If it Wasn't for the Women: Black Women's Experience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community
By: Cheryl Townsend Gilkes
Orbis Books / 2000 / Paperback
These collected essays examine the roles of women in their churches and communities, the implication of those roles for African American culture, and the tensions and stereotypes that shape societal responses to these roles. Gilkes examines the ways black women and their experience shape the culture and consciousness of the black religious experience, and reflects on some of the crises and conflicts that attend this experience.
6 comments:
Hi,
Nice blog.
Why don't you put some more message in your post.
:-)
Meditation
hi there, meditation!
thanks. Sometimes i talk. -C
I read a book called the New Faith, earlier this year(forgot the woman's name) but she believed that God was neither male nor female so we should stop saying: "He, or Him" this is what has caused many problems for women-men think they are the head of all things and then it becomes a power struggle, abuse and so on. And most Black women lean on Jesus anyway because Jesus understood what it meant to be treated unfairly.." Those were her words paraphrased a lot. Anyhow, I do think black women fill the churches up more, and so we have more roles to uphold as well.
What are your thoughts, Carole?
True God is neither male nor female but A) he calls himself a Father and his description of fatherliness contains both female and male qualities. The holy spirit and wisdom is often shown as female. It seems to me that maleness is in some way the one unisex... because biologically speaking men have both X and Y chromosomes. Women have only X. So men have qualities of both sex. If we call God a woman, we would be thinking of only one sex. If we call God male we see both sexes.
In many past religions where God was viewed as a woman, women were treated pretty shabbily too. The fertility religions where sex was worshiped, for instance, caused a lot of abuse of women.
Sure, men treat women like crap. But women also treat men like crap. Men historically have had more power...in every situation the more powerful person treats the less powerful.
St Paul addressed submission and abuse of authority. He says women must submit to men, and men must submit also and give himself for his wife. Both sexes are called to surrender. In the same verse. When men talk about submission they rarely talk about the second part of the verse which is for them to surrender their lives for their wives. St Paul also tells Adults to treat children well and employers to treat employees well and masters to treat slaves well. There is always a problem with authority and the abuse of power. But to go changing how God himself has named and described himself simply because one believes in a kind of trickle-down theory doesn't work. A) because trickle-down theory also shows some great traits of God that abusive men don't recognize. For instance the way ministers (male or female) are treated in church! Ministers, priests, bishops walk about like kings...when Jesus told them they should be servants and humble. But human hearts don't like that. God defines power as humility. God himself is the most humble! But does this woman want to equate God with authority so she can be humble? No, she wants to have powre like the men probably. The christian life is a life in which we try to outdo each other with service. Plus the other thing is more simple: When we start fooling around with what God calls himself, we are saying the Bible is not God's word or divinely inspired. God is beyond sex. He doesn't have a penis or a vagina. But he said to call him Father. -C
Anon:
I also think that in the world, there is more chance that people have mothers than fathers. I, for one, never really had a father. The guy cheated on my mother and she finally divorced him. In a world with guys being irresponsible, we need to have a Father. God is the only father I have ever had. He's the only father many black women have ever had. If someone says men are trouble therefore we should get rid of this God-as-man concept, they are running away from the answer instead of running toward the good news of God as the true father. BECAUSE men are so creepy, it is imperative that we know there is a TRUE FATHER out there. At least it's healing for me. -C
i agree 100 percent , Carole. thanks for the revelation
Post a Comment