The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye

Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein

Description

This illuminating study explores African theologian Mercy Amba Oduyoye’s constructive initiative to include African women’s experiences and voices within Christian theological discourse.

Mercy Amba Oduyoye, a renowned Ghanaian Methodist theologian, has worked for decades to address issues of poverty, women’s rights, and global unrest. She is one of the founders of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, a pan-African ecumenical organization that mentors the next generation of African women theologians to counter the dearth of academic theological literature written by African women. This book offers an in-depth analysis of Oduyoye’s life and work, providing a much-needed corrective to Eurocentric, colonial, and patriarchal theologies by centering the experiences of African women as a starting point from which theological reflection might begin.

Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein’s study begins by narrating the story of Mercy Oduyoye’s life, focusing on her early years, which led to her eventual interest in women’s equality and African women’s theology. At the heart of the book is a close analysis of Oduyoye’s theological thought, exploring her unique approach to four issues: the doctrine of God, Christology, theological anthropology, and ecclesiology. Through the course of these examinations, Oredein shows how Oduyoye’s life story and theological output are intimately intertwined. Stories of gender formation, racial ideas, and cultural foundations teem throughout Oduyoye’s construction of a Christian theological story. Oduyoye shows that one’s theology does not leave particularity behind but rather becomes the locus in which the fullness of divinity might be known.

Oduyoye’s remedy to injustice is inclusivity and liberation. African women theologians as a whole purport the same ideology. In anchoring itself in inclusive approaches to social and ecclesial life, African women’s theology asserts that African women deserve to be co-determiners of cultural ideas and ecclesial values. But it has only had this impact because of Oduyoye’s acumen. She has, over the course of numerous decades, fought against antiquated and injurious ideas about Africans, about women, and about those who occupy both of these identities and more.

At best, this book only offers a glimpse of how feminism, Christian theology, and African studies fit and connect within Oduyoye’s story and the women who find solace in it. Through interrogating African women’s interpretations of feminism, she challenges those of us with feminist leanings to broaden our scope of inclusion and understanding. In addressing the pernicious effects of colonialism on the message and practice of Christianity in West Africa, she challenges those of us who assume we have a grasp on Christian theology to remember and tell its entire history—good and bad. Forgetting is a privilege only Europeans can seem to afford. Oduyoye challenges those who think themselves familiar with African studies to honor women and other marginalized persons by interrogating how religious life has had a hand in determining the social life of many African peoples.

Oduyoye does feminism, Christian theology, and African culture a service by identifying their deficiencies. She does not leave them in a state of disarray, however. Instead, her life gestures towards their constructive possibilities. Feminism, Christian theology, and African culture are all places of promise, but each area must seriously listen to and include those who live at the intersection of each. African women theologians have a world of wealth to offer the worlds from which they come; but these worlds must be open to understanding not only their shortcomings, but also their own strengths. These worlds must listen to their marginalized.

Oduyoye finds a way to make feminism, Christian theology, and aspects of African culture her own; she crafts them into a religious position. African women’s theology rattles the seemingly solid foundations of feminism, Christian theology, and African culture—cracking them open to reveal hollow bases. If void of African women’s contributions these areas are bound to crumble in upon themselves. But when they are included, African women reveal the richness of these areas of life and interrogation. They rightfully consider feminism, Christian theology, and African culture critical parts of their identity—African women’s theology claims African women’s experience is women’s experience, is Christian experience, is African experience—is human experience.

Oduyoye’s work nuances the stories the world assumes it already knows and of which it errantly speaks on behalf. Her presence within Christian theology is her refusal for this reality to continue to be true; by virtue of being present in theological and ecumenical conversations and events, she has not and does not allow African women’s agency to be wrested from them. Her work wonders, “What challenges does the Third World pose to Christian theology and Christian witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ?” And further, “What challenges do women within the Third World face within their own contexts?” These wonderings, in turn, draw the reader’s attention to their own theological locales in relation to the conceived, contrived, and perceived theological locations of others.

Oduyoye forces us to grapple with where we are theologically located. Her message is clear: we who think our lives unaffected by the factors that impact African women are unable to see not only the truth of African women’s lives, but also primarily the truth of our own lives. African women’s theology calls African culture to account: abandoning its women reflects an abandonment of African culture’s greatest virtues. It also, however, debunks the falsehood that Western religious imagination is the most prominent voice within Christian thought. It proves untrue the notion that theologies are not impacted by the culture of another. It forces the West to recognize where it exercises colonial privilege and advantage within its own theological house. How the West “reads” Oduyoye should have a reflective effect. What is she showing the Western reader about their theological imagination, their theological abusua, their theological priorities? The burden of Western interpretation rests on the Western reader, especially if they are not accustomed to seeing African women a critical part of theological processes and conversations.

