A Christian and African Ethic of Women&#039;s Political Participation

Léocadie W. Lushombo

doi:10.5771/9781793647757

Summary

This book surveys a broad panorama of Christian and African traditions to discover and assess the components that will illuminate and motivate a Christian and African ethic of women’s political participation. The author’s primary lens for diagnosing the problems faced by women in Africa is Engelbert Mveng’s concept of “anthropological poverty” that results from slavery and colonialism. It affects women in unique ways and is exacerbated by the religious and cultural histories of women’s oppression. The author advocates an interplay between the sacredness of every individual’s life, a salient principle of Christian ethics, and the collective consciousness of solidarity distinctive to African cultures. This interplay can, in turn, foster a more enlightened approach to African masculinity. Using a “sophialogical” hermeneutic, this in-depth study undertakes a moral imagination through narrative criticism. It argues that the existential reality of African women must be addressed as an essential element in the development of Christian socio-political ethic. The righteous, solidaristic, and resistant anger of women can transform patriarchy and inform Catholic social teaching. The author draws on The Circle of concerned African women theologians, postcolonial theorists, inculturation theology, African males, and Jon Sobrino's liberation theology to present an innovative Christian ethic that will radically affect the lives of African women and inform feminist theology.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-4774-0
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-4775-7
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 276
Product type: Book Titles

1. Dedication No access
2. Contents No access
3. Preface No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
5. List of Abbreviations No access
1. Political Participation No access
2. Anthropological Poverty No access
3. Theopolitical Approach and Method No access
4. My Life Experience No access
5. Overview of Chapters No access
1. 1. Slavery, Colonization, and Domination No access
  2. Anthropological Poverty as an Intermingling of Multiple Poverties No access
  3. Five Levels of Pauperization No access
  4. Roots and Seeds of Anthropological Poverty No access
  5. Colonial Powers and Western Christianity No access
  6. Personal Encounters No access
  7. The Berlin Conference No access
  8. White Supremacy No access
  9. Types of Alienation No access
  10. The Fallout No access
2. 1. A Radical Remembering No access
  2. Sexual Exploitation No access
  3. Economic Impoverishment No access
  4. Postcolonial Poverty and The Continued Extraverted Educational System No access
  5. Educational and Sociological Poverty No access
  6. The Perception of Black African Women as of Inferior Status No access
  7. Poverty among Nations No access
  8. Rape as a Weapon of War No access
  9. Rape with Extreme Violence No access
  10. Critiques of Anthropological Poverty No access
1. 1. Unity and Diversity No access
  2. Moral/Ethical Proverbs No access
  3. Proverbs and Women’s Impoverishment No access
  4. Assessment of African Religion No access
  5. The Practice of Ubuntu No access
  6. Identity, Solidarity, and Communal Harmony No access
2. 1. Sophia as Practical Wisdom No access
  2. The Wisdom of Solomon No access
  3. Epistemology of Myths No access
  4. African Myths and Narrative Criticism No access
  5. The Myth of Isis No access
  6. The Relevance of the Isis Myth for Africa No access
  7. Ma’at and Wisdom/Sophia No access
  8. Divine Cosmology in African Myths No access
  9. Female Deities and Political Participation No access
  10. Isis and Sophia No access
  11. The Theopolitics of the Myth of Isis No access
  12. The Virtue of Fortitude No access
  13. The Myth and Wisdom of Mpemba Nzinga No access
  14. The Theopolitics of the Myth of Mpemba Nzinga No access
3. 1. Ann Zingha and Political Participation No access
  2. Aquinas on Anger No access
  3. Kimpa Vita and Political Participation No access
  4. The Passion of Anger and the Virtue of Prudence No access
1. 1. Christian Beliefs and Women’s Alienation No access
  2. Catholic Social Teaching and Women’s Roles No access
  3. The African Bishops’ Messages and women’s roles No access
  4. The Challenges of Political Participation No access
2. 1. Biblical Texts That Deny Gender Equality No access
  2. Biblical Texts That Reinforce Gender Equality No access
  3. “Tabitha, Rise Up” No access
  4. A Theopolitical Reading of Tabitha’s Account No access
  5. Relevance of the Narrative No access
3. 1. Solidaristic and Resistant Anger and Challenges of the Prosperity Gospel No access
  2. Women’s Poverty and the Preferential Option for the Poor No access
1. 1. Theology as the Intelligence of Love No access
  2. Love, Mystery, and Faith No access
  3. Crucified People and the Place of Theology No access
  4. Option for the Poor and Crucified Women No access
  5. Theology of Victims in Africa No access
  6. Living as Resurrected Beings No access
2. 1. The Association of Media Women of South Kivu No access
  2. Women’s Solidarity in Protecting Dr. Denis Mukwege No access
  3. Women’s Guardianship as the Practice of Hope in Resurrection No access
  4. Female Leaders and the Challenge of Biblical Patriarchal Biases. No access
  5. Challenges for Catholic Social Teaching: Toward A Solidaristic and Resistant Anger No access
3. Chapter 11: African Women as Loci Theologici: Ethical Implications No access
Notes No access Pages 199 - 242
Bibliography No access Pages 243 - 262
Name Index No access Pages 263 - 264
Subject Index No access Pages 265 - 274
About the Author No access Pages 275 - 276