Katie Geneva Cannon Research Collection

Dancing With God is an exploration of the divine gifts of courage and grace in the face of evil. Moreover, it is a doctrine of God as the source of that courage. Baker-Fletcher presents an understanding of the work of the Trinity with regard to the problem of crucifixion, a metaphor she uses for unnecessary violence. She develops a process of relational, womanist theology that considers the empathetic omnipresence of God in the midst of unnecessary suffering and the healing power of God in movement of the Holy Spirit. She engages the contributions of a diversity of theologians like Paul Tillich, Karl Barth, Gordon Kaufman, John Cobb, Jr., Majorie Suchocki, Charles Hartshorne, Andrew Sung Park, and Katie Cannon in her discussion of the dance of the Trinity in creation, and the problem of sin, evil, and suffering. Through creative works like that of Alice Walker's The Color Purple and journalist Joyce King's account of the James Byrd, Jr. murder in Jasper County, Texas, Baker-Fletcher reveals the healing, encouraging power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of survivors of unnecessary violence.

A review of the principal themes of systematic theology by means of the contrasting perspectives of womanist and Xodus God-talk.

Karen Baker-Fletcher here seeks to recover and renew the often strong historic tie of black peoples to the land, sometimes broken by migration and urbanization. Cultivating the ecological side of black womanism, shecombines a keen awareness of environmental racism with reflection on her own journey and a keenconstructive theological vision. She works the biblical and literary metaphors of dust and spirit to address the embodiment of God, Spirit, Christ, creation, and humans and to fashion a powerful justice-orientedspirituality of creation.

In her new book, Monica A. Coleman articulates the African American expression of "making a way out of no way" for today's context of globalization, religious pluralism, and sexual diversity. Drawing on womanist religious scholarship and process thought, Coleman describes the symbiotic relationship among God, the ancestors, and humanity that helps to change the world into the just society it ought to be. Making a Way Out of No Way shows us a way of living for justice with God and proposes a communal theology that presents a dynamic way forward for black churches, African traditional religions and grassroots organizations.

Copeland demonstrates how Black women's experience and oppression cast a completely different light on our theological theorems and pious platitudes and reveal them as a kind of mental colonization that still operates powerfully in our economic and political configurations today. Further, Copeland argues, race and embodiment and relations of power not only reframe theological anthropology but also our notions of discipleship, church, and Christ as well. In fact, she argues, our postmodern situation marked decidedly by the realities of race, conflict, the remains of colonizing myths, and the health of bodies affords an opportunity to be human (and to be the body of Christ) with new clarity and effect.

For more than three hundred years, black women have embodied a theology of hope which has enabled them to overcome a history of abuse and violence. While a theology of hope has been widely discussed in twentieth centry theology, it was born in slavery long before Jurgen Moltmann introduced it to America in 1967. Even womanist notions of hope have not explored the theological character of hope in abused black women's narratives. A. Elaine Brown Crawford argues that hope is the theological construct that moves black women beyond endurance and survival to transformation of their personal and communal realities. This book identifies and analyzes the theological vision of hope voiced within the narratives of enslaved, emancipated, and contemporary black women and brings that vision into discussion with contemporary womanist theologies.

Blues is absolutely vital to black theological reflection and to the black church's existence. In Black Bodies and the Black Church , author Kelly Douglas Brown develops a blues crossroad theology, which allows the black church to remain true to itself and relevant in black lives.

This book tackles the "taboo" subject of sexuality that has long been avoided by the Black church and community. Douglas argues that this view of Black sexuality has interfered with constructive responses to the AIDS crisis and teenage pregnancies, fostered intolerance of sexual diversity, frustrated healthy male/female relationships, and rendered Black and womanist theologians silent on sexual issues.