Oduyoye’s work then, through African women’s theology, restores African women’s agency on many fronts. In utilizing African feminist, liberationist, and systematic theological registers, Oduyoye’s theological and ecumenical work frees African women up to be their truest theological selves. In this, she firmly places African women in the center of many theological conversations. Oduyoye has, in many ways, become “all things to all people;” her work traverses the thematic landscapes of African feminism, liberation, and systematics, and is precisely what Christian theology needs. Those within dominant communities learn from Oduyoye’s work how important women who identify as African and Christian are to the universal theological landscape.

Introduction: The Theology We All Need

1. The Life of Mercy Amba Ewudziwa Oduyoye

2. A Feminist Emergence: Ideological Formations

3. Spheres of Influence

4. Doctrine of God

5. Christology

6. Theological Anthropology

7. Ecclesiology

8. What Remains

Conclusion: Adjusting Lenses, Correcting Perspective

Bibliography

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• African Studies
• Ethnic Studies
• Christian Theology
• Social Science
• HISTORY
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Women
• Ecclesiology
• Woman
• Theology
• Systematics
• Diaspora studies
• The Women

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268205256
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE THEOLOGY OF MERCY AMBA ODUYOYE
Notre Dame Studies in African Theology
Series co-editors: Rev. Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor, C.S.Sp., and David A. Clairmont

Under the sponsorship of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, and in cooperation with the Notre Dame Department of Theology, this series seeks to publish new scholarship engaging the history, the contemporary situation, and the future of African theology and the African church. The goal is to initiate a global and interdisciplinary conversation about African theology and its current trajectories, with special attention to its interreligious and multicultural context on the African continent and in the African diaspora. The series will publish works in the history of the African church and in African perspectives on biblical studies, liturgy, religious art and music, ethics, and Christian doctrine.
THE THEOLOGY OF Mercy Amba Oduyoye

Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice
OLUWATOMISIN OLAYINKA OREDEIN
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2023 by the University of Notre Dame
Published in the United States of America
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022951518
ISBN: 978-0-268-20526-3 (Hardback)
ISBN: 978-0-268-20527-0 (WebPDF)
ISBN: 978-0-268-20525-6 (Epub)
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail]
To Aunty Mercy:
May these words do your life, work, and voice—justice.
To my ancestor and dearest Mommy, Chief Iyabo Olayinka Oredein:
We share a name and an unfettered fierceness; and I am incredibly proud to be your daughter.
CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction: The Theology We All Need CHAPTER 1 The Life of Mercy Amba Ewudziwa Oduyoye CHAPTER 2 A Feminist Emergence: Ideological Formations CHAPTER 3 Spheres of Influence CHAPTER 4 Doctrine of God CHAPTER 5 Christology CHAPTER 6 Theological Anthropology CHAPTER 7 Ecclesiology CHAPTER 8 What Remains Conclusion: Adjusting Lenses, Correcting Perspective Notes Bibliography Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A project like this would not be possible without an inspiration: Mercy Amba Ewudziwa Oduyoye’s courage to be herself in a world not yet ready for her fortitude and wisdom has most certainly made the world better. Thank you, Aunty Mercy; I am always learning from you!
If it had not been for Esther Acolatse, I would not have been introduced to Aunty Mercy’s voice. Brilliant in her own right, Esther has my deep gratitude for her constant encouragement to see this work through. It is hard being a West African woman in the academy. Esther, thank you for showing me how it’s done!
Willie Jennings and Eboni Marshall Turman are the mentors I did not know I needed. Willie, thank you for teaching me to always sound like myself. Eboni, thank you for showing me exactly what this looks like in an academic world that has no idea what Black women can do!
Esther, Willie, Eboni, and Jay Kameron Carter were crucial in suggesting ways to turn my initial research into a book. Thank you all for pushing a timid Duke Divinity doctoral student into a scholar who stands proud in her unique standpoint and who owns her words.
The earliest iterations of this project would not have been written without colleagues along the way crafting their own words ready to meet the world. To everyone who partook in dissertation writing with me in Perkins Library at Duke, I am excited to see where our words will take us!
To writing and accountability partners since: Kathryn House, Kamilah Hall Sharp, Grace Vargas, Julie Morris, and Natalya Cherry, your showing up consistently has shown me what collegiality, love, and friendship looks like. Thank you for being a part of this journey and allowing me to be a part of yours!

