Black Theology and Insights from African Women's Theologies

Abstract

The rise in the public visibility of anti-Black racism and intra-Black xenophobia and racism has created a renewed thirst for responses that are unashamedly “Black centred” across disciplines and spheres. Can “Black theology” capitalize on this renewed thirst to recalibrate itself into a relevant response with the potential to impact lives outside of its traditional contexts of the US and South Africa? Using feminist methodologies, this article seeks to investigate the relationship between Black theology in Africa and African women’s theologies. Framed within similar concerns as feminist theologies, African women's theologies are also characterized by a commitment to prioritize women's experiences where traditionally, only men's experiences have been valued and prioritized. From this methodological approach, two critical questions will be brought to the fore: Where are the women in Black theology? What would Black theology look like if it considered gender a critical variable for theologizing? This article puts forward the following assertions: First, that Black theology in Africa has mainly been South African and failed to make its mark north of Limpopo due to its commitment to dismantle the political system of apartheid. Second, that Black theology in South Africa did not privilege gender as a variable worthy of pursuing because it focused more on what undermined the (South) African man. Third, that within Black theology lies the largely untapped potential to address not only growing waves of anti-Black racism, but also, using an intentional intersectionality lens, to privilege gender, disability, and ethnicity in its purview.