Liberation Theologies: Home

"Engages systematic theology with pastoral concerns to expand our understanding of Christ's sacrifice so that persons with disabilities are more integrally included in our conceptions of soteriology and ecclesiology, especially liturgy"-- Provided by publisher

Deconstructing the theology and practice of the Church, Hannah Lewis shows how the Church unconsciously oppresses Deaf people through its view of them as people who can't hear. Lewis reclaims Deaf perspectives on Church history, examines how an essentially visual Deaf culture can relate to the written text of the bible and asks 'can Jesus sign?' This book pulls together all these strands to consider how worship can be truly liberating, truly a place for Deaf people to celebrate who they are before God.

Echoing James Cone’s 1970 assertion that white Christianity is a satanic heresy, Miguel De La Torre argues that whiteness has desecrated the message of Jesus. In a scathing indictment, he describes how white American Christians have aligned themselves with the oppressors who subjugate the “least of these”—those who have been systemically marginalized because of their race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status—and, in overwhelming numbers, elected and supported an antichrist as president who has brought the bigotry ingrained in American society out into the open. With this follow-up to his earlier Burying White Privilege, De La Torre prophetically outlines how we need to decolonize Christianity and reclaim its revolutionary, badass message. Timid white liberalism is not the answer for De La Torre—only another form of complicity. Working from the parable of the sheep and the goats in the Gospel of Matthew, he calls for unapologetic solidarity with the sheep and an unequivocal rejection of the false, idolatrous Christianity of whiteness.

Bringing to the forefront the difficult realities of racism and the sexual violation of women, West argues for a liberative method of Christian social ethics in which the discussion begins, not with generic philosophical concepts, but in the concrete realities of the lives of the socially and economically marginalized.

Scholarship on African American history and culture has often neglected the tradition of African American women who engage in theological and religious reflection on their ethical and moral responsibility to care for the earth. Melanie Harris argues that African American women make distinctive contributions to the environmental justice movement in the ways that they theologise, theorise, practice spiritual activism, and come into religious understandings about our relationship with the earth. Incorporating elements of her family history to set the stage for her argument, Harris intersperses her academic reflections with her own personal stories and anecdotes.This unique text stands at the intersection of several academic disciplines: womanist theology, eco-theology, spirituality, and theological aesthetics.

Catherine and Justo Gonzalez provide a valuable resource for preaching and biblical interpretation. An account of liberation theology's impact on the task of preaching is offered by two historians of doctrine who are intimately aware of the need to be open to marginalized perspectives in the church. Early Christian preachers had much to say on issues such as the origins and proper use of wealth, the rights and duties of the poor and rich, and the nature of ownership. The Gonzalezes recapture this early Christian spirit offering concrete ways that the interpretation of specific biblical texts may be enriched or corrected in order to speak directly to the whole life of the whole church.Often used as a text in preaching courses, 'The Liberating Pulpit' helps to clarify and to bridge the gap between those whose preaching and hermeneutics tend to be more traditional and the various minorities who tend to read Scripture in a different way.

This is not your typical Asian instructional book on Asian crafting or origami. Making Paper Cranes is an attempt to describe an ever emerging life, in an emerging community within Christianity in North America, that is intentionally taking flight and impacting the world. This theological book engages the social histories, literary texts, and narratives of Asian American women, as well as the theological projects of prominent Asian American feminist theologians. It seeks to offer another liberative theological voice. Inherent in its construction is the interconnectedness of all stories that articulate struggle, resistance, and the artistic flourishing of oppressed peoples. Simply put, Making Paper Cranes is about Asian American mothers, daughters, sisters, and women who are imaginatively and courageously crafting their journeys together in and through their Christian faith.

Our Lives Matter uses the tenor of the 2014 national protests that emerged as a response to excessive police force against Black people to frame the book as following the discursive tradition of liberation theologies broadly speaking and womanist theology specifically. Using a womanist methodological approach, Pamela R. Lightsey helps readers explore the impact of oppression against Black LBTQ women while introducing them to the emergent intellectual movement known as queer theology. The author privileges their narratives and experiences as she reviews several doctrines and dogma of the Christian church. Theological reflection on contemporary debates such as same-sex marriage and ordination rights make this book a valuable resource to clergy, students of theology, LGBTQ persons and allies.