To colleagues from Brite Divinity School and Memphis Theological Seminary who shared wisdom, encouragement, book proposals, advice, and kind words, thank you! The heartiest thanks to Natalya Cherry, Jeremy Williams, Wil Gafney, Francisco Lozada, Bar McClure, Jeff Williams, Michael Miller, and Newell Williams at Brite Divinity School for cheering me on. Gratitude and thanks to Janel Bakker, Courtney Pace, Michael Turner, Pete Gathje, and everyone from Memphis Theological Seminary who helped make my first teaching experience such a joy!
Thank you organizations such as Louisville Institute and the Forum for Theological Exploration: the former granted me a postdoctoral fellowship in which to begin this journey, and the latter surrounded me with friends and mentors who look like me and root for me.
To my sister in the world-altering journey of scholarship and teaching, Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones, thank you for being my unofficial adviser, friend, cheerleader, and big sister ever since our time at the University of Virginia! Your encouragement has lifted my spirits more times than I can count; and your brilliance is still a model for me of what can truly be.
To one of the most brilliant souls I have had the pleasure to teach, Jonathan Cabrera, thank you for your brilliance, curiosity, love for learning, and editorial prowess. Your (often thankless) service of turning a series of words and ideas into a cohesive composition is a gift.
And finally, to my family: thank you for always being excited about the twists and turns of this journey. I am beyond grateful that you always affirm me and always make me feel like I am on the right path. To Gbenga (Daddy), Iyabo (Mommy), Gbemi, and Tumi—thank you for being a light! To Kai, Mo, and Emi—know that a better world is possible. Go get it!
Mommy, this work is dedicated to you, is for you. Please know that I will always find a way to tell your story. This is only a start. Please walk with me as I venture into the rest.
INTRODUCTION
The Theology We All Need

Theology and Story
My family permanently moved to the United States from Nigeria in 1987, my siblings and I all under five years old. My parents were determined to build a life in America they would be proud of, one that would support my siblings and me and demonstrate to us that creating a new life was possible. The successful-immigrant narrative was one they believed in wholeheartedly and passed along to their children; it was what had driven my parents to leave the certainty of their country and culture, enter into the unknown world of America, and make it their home.
This trust in rooting themselves away from their first home was fed by the belief that if they worked hard and had faith, all would be well. The precepts of Christianity, that God would not leave nor forsake them, would be an important factor in their stay and sense of purpose in the U.S. If we worked hard, we would make ourselves into something in this country; we believed that God loved us enough to bestow good fortune upon us. Having faith in God and backing up that faith by doing the work would ensure that our circumstances would reflect the measure of our faith, a faith that grounded our ambitions.
In my upbringing, our Christianity was Nigerian, Yoruba specifically. Attributes of Yoruba culture made their way into how we talked about God. Our cultural values blended with Christian principles, such as devotion to a higher power, revering elders, serving others, and living morally. Christianity elevated what we already knew was required to be a good and contributing part of the Yoruba community. But my curious mind also wondered: Was the inverse possible? In a culture that traditionally elevated men above women, could some of the adverse practices I witnessed in Yoruba Christianity be corrected by certain values of the Christian faith overall? Could Yoruba Christian culture learn from subversive Christian assertions such as that in Christ, power structures are inverted? In an African Christianity, which had the upper hand: traditional views enforced by ethnic culture or the radical pillars of the faith? Could the two coexist well? Not yet introduced to concepts like feminism, I often wondered what the mutual influence of Yoruba culture and Christian values would look like in my own formation, how they would work themselves out in my expression of Christianity as a Nigerian-American Christian female.
Raised in part in Nigerian churches, I repeatedly saw how we Africans practiced Christianity in a way that disproportionately benefited and elevated African men or, at the very least, overlooked African women outside of assigned service roles. My question about Christianity’s influence on culture intensified: Could the core values of this faith tradition—radical demonstrations of love, intentional inclusivity, and overturning notions of power—address the inequalities embedded and normalized in my own culture? Could Christian values reform or reframe how oppressive ideas and actions entangled themselves into the lives of many Africans, especially women? Could Christianity teach my grandmother, my mother, my aunts, and me myself what freedom in Christ looked like from within the culture that formed who we were?
The church settings of my upbringing did not provide clear answers. My experiences in white, African American, and African churches illumined the complicated reality that African women were at the same time unseen and hypervisible, a foreign and exotic figure in non-African churches. In the African church, these women were both oppressed and yet presented with small opportunities for leadership in peripheral areas of service, such as hospitality and children’s or women’s ministry. What were African women supposed to make of these mixed responses to their capabilities and leadership, determined in large part by how others saw and responded to their bodies?
My questions about where to locate African women’s voices in Christian theology took me toward graduate