Shawn Copeland's theological anthropology of Black female embodiment and freedom

Reading Notes on and Evaluation of Copeland\\\\\\\'s Enfleshing Freedom 1. The main purpose of the book Enfleshing freedom: Body, race, and being, is to indicate how the oppressional experiences of black women in the society cast an entirely dissimilar perspective on religious propositions and devout clichés and disclose them as a sort of psychological colonization that continues to take place strongly in our economic and political formations these days. Additionally, book purposes to show that racial aspects and personification and associations of supremacy do not just completely change religious anthropology but also our philosophies of discipleship, church, and Christ also. The key thesis seems to be that theological anthropology offers a way for regaining the Black female body (Shawn Copeland, 2010: p. 6). 2. The key question the author is addressing is the bodies of black women. In particular, the author’s anthropology takes the bodies of black women as a point of departure, taking into consideration the meaning for all individuals of their specific enfleshment of freedom. By making use of the prehistoric Christian declaration of the image of God in each and every mankind, examining the association between the marks of the body of Jesus and the marks of other bodies, the author makes the argument that a material exercising of unanimity with poor black women and in the same line of argument, with any individual that faces injustice, is significant for all Christians. 3. The most important information in this book is the revelation of a prudently developed understanding of momentous Black bodies with regard to the social body aspect. In particular, this is contrasted against the author’s changing the idea of Black bodies in association to the body of Christ. The first section of the book delineates European Enlightenment principles in relation to notions of the Black body. This is properly shown by the example of Saartjiee Baartman, who is one of the most renowned women of the 19th Century from the Khoikhoi tribe and how she was treated. Notably, Saartjiee experienced victimization in terms of pseudo-scientific voyeurism owing to the fact that countries across Europe displayed her nakedness owing to her “protruding buttocks”. The subsequent chapter of the book encompasses the author’s use of a perspective from across the world to explain the manner in which theoretical notions of race instigate significant meaning socially. The third and four chapters of the book encompass a criticism of the connection of race, body, and soul. Lastly, the final section of book lays emphasis on the Black female body. 4. The main inferences of this book are that being human cannot be considered a hypothetical or immaterial aspect. Rather, it is real, instinctual, and personified in the day to day experience and relations that make a determination as to who we are. We are able to learn a lot from the personified experience of black women who for a great period of time have had to bear the individualities and pathologies of those with authority in their bodies. The inferences made by the author clearly stem from the information pertinent to the issue and the conclusions made are justifiable. In addition, the conclusions made are sensible and come from a sound line of reasoning. 5. The main assumption made by the author is underlines by aspects such as oppression can be outlined as a form of colonization of the minds of people that continues to potently take place in our political and economic settings in the present day. In addition, the author makes the argument that race and personification and associations of power and authority do not just reset our theological understanding but also our ideas of discipleship, the church and Jesus Christ also. The writer shows sensitivity as to what she is assuming through detailed explanations of black women’s experiences. 6. If we take the author’s line of argument seriously, the implications are that we will be able to transform and alter our religious understanding and also what we perceive the whole notion of Christianity, being a disciple, Jesus Christ and what the church are. This will rant us the prospect of being human with new perception, clarity and consequence. In fact, the arguments made by the author go past the scriptural discipline and ought to be taken into consideration and carried out in all social sciences. 7. If we fail to take seriously take the author’s line of argument, the implications are that we will continue failing to see the aspects of oppression that take place in our present day with respect to spiritualistic and religious perspectives and how such experiences give a chance to be human. This is what discipleship entails and what Jesus Christ preached and what the church ought to do as well. 8. The point of view presented in this book indicates that the experiences that black women experienced in terms of oppression in a social content continue to take place in the present day. The author shows sensitivity to alternative pertinent points of view as it is linked to both social and religious perspectives of us being human.