology as a corrective toward love as activism, to influence transformation as well as sociocultural, political, personal, physical, spiritual, mental, and communal wholeness. It looks at scholars who served as catalysts for nurturing womanist thought, including Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi and Clenora Hudson-Weems.
Keywords: womanist theology, black women, Alice Walker, Katie G. Cannon, Delores Williams, Jacqueline Grant, Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Emilie Townes, Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi, Clenora Hudson-Weems
Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan is a Professor of Religion at Shaw University Divinity School, Raleigh, NC, and an Ordained Elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Professor Kirk-Duggan is author and editor of over twenty books, including Exorcising Evil: A Womanist Perspective on the Spirituals (1997); Refiner’s Fire: A Religious Engagement of Violence (2000); Soul Pearls: Worship Resources for the African American Congregation (2003); Coeditor, The Africana Bible: Reading Israel's Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora (2009); and with Marlon Hall, Wake Up!: Hip Hop, Christianity and the Black Church (2011). She has also written numerous articles and book chapters.
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- [UNTITLED]
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- African American History and African American Theology
- Reading and Using Scripture in the African American Tradition
- African American Religious Experience
- The African American Christian Tradition
- Culture/Cultural Production and African American Theology
- Reason in African American Theology
- Theoretical Commitments in African American Theology
- Methodologies in African American Theology
- Doctrine of God in African American Theology
- Christology in African American Theology
- The Holy Spirit in African American Theology
- Humanity in African American Theology
- World/Creation in African American Theology
- Liberation in African American Theology
- Evil and Sin in African American Theology
- The Church in African American Theology
- Eschatology in African American Theology
- Heaven and Hell in African American Theology
- Womanist Theology as a Corrective to African American Theology
- Humanism in African American Theology
- Audiences of Accountability in African American Theology
- Embodiment in African American Theology
- Pedagogical Praxis in African American Theology
- Religious Pluralism and African American Theology
- Sexuality in African American Theology
- The Problem of History in African American Theology
- Social Theory and African American Theology
- Black Ontology and Theology
- African American Theology and the Global Economy
- African American Theology and the American Hemisphere
- The <i>African</i> in African American Theology
- Prosperity Gospel and African American Theology
- African American Theology and the Public Imaginary
- Cultural Boundaries and African American Theology
- Index