The study of lived religion is an enterprise which attempts to elucidate how 'ordinary' men and women in all times and places draw on religious behavior, media, and meanings to make sense of themselves and their world. Through the influence of liberation theology and postmodernism, pastoral theologians_like other scholars of religion_have begun more closely to examine the particularity of religious practice that is reflected through the rubric of lived religion. Pastoral Bearings offers up ten studies that exemplify the usefulness of the lived religion paradigm to the field of pastoral theology. The volume presents detailed qualitative research focused on the everyday beliefs and practices of individuals and groups and explores the implications of lived religion for interdisciplinary conversation, intercultural and gender analysis, and congregational studies. Reflecting upon the utility of this approach for pastoral theological research, education, and pastoral care, the studies collected in Pastoral Bearings demonstrate the importance of the study of lived religion.

What do Christianity and queerness have to do with each other? Can Christianity be queered? Queer Theology offers a readable introduction to a difficult debate. Summarizing the various apologetic arguments for the inclusion of queer people in Christianity, Tonstad moves beyond inclusion to argue for a queer theology that builds on the interconnection of theology with sex and money. Thoroughly grounded in queer theory as well as in Christian theology, Queer Theology grapples with the fundamental challenges of the body, sex, and death, as these are where queerness and Christianity find (and, maybe, lose) each other.

"The gospel of Jesus has not always been good news for Native Americans. But despite the far-reaching effects of colonialism, some Natives have forged culturally authentic ways to follow Jesus. In his final work, Richard Twiss surveys the complicated history of Christian missions among Indigenous peoples and voices a hopeful vision of contextual Native Christian faith"--Provided by publisher.

Conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians has been ongoing since the creation of the state of Israel, a conflict revolving around land-ownership, water politics, human rights, and religious rights. 'Shalom/Salaam/Peace' examines the realities of life in contemporary Israel/Palestine, with its politics, wars, security wall, settlements and ongoing struggles. Having established the historical, scriptural and theological context behind the present situation, the book presents key figures who have promoted peace and justice and explores liberation theology as a way of bringing peace in Israel and Palestine.

This landmark work first published 20 years ago helped establish the field of African-American womanist theology. It is widely regarded as a classic text in the field. 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 prototype 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.

This groundbreaking book provides an analytical tool to understand how and why evil works in the world as it does. Deconstructing memory, history, and myth as received wisdom, the volume critically examines racism, sexism, poverty, and stereotypes.

Womanist Midrash is an in-depth and creative exploration of the well- and lesser-known women of the Hebrew Scriptures. Using her own translations, Gafney offers a midrashic interpretation of the biblical text that is rooted in the African American preaching tradition to tell the stories of a variety of female characters, many of whom are often overlooked and nameless. Gafney employs a solid understanding of womanist and feminist approaches to biblical interpretation and the sociohistorical culture of the ancient Near East. This unique and imaginative work is grounded in serious scholarship and will expand conversations about feminist and womanist biblical interpretation.

Two major strands of theology have developed in Africa-inculturation and liberation-each in response to different needs. Emmanuel Martey's African Theology provides a clear, scholarly examination of these two basic approaches, solidly based on Martey's understanding of contemporary theology and his firsthand knowledge of Africa. Martey first examines the historical background of each of these theological developments, especially relating to cultural and political movements enveloping the continent in the 1970s. In sub-Saharan Africa, struggles for independence from colonizers have resulted in inculturation theology. The defining aspect of this theology is that it pushes its roots firmly in African culture and traditions. In South Africa, on the other hand, Black Africans struggling against the oppressive systems of apartheid have turned to liberation theology. Martey shows how the real hope for African theology lies in the dialectical encounter between these two approaches and in their potential for convergence. "The two foci (of liberation and inculturation), " Martey says, "are not contradictory, but complement each other." African Theology concludes by challenging African theologians to weld together the praxis of inculturation with that of liberation, in order to achieve an integrative vision for the continent.

Third wave womanism is a new movement within religious studies with deep roots in the tradition of womanist religious thoughtwhile also departing from it in key ways.After a helpful and orienting introduction, this volume gathers essays from established and emerging scholars whose work is among the most lively and innovative scholarship today.The result is a lively conversation in which to question is not to disavow; to depart is not necessarily to reject and where questioning and departing are indications of the productive growth and expansion of an important academic and religious movement.

Tink" Tinker describes the oppression suffered by American Indians since the arrival of European colonists, who brought a different worldview across the ocean and attempted to convert the native population to the religion they also imported. The methodology, language, and understandings of the Christian beliefs of the colonists - and of the majority society since the colonial period - largely failed to Christianize the native population." "Different conceptual frameworks and different understandings of terms made (and make) Christian doctrine unappealing and at times incomprehensible to Indians. Tinker focuses in particular on differing understandings of Jesus Christ and of the land.

