A reader writes: Not a critique – a nudge in a fuller direction
A reader writes:
I’m halfway through the new book and appreciating it greatly. I’ve just reached chapter 12, “How the Doctrine of Creation Can Create Humankind(ness),” and read footnote 6, listing a number of global thinkers working on reading the Bible from subaltern positions. I know it’s a massive body of writing, but I’d encourage you in the spirit of extending a preferential option to the poor to stretch to reading and citing feminist and womanist theologians. Womanist theologians like Emilie Townes, Katie Cannon, and Delores Williams should join James Cone; West African Mercy Amba Oduyoye has written beautifully of “cultural hermeneutics”; Kwok Pui-Lan gives a really smart and interdisciplinary read on postcolonial feminist Christianity; the Reader in Latina Feminist Theology is full of really good essays; etc.
Liberation theologies are often implicitly masculinist–the women who are writing in these veins (but not being named as frequently as their male counterparts) often take their brothers’ critiques one step further by considering postcolonial / contexts in need of liberation theologies through the matrix of sex/gender as well, resulting in a more nuanced and just re-visioning of the Christian tradition and its Scriptures.
Anyway, thanks for the good work. This isn’t a critique, but a nudge in a fuller direction. Reading A New Kind of Christian when I was an undergrad at Cedarville University was a life-giving experience for me and is to blame in large part (along with dear Professor Dave Mills) for my decision to pursue a PhD studying the intersections of gender, religion, and race in contemporary literature and theory. So, again, thank you.
Thanks for these names. The nudge is appreciated – both by me, and by many readers of my blog, I’m sure. I’ll look forward to reading these writers – and referencing them in the future.