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Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made: A Womanist Theology
Black women in America have carved out a distinctive and instructive faith stance that is influential well beyond the historic black church. Diana L. Hayes , a leading commentator and forger of womanist thought, especially in the black Catholic setting, here offers strong brew for what ails the church, the Christian tradition, and the world. Hayes specifically shows how womanist commitments in the Christian tradition provide a specific critical lens for seeing the strengths and weaknesses of a Christianity that has often flourished at the expense of or neglect of African Americans. As sometime strangers and sojourners in their own church, black women have a unique take on the church's stance on race, class, and gender issues. Yet their unquestioned devotion lends a hope and optimism often missing from critical thought and, as Hayes shows in this powerful volume, invites the church itself to a new conversion and role. Her book unfolds in four Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made Part 1: Faith and Worship Part 2: Ministry and Social Justice Part 3: The Public Face of Faith Part 4: A Womanist Faith Challenge
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232 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
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About the author
Diana L. Hayes
21 books7 followersDiana L. Hayes is a Professor of Systematic Theology in the Department of Theology at Georgetown. Her areas of specialization are Womanist Theology, Black Theology, U.S.Liberation Theologies, Contextual Theologies, Religion and Public Life, and African American and Womanist Spirituality. Her courses include Black Liberation Theology, Womanist Theology, American Liberation Theology, Race, Class, Gender and Religion, (all of which she has also taught at the graduate level, Religion and Liberation (a Theology majors seminar) and the required intro course, The Problem of God (from a comparative world religions in the US perspective). Dr. Hayes is the first African American woman to receive the Pontifical Doctor of Sacred Theology degree (S.T.D.) from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and has also received three honorary doctorates. She is the author of 6 books and over 50 articles.
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June 26, 2024
A COLLECTION OF WRITINGS GIVING A FINE OVERVIEW OF HER WORK
Diana L. Hayes is Professor of Systematic Theology at Georgetown University. She has also written Taking Down Our Harps: Black Catholics in the United States,Hagar's Daughters: Womanist Ways of Being in the World,Forged in the Fiery Furnace: African American Spirituality,Were You There?: Stations of the Cross,And Still We Rise: An Introduction to Black Liberation Theology, etc.
She wrote in the Preface of this 2011 book, “This book… is a compilation of lectures, book chapters, and articles written over the course of my journey as a womanist theologian… The book marks a time in my life to assess where I have come from and where I am going, for, although I have accomplished many things, I believe that the journey is not as yet over. This work… can be seen and read as a series of milestones on my journey from someone completely new to theology and the Roman Catholic faith to a Catholic womanist theologian with more than twenty years of experience teaching and lecturing in systematic theology. In addition, these chapters seek to reveal to those who read them the perspective of a woman of African descent in the United States who has, as have most black scholars, struggled to have her voice hears, especially within the Roman Catholic Church… I hope this work will serve as an introduction to the faith of black Catholic Christians and their participation in the development of Christianity in the United States from the sixteenth century onward.”
She explains, “I am a womanist---a Catholic, womanist theologian… I define a womanist as a woman of African descent who, in the United States, has also historically been a Christian… I, as a womanist, do not use the term inclusively for all women of color as [Alice Walker] did… The term feminist… has been seen more as a secular movement of predominantly white women with an emphasis on gender issues… while womanists, as I define the term have historically been engaged in the eradication of all forms of oppression, seeing them as intricately interlinked and therefore impossible to separate. The two movements, however, are not in opposition but seek to work in solidarity with each other and other theologies of liberation.” (Pg. viii)
In the first chapter, she explains further, “I am a Catholic womanist theologian… to be a womanist is to be black… of African ancestry… to name myself Catholic is to call upon two thousand years of African and African American history claiming the Roman Catholic Church as black and African long before the existence of the English, Irish, Polish, Germans, or Italians as Catholic… I lay claim to myself as a woman, equal in grace and beauty to those of European ancestry… I make these claims in the face of centuries of denial of my womanhood, my femininity, my faith, and my race in the United States of America and its Christian churches.” (Pg. 2)
She continues, “As a womanist, I am concerned about and committed to the survival of an entire people---male and female, rich and poor, gay, lesbian, and straight, physically and/or mentally challenged, and of every race and ethnicity. I believe that my rights as an African American, as a black woman, are guaranteed only when the rights of all people are guaranteed; that my liberty is restricted when that of another is restricted; that my human dignity and thus my creation by God is denied when that of others it trampled into the dirt for any reason. I believe that no one can be free until all are free.” (Pg. 3)