First published in 1970, this book presents a searing indictment of white theology and society, while offering a radical reappraisal of Christianity from the perspective of an oppressed black North American community. Now 20 years later, Cone reviews the evolution of his own thinking, plus black theology in dialogue with feminist theory and third world theologies of liberation.

From pastor, scholar, and best-selling author, Marvin McMickle, comes this new volume that considers the evolution of liberation theologies in their historic and cultural contexts. Beginning with the author's own formative experiences with the Black theology of James Cone, exploring the socioeconomic implications of Latin American liberation theologies, and considering in depth the theologies of feminist scholars, womanist theologians, and women in ministry. More than a chronological history or intellectual analysis, this book breathes with lived faith and practical theology, acknowledging the contexts out of which theologies of liberation emerge and the transforming impact they have on the social and political lives of Christians today

Long needed, Thomas Schubeck's is the first comprehensive assessment of the ethical import of this generation's most influential theological movement. Based on in–depth interviews with key liberation theologians, as well as comprehensive research, Schubeck offers a critical yet sympathetic evaluation of liberation theology's normative content by looking at how liberation theologians actually use their foundational sources—praxis, social analysis, and Scripture. After narrating its grassroots origins, Schubeck gauges the comprehensiveness and coherence of the work of a dozen theologians, including Gustavo Gutiérrez, Juan Segundo, Jon Sobrino, and the late Ignacio Ellacuría, José Míguez Bonino , and others. He reveals liberation theology's surprising diversity and its power to illumine method and such issues as poverty and power, economic and political systems, theory and practice, violence, national security, and land reform. No task is more important—or more urgent—than understanding how religious reflection can best engender social and global justice, and Schbeck's sustained analysis sets the terms. His constructive critique may well prove a turning point in the assessment by both theologians and ethicists of the cogency—and future—of liberation theology.

It's been said that prayer is the vocabulary of faith. This book offers a wealth of resources from forgotten places to help us create a new vocabulary for worship and prayer, one that is located amidst the poor and the major issues of violence and destruction around the world today. It is a collection of prayers, songs, rituals, rites of healing, Eucharistic and baptismal prayers, meditations and art from four continents: Asia-Pacific Islands, Africa, Americas, and Europe. Liturgies from Below is the culmination of a project organized by the Council for World Mission (CWM) during 2018-2019. Approximately 100 people from four continents worked with CWM, collaborating to create indigenous prayers and liturgies expressing their own contexts, for sharing with their communities and the rest of the world. The project was called "Re-Imagining Worship as Acts of Defiance and Alternatives in the Context of Empire". The author and others spent weeks living in each of four communities for several weeks/months, getting to know the people, and then facilitating the people's own creation of prayers and liturgies. The author, other scholars, pastors, artists, activists and students all came from radically different ethnicities, races, sexualities, churches and Christian theologies. The people in each location were poor, living in very challenging communities, living in oppressive and seemingly hopeless situations. After some time, they wrote prayers and stories of their experience trying to live the Christian faith in utterly abandoned places. What we have here is an immensely rich and varied collection of liturgical sources from various communities dealing with issues of violence, immigration/refugees, drugs, land grabbing, war on the poor, attack on women, militarization, climate change, and so on.

"A full generation has passed since black theology burst onto the American religious scene, ignited by the powerful work of James H. Cone. Now an illustrious group of theologians takes the measure of black theology's legacy and explores the radically new context - ecclesial, social, global, and interreligious - that is setting the black theological agenda for tomorrow."--BOOK JACKET

Can believers talk about God and to God in a way that is not exclusively male and is biblically responsible? Johanna van Wijk-Bos asks this question as she examines alternatives to the dominant male language associated with God in the Bible. Focusing primarily on the Hebrew Bible, van Wijk-Bos mines a rich source of God-imagery. Along the way, she also discusses alternative language associated with God that transcends the narrow confines of male/female imagery.

"I do not think there are any issues on the theological and human scene more important than the ones liberation theologians are raising," says Robert McAfee Brown. In this book Brown explores how we can respond to liberation theology without condescension, arrogance, or co-optation. He surveys in detail the kind of challenges to North American Christians issued by South American theologians. He then calls upon the church to work to make itself what it ought to be and to take sides politically in support of human rights.

This book highlights the rhetorical art form that exists in womanist preaching and womanist rhetoric by analyzing the sermons of five women who are considered exemplars of womanist preaching: Elaine M. Flake, Gina M. Stewart, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Melva L. Sampson, and Claudette A. Copeland.

A sample syllabus for a graduate seminar in womanist theology and ethics

A more inclusive lectionary that introduces readers and hearers of scripture to "woman story" in the Bible.

Doctoral Dissertation

Master's Thesis