Follow up to WATERtalk with Dr. Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein

on The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye:

Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice

with Mary E. Hunt

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 1–2 pm EDT

WATER thanks Professor Dr. Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein who teaches at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, for sharing her book The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice” (University of Notre Dame Press, 2023).

Dr. Mercy Amba Oduyoye is a world-renowned theologian, one of the founders of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. Dr. Oredein’s  dissertation, now a clearly written, accessible book, is a useful way to learn about Mercy’s life and work.

The video for this talk can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq2QMza9Jng&t=2s

Dr. Oredein shared Chapter 5 of her book on Christology which is here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZwwmJTHY_0Fb89NRyD9PK2QbEckToA_T

Dr. Oredein comes from Nigeria. According to her Brite Divinity School biography, she did her undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, then a Master of Divinity at Duke Divinity School, and a ThD also at Duke. She is an elder in the Presbyterian Church. She is a professor at Brite Divinity School where she teaches classes in Black Religious Traditions, Constructive Theology, and Ethics. She directs the Black Studies Program and has been recognized by her students for her outstanding teaching.

An introduction to her work on Mercy Oduyoye is the “Across Generations” interview she and Mercy did in the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 32, No. 2, Fall 2016, pp. 153-164. It is a lively and informative discussion between two colleagues who come from different generations, but are united in their insights into and enthusiasm about theology done by women of African descent.

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Following are the notes that Dr. Oredein so kindly shared with us:

WATERtalk | The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice | Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 from 1p – 2p

The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice

Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein

Concerning this work, I get asked a few questions:

 

What is the central message of your book?

At the heart of The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye is a close look at all that goes into the respective lens of a theological figure. Theology is pulled together, revealed, and known in deep ways through one’s experience – and one’s experience signals a life. Knowing something about the life of a theologian is important. The small details of their life inform how they want to know the Divine and how they want to be known in the world. The major events of their lives are the lens and filters through which the Divine can be interpreted.

Oduyoye’s theology is critical. She has written thousands of pages naming and expounding upon it. But her life is just as important as her theology. Theology is not an isolated invention; it is a culmination of the details of living. And Oduyoye’s living shows us something about the movement of the Divine (and divinity) in this world.

 

Why this book?

This book for me is a gesture of respect. It is my kunle (or ikunle), my kneeling respectfully before an elder in my tradition (Yoruba tradition), to Aunty Mercy.

I know that I have numerous things I want to explore, including how my identity as an African raised in America informs my theology. But before I move in that direction, I must honor my elders. The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye is me recognizing that my voice and theological curiosities are possible because of women like Oduyoye.

This book is the beginning of establishing myself as a conversation partner when it comes to the theological ideas of pertinent people in the field. It also continues in the legacy of Oduyoye’s emergence and work overall. African women have had to create their own visibility. The Circle was formed in large part to provide opportunity for African women to sharpen and share their work in their respective fields and in the world. This book provides continuity in this African woman, in me, offering a work about how the life work of Oduyoye has changed the theological world.

 

Why you to write this book?

What qualifies me to write this book. Two things qualify me to write this book: WATERtalk | The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice | Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 from 1p – 2p EST

1) First, deep admiration and interest. Oduyoye does some careful theologizing, important critical analysis of cultural practices, and takes seriously her mission to uplift women. Her task is tremendous!

2) Second, my being who I am is also the precise reason why I am qualified to write this book. I am an African woman who has something to say and, in the spirit of Aunty Mercy, decided to join in the conversation by lifting up her story. Oduyoye has paved the way for African women to fearlessly contribute their voices to theological conversations which typically have not considered them. This book adds to the chorus of African women who claim that they, that we, are here! We do not need anyone’s permission to speak, but we relish the support and encouragement of sisters who encourage us forward – and in this, push Christian theology forward.

How is Oduyoye important to women and gender in religion?

Oduyoye is many things. She is an example, a leader, a binding agent in many rooms.

Oduyoye shows women what theological courage looks like. Forging a path for African women’s theology in a discipline slow to even recognize African, Black, and womanist theologies, Oduyoye’s fearlessness is a model of self-assurance. If African women had any doubt about whether they belong in a room, they can look to Oduyoye to remind them that African women do not walk into rooms; we grace spaces with our presence, our insight and wisdom, and vision!