She acknowledges, “Many of us have been called traitors to the black community as well as to black Christianity by colleagues and friends because we either chose to become roman Catholic or were born Catholic and have no desire to leave because of our foundation in the Catholic church going back countless generations. This ignorance can only be addressed by acknowledging our own lack of knowledge of the two-thousand-plus-year history of African people in Christianity and therefore in the Roman Catholic Church… This means we must also address the profound ignorance within our own churches regarding this history, which has been, consciously or not, overlooked, dismissed as of no consequence, or somehow whitewashed.” (Pg. 13)
She points out, “Blacks transformed the Protestant religion. The emphasis was still on the individual and his or her own singular conversion… For them, Christianity was reaching out to affirm themselves and others, as they traveled hand in hand with the Lord Jesus on his pain-strewn path to glory. From these roots came an outpouring of self-respect and spiritual authority that sustained many black Christians in their struggle not to succumb to the temptation to accept the white man’s estimate of their worth. Christianity, as they adapted it, enabled them to withstand the constant blows against them, both before and after emancipation.” (Pg. 60)
She suggests, “How do we deal with the sin of racism that exists in the white community, whether heterosexual or homosexual, and with the sin of homophobia in the black and white heterosexual community? We do so by speaking the truth, by acknowledging the sinfulness in our midst, and seeking conversion, which comes about only through true reconciliation… It is necessary to seek conversion of our hearts and our minds by learning about and from each other so that we can dismantle the white culture that sickens and stains American culture, bringing into life a new United Statesian culture that accepts difference and honors it.” (Pg. 99-100)
She states, “Today, black Catholics affirm that we are no longer strangers or sojourners in the Catholic church in the United States. Our particular historical experience helps to define us and establish the context from which we speak about and live out our faith. We must, therefore, also acknowledge the church’s painful history in the Americas and the role it played in the development, expansion, and persistence of a particularly horrific form of slavery.” (Pg. 106)
She states, “African-American Catholics... bring an inclusive understanding of church, one that is open to all of God’s people as manifested in a healing and holy sacramentality, an extension of the Lord’s welcome table, and gospel liturgies that invite Catholics from every walk of life, of every race, class, and gender, to make a joyful noise unto the Lord in congregations representative of the entire people of God in all their diversity. Black Catholics also speak a new and challenging word about Mary, the mother of God, rejecting the symbol of passivity for the courageous and outrageous authority of a young unwed mother who had the faith her herself and in her God to break through the limitations her society placed upon her in order to say a powerful yes to God, standing alone yet empowered… [Mary] is an image of strength and courage, of a mother’s determination to bring forth this child regardless of the circumstances and conditions opposing her, a situation in which many black women have found themselves.” (Pg. 110-111)
She admits, “For myself, as a lay, black, female, Catholic theologian in the early years of this new century, I find that I cannot be dispassionate and impartial. I cannot because what is happening in this world affects me, either positively or negatively. I am not free to deny my identity… However, this does not mean I wallow in despair or am uncritically biased. Being subjective… is, in many ways, freeing. Having acknowledged my context, I can then critically analyze it and that of others… My subjectivity … forces me to participate in the public discussions taking place that affect the very nature of who we are as a church and a nation today.” (Pg. 150)
She concludes, “as a womanist I seek the elimination of oppression in all of its forms, regardless. Today we can finally, it is hoped, begin to break down the artificial barriers that still continue to block the vision of God and separate us from one another. Then, we can truly, all of us in our rich and complex diversity, be working to bring about the kingdom of God within our midst.” (Pg, 194)
This book will be of great interest to anyone concerned with Womanism, Black Theology, contemporary Catholic theology, and related subjects.
Diana L. Hayes is Professor of Systematic Theology at Georgetown University. She has also written Taking Down Our Harps: Black Catholics in the United States,Hagar's Daughters: Womanist Ways of Being in the World,Forged in the Fiery Furnace: African American Spirituality,Were You There?: Stations of the Cross,And Still We Rise: An Introduction to Black Liberation Theology, etc.
She wrote in the Preface of this 2011 book, “This book… is a compilation of lectures, book chapters, and articles written over the course of my journey as a womanist theologian… The book marks a time in my life to assess where I have come from and where I am going, for, although I have accomplished many things, I believe that the journey is not as yet over. This work… can be seen and read as a series of milestones on my journey from someone completely new to theology and the Roman Catholic faith to a Catholic womanist theologian with more than twenty years of experience teaching and lecturing in systematic theology. In addition, these chapters seek to reveal to those who read them the perspective of a woman of African descent in the United States who has, as have most black scholars, struggled to have her voice hears, especially within the Roman Catholic Church… I hope this work will serve as an introduction to the faith of black Catholic Christians and their participation in the development of Christianity in the United States from the sixteenth century onward.”
