Womanist Theology
An individual theologian's reflection about the nature of God is not strictly about God alone. Rather, it is intimately bound-up with the theologian's own way of viewing the world. One fairly recent example of this comes from Elie Weisel, a Nobel-prize winning writer. Weisel is a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who has written about how his experiences in the concentration camps have caused him to think differently about God. His experience of seeing people killed and tortured has caused him seriously to question his previous ways of thinking about God. It was his experience that caused him to think of God as unable or unwilling to intervene in human suffering. He recalls watching a young boy hanging dead in the main square of a concentration camp, and he recalls the theological reflection that accompanied the moment. He heard a man from among the crowd ask, "Where is God now?" Weisel writes that, in response to this question, "I heard a voice within me answer him: 'Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows.' "
The reason for including this passage from Weisel is simply to illustrate that theological reflection is always influenced by personal experience. After living through the concentration camps, Weisel found it difficult to describe God as a powerful, compassionate, loving God. Instead, he found it more appropriate to describe God as he saw the young boy who had been killed, and whose body now hung limp and powerless in front of him. Once alive, but now dead. Weisel's suffering brought with it a different sort of theological reflection that is wholly inaccessible to someone who has not also lived through such terror. The nature of his theological reflection is unique on a personal level, but from a wider frame of reference, his theology may also be said to be representative of the collective experience of Jews in 20th century Europe. On the whole, then, it may be said that this contingent of Jews differs theologically from the Jews of, say, 6th century Europe. Understanding the historical context of theology is of utmost importance. Without this frame of reference, the meaning of the particular theology is often lost.
This essay will consider the larger issues of historical context and theology. It will examine the relationship between personal experience and individual theological reflection, as well as the relationship between collective experience and group theological reflection. It will deal with the individual and collective experience of suffering, and the relationship of these sufferings to Christian theological reflection on Christology. The paper begins by looking rather broadly at the issue of suffering as expressed by African-American Christians, and how this suffering influences theology. In ways similar to the Holocaust, the American slave inflicted intense suffering upon not only one generation of people, but upon generations to come. The consequences of the terrifying experiences suffered by African people brought to the Americas will not, in our lifetime, come completely to an end.
One way to enter into this experience of suffering is by closely examining history. Another way is to look at some of the theological reflection that has occurred in the wake of the slave trade. Long after the days of black slavery "officially" ended, racism continues to exist in America in many forms, which results in a continuation of suffering. Racism and discrimination based on color (even when it does not involve racism) expands the experience of suffering beyond African and African-American people; the impact of racism influences all people of color in America. In addition to America's history of racism, is America's history of sexism and gender discrimination. The combination of these two evils, racism and sexism, results in a devastatingly harsh set of conditions in which black women must exist. The theological reflection that results from living in these conditions is important, and must be heard.
The African-American Experience and the Production of Theology
Today, as never before in history, people are able to look, listen, and travel around the world. We can no longer assume that peoples' lives will begin and end without contact from people outside their own community. This global contact has brought not only the excitement of learning that people are united in certain ways, but it has brought the sometimes threatening truth that people are very different. Even if people claim the same core belief system, this core may be adorned in so many different ways that it is barely recognizable. Even though both...
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