The study of religion and the practice of theology have been transformed in recent years by incorporating new perspectives on race, ethnicity, and gender. This volume of work by twelve young scholars highlights new work at this fruitful nexus.In historical and social studies, new methodologies from social theory, cultural anthropology, and gender studies have emerged that take religion explicitly into account and thereby illumine other cultural values. In theology, too, increased appreciation for the cultural location of all theologies and theologians has led to more contextual theologies and cultural-specific religious insights. The volume sheds particular light on the role of religious agency in African American and Caribbean social transformations (such as post-Civil-War laws and the lunch-counter struggles of the 1960s) and religious practices (such as folk healing, church women's roles in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, religious music). But the volume also offers new, ethnically influenced theological perspectives: specific contributions to Carribean, Cuban, womanist theologies and explorations of sacramental theology, ecotheology, and spirituality. Introduced by Rosemary Ruether, contributors include: Jacqueline Battalora Rosalind Hinton Elaine Caldbeck Sue Horner Barbara Isaacs Stephanie Mitchem Jocelyn Azada Margarita Surez Barbara Flores Kimberly Willis Rita Lester Patricia-Anne Johnson
Rosemary Radford Ruether is Visiting Scholar at the Claremont Graduate University and School of Theology. She is the author of numerous influential works in feminist theology and the history of theology and the editor of many others. Her recent works with Fortress Press include the edited volume Feminist Theologies: Legacy and Prospect (2007) and Many Forms of Madness: A Family's Struggle with Mental Illness and the Mental Health System (2010).
Foreword Rosemary Radford Ruether Part One: Historical Precursors and Foremothers 1. Whiteness: The Workings of an Ideology in American Society and Culture Jacqueline Battalora 2. Climbing Jacob's Ladder: Community Resources and Alma Lillie Hubbard's Rise to the Middle Class in New Orleans from 1900-1932 Rosalind F. Hinton 3. The Poetry of Pauli Murray: The Foundation for Life and Activism Elaine Caldbeck 4. The Lunch Counter Struggle, 1960-1963: Women Re-mapping Boundaries of Race, Gender, and Vocation Barbara Isaacs Part Two: Contemporary Social Contexts for Struggle 5. Trying to be God in the World: The Story of the Evangelical Women's Caucus and the Crisis over Homosexuality S. Sue Horner 6. Diaspora Economics: Filipino American Families and Globalization Jocelyn M. Eclarin Azada 7. Garifuna Dugu Ritual: A Celebration of Relationship Barbara Flores 8. Across the Kitchen Table: Cuban Women Pastors and Theology Margarita M. W. Suarez Part Three: Visions of New Possibility 9. Womanist Theology as Counternarrative Patricia-Anne Johnson 10. Claiming the Fearsome Possibility: Toward a Contextual Christology of Disability Kimberly Anne Willis 11. The Nature of Nature: Race, Gender, Class, and Understandings of the Environment in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Rita Lester 12. "To Make the Wounded Whole": Womanist Explorations of Reconciliation Stephanie Mitchem Contributors Index