She explains, “I am a womanist---a Catholic, womanist theologian… I define a womanist as a woman of African descent who, in the United States, has also historically been a Christian… I, as a womanist, do not use the term inclusively for all women of color as [Alice Walker] did… The term feminist… has been seen more as a secular movement of predominantly white women with an emphasis on gender issues… while womanists, as I define the term have historically been engaged in the eradication of all forms of oppression, seeing them as intricately interlinked and therefore impossible to separate. The two movements, however, are not in opposition but seek to work in solidarity with each other and other theologies of liberation.” (Pg. viii)
In the first chapter, she explains further, “I am a Catholic womanist theologian… to be a womanist is to be black… of African ancestry… to name myself Catholic is to call upon two thousand years of African and African American history claiming the Roman Catholic Church as black and African long before the existence of the English, Irish, Polish, Germans, or Italians as Catholic… I lay claim to myself as a woman, equal in grace and beauty to those of European ancestry… I make these claims in the face of centuries of denial of my womanhood, my femininity, my faith, and my race in the United States of America and its Christian churches.” (Pg. 2)
She continues, “As a womanist, I am concerned about and committed to the survival of an entire people---male and female, rich and poor, gay, lesbian, and straight, physically and/or mentally challenged, and of every race and ethnicity. I believe that my rights as an African American, as a black woman, are guaranteed only when the rights of all people are guaranteed; that my liberty is restricted when that of another is restricted; that my human dignity and thus my creation by God is denied when that of others it trampled into the dirt for any reason. I believe that no one can be free until all are free.” (Pg. 3)
She acknowledges, “Many of us have been called traitors to the black community as well as to black Christianity by colleagues and friends because we either chose to become roman Catholic or were born Catholic and have no desire to leave because of our foundation in the Catholic church going back countless generations. This ignorance can only be addressed by acknowledging our own lack of knowledge of the two-thousand-plus-year history of African people in Christianity and therefore in the Roman Catholic Church… This means we must also address the profound ignorance within our own churches regarding this history, which has been, consciously or not, overlooked, dismissed as of no consequence, or somehow whitewashed.” (Pg. 13)
She points out, “Blacks transformed the Protestant religion. The emphasis was still on the individual and his or her own singular conversion… For them, Christianity was reaching out to affirm themselves and others, as they traveled hand in hand with the Lord Jesus on his pain-strewn path to glory. From these roots came an outpouring of self-respect and spiritual authority that sustained many black Christians in their struggle not to succumb to the temptation to accept the white man’s estimate of their worth. Christianity, as they adapted it, enabled them to withstand the constant blows against them, both before and after emancipation.” (Pg. 60)
She suggests, “How do we deal with the sin of racism that exists in the white community, whether heterosexual or homosexual, and with the sin of homophobia in the black and white heterosexual community? We do so by speaking the truth, by acknowledging the sinfulness in our midst, and seeking conversion, which comes about only through true reconciliation… It is necessary to seek conversion of our hearts and our minds by learning about and from each other so that we can dismantle the white culture that sickens and stains American culture, bringing into life a new United Statesian culture that accepts difference and honors it.” (Pg. 99-100)
She states, “Today, black Catholics affirm that we are no longer strangers or sojourners in the Catholic church in the United States. Our particular historical experience helps to define us and establish the context from which we speak about and live out our faith. We must, therefore, also acknowledge the church’s painful history in the Americas and the role it played in the development, expansion, and persistence of a particularly horrific form of slavery.” (Pg. 106)
She states, “African-American Catholics... bring an inclusive understanding of church, one that is open to all of God’s people as manifested in a healing and holy sacramentality, an extension of the Lord’s welcome table, and gospel liturgies that invite Catholics from every walk of life, of every race, class, and gender, to make a joyful noise unto the Lord in congregations representative of the entire people of God in all their diversity. Black Catholics also speak a new and challenging word about Mary, the mother of God, rejecting the symbol of passivity for the courageous and outrageous authority of a young unwed mother who had the faith her herself and in her God to break through the limitations her society placed upon her in order to say a powerful yes to God, standing alone yet empowered… [Mary] is an image of strength and courage, of a mother’s determination to bring forth this child regardless of the circumstances and conditions opposing her, a situation in which many black women have found themselves.” (Pg. 110-111)
She admits, “For myself, as a lay, black, female, Catholic theologian in the early years of this new century, I find that I cannot be dispassionate and impartial. I cannot because what is happening in this world affects me, either positively or negatively. I am not free to deny my identity… However, this does not mean I wallow in despair or am uncritically biased. Being subjective… is, in many ways, freeing. Having acknowledged my context, I can then critically analyze it and that of others… My subjectivity … forces me to participate in the public discussions taking place that affect the very nature of who we are as a church and a nation today.” (Pg. 150)
She concludes, “as a womanist I seek the elimination of oppression in all of its forms, regardless. Today we can finally, it is hoped, begin to break down the artificial barriers that still continue to block the vision of God and separate us from one another. Then, we can truly, all of us in our rich and complex diversity, be working to bring about the kingdom of God within our midst.” (Pg, 194)
This book will be of great interest to anyone concerned with Womanism, Black Theology, contemporary Catholic theology, and related subjects.
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