This book was inspired by a challenge from one of Douglas's students: "How could you, a black woman, possibly be a Christian?" Reflection on the historical sins of Christians, particularly the role of white Christians in countenancing the lynching of African Americans, led her to broader questions: What is it about Christianity that could lend itself to racism and its violent abuses? What is it about Christianity that has allowed it to be both a bane and a blessing for black people? Douglas examines the various "distortions" in early Christianity--particularly the influence of platonic dualism, with its denigration of the body, and the alliance with imperial power. She shows how this later helped support white racism, just as it later fed homophobia and other distortions in the black church. Nevertheless, she ends by sharing an inspiring account of her own Christian faith, and why she is still a Christian.

In the nascent United States, religion often functioned as a justifier of oppression. Yet while religious discourse buttressed such oppressive activities as slavery and the destruction of native populations, oppressed communities have also made use of religion to critique and challenge this abuse. As Liberation Theologies in the United States demonstrates, this critical use of religion has often taken the form of liberation theologies, which use primarily Christian principles to address questions of social justice, including racism, poverty, and other types of oppression.

Christology is especially problematic for feminists. Because Jesus was undeniably male and because the Christian church claims him as the unique God-bearer, feminist christology confronts the dual tasks of explaining the significance of a male God-bearer for women and creating a christologicalmodel adequate to feminist experience. Jacquelyn Grant rehearses the development and challenges of feminist christology and argues that, because it has reflected the experience of White women predominantly, it fails to speak to the concerns of non-white and non-western women. In response to thisfailure, Grant proposes a womanist theology and christology that emerge from and are adequate to the reality of contemporary Black women.

Hayes specifically shows how womanist commitments in the Christian tradition provide a specific critical lens for seeing the strengths and weaknesses of a Christianity that has often flourished at the expense of or neglect of African Americans. As sometime strangers and sojourners in their own church, black women have a unique take on the church's stance on race, class, and gender issues. Yet their unquestioned devotion lends a hope and optimism often missing from critical thought and, as Hayes shows in this powerful volume, invites the church itself to a new conversion and role.

Introducing Womanist Theology demonstrates how theology by women of color is firmly rooted in their varied life experiences. By participating fully in the construction of theology instead of simply learning theology from others, black women are able to analyze church teachings, develop meaningful systems of ethics, and challenge ecclesiastical structures, if needed.Introducing Womanist Theology describes the unique experiences of African American women and explores not only what theology is, but how it is constructed. It lays out the major components of womanist theology while showing the close links between womanist theology and womanist ethics.By examining some of its major contributors and exploring challenges it faces, including relationships with feminist and black theologians, Introducing Womanist Theology provides a thorough and accessible entree into this vibrant contemporary theology.

Can the gospel message of the Atonement have a liberative message for black Christians? Is there, indeed, "power in the blood of Jesus"? This study of the meaning of the cross in the African American religious experience is both comprehensive and powerful: comprehensive because it explores the meaning of the cross - symbol of suffering and sacrifice - from the early beginnings of Christianity through modern times.

In this volume, sixteen theologians assess the impact and import of black theology and the new challenges presented by today's intellectual, social, religious, and geopolitical situation. Including two chapters by James H. Cone, the pioneer of black theology, the volume examines black theology and the black churches, black theology and the white churches, black theology in light of global religions, and the ongoing spiritual challenges to African Americans today. A major focus of the volume is the contribution of womanist thought.

In A Troubling in My Soul, well-known womanist theologians explore the persistent question of evil and suffering in compelling new ways. Committed to an integrated analysis of race, gender, and class, they also address the shortcomings of traditional, feminist, and Black theologies in dealing with evil.

. Drawing on the biblical figure of Hagar mother of Ishmael, cast into the desert by Abraham and Sarah, but protected by God Williams finds a proptype for the struggle of African-American women. African slave, homeless exile, surrogate mother, Hagar s story provides an image of survival and defiance appropriate to black women today. Exploring the themes implicit in Hagar s story poverty and slavery, ethnicity and sexual exploitation, exile and encounter with God Williams traces parallels in the history of African-American women from slavery to the present day. A new womanist theology emerges from this shared experience, from the interplay of oppressions on account of race, sex and class. Sisters in the Wilderness offers a telling critique of theologies that promote liberation but ignore women of color.