Watch Oduyoye to see how a woman claims space. Watch Oduyoye to also see how women across cultures can band together for theological good. She has been a connecting agent for women whose experiences and stories share corners and edges. And she edges them close together to coordinate and work for more welcoming ecumenical and global spaces, to think about age-old theological ideas from new angles, and to challenge the Christian church to live into its fullness.

Who would you like to read The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye and why?

I want anyone interested in the theological journey of Mercy Oduyoye to read The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye not to get a sense of how to categorize African women’s theological voices or to criticize them, but to be introduced to their range. Mastery of Oduyoye’s or African women’s theology should not be the goal, but instead the goal should be a desire to expand how one thinks about the evolution of theology in African women’s contexts.

How does this book aid in constructing knowledge and influencing the public sphere?

The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye continues the push to center African women as significant contributors who help determine the shape of Christian theology in the world. African women are not outliers, but their respective lives and experience sharpen theological standpoints in ways unknown to others. They are providing perspectives from which many cannot see.

The public sphere will be challenged to examine the contours of its ideologies and beliefs when they spend time with Aunty Mercy and her story. They will be forced to wrestle with context and to name how it textures hermeneutical decisions. This work, and Aunty Mercy’s body of work at large, challenges every and anyone contributing their voice to Christian theology to take seriously an account of themselves.

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In thanking Dr. Oredein after her remarks, Moderator Mary E. Hunt said that

several people on this program and many others in the field of feminist/womanist studies in religion know Mercy. We encounter her in Dr. Oredein’s pages which is just what the book was meant to do. It is a clearly written, thorough, and informative volume, accessible to general readers but is also wonderfully suited for classroom use.

WATER has at least eight volumes written or edited by Mercy in our Resource Center, including The Poems of Mercy Oduyoye with Elizabeth Amoah (Accra-North, Ghana: Sam-Woode Ltd., 20024) inscribed “To WATER From Elizabeth and Mercy.” We also have the well-known edited volume The Will to Arise: Women, Tradition, and the Church in Africa (Orbis Books, 1992) which Mercy and Musimbi Kanyoro edited and for which Katie G. Cannon wrote the Foreword. Mercy inscribed it to WATER with these words: “Remain blessed.” I can assure her we do so today when she is among us from a distance.

The most recent time I saw Mercy was at the Inaugural Gathering of the Center for Womanist Leadership held in Richmond, Virginia, April 5-7, 2018, the brainchild of the late Katie Geneva Cannon for whom the center at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA, is now named.

We who were there will never forget the closing ritual when participants rendered homage to the elders and received their blessing. All participants were invited to process to the front of the room where Mercy and Katie sat as revered elders. They gave and received greetings and homage.

I consider myself fortunate to have been in their company. A report of the conference which I wrote is here:

https://www.upsem.edu/news/1500-attend-center-for-womanist-leadership-inaugural-gathering/

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Questions/Answers/Discussion—examples from the conversation include:

1. One colleague asked about Dr. Oredein’s methodology, and how she teaches appreciation of a theologian’s work to her students.Dr. Oredein does not refer to the way she does her work as a methodology, rather a way in which she processes and honors what is in front of her. The important question is “Who is it for?” not how is it done. She brings herself to the writing. She sees it as a practice of attentiveness and observation, then considers how to share what she finds. She brings her perspective and experiences into conversation with Mercy’s ideas and ways of thinking. Pedagogy involves who is in the room and what is in the room. Naming a person’s context is key. On the question of whether Mercy Oduyoye called herself womanist, Mercy said, “It depends.” The key is that Black women are identified as they wish to be identified. For example, Mercy spoke of “African women’s theology” as her way of naming herself, not feminist nor womanist necessarily and in every context.

2. Another participant spoke of her work in Jamaica in the 1970s teaching theology. A colleague from Jamaica from those years was on the call. The same woman spoke of her work in Tanzania, and her interest in the work of Musa Dube. She asked whether colonial Christianity was an impediment to growth of global unity in the field of feminist theology?Dr. Oredein called out colonial Christianity but problematized the idea of “unit.” If it means that all are able to live into their fullness with minimal harm, fine, but if such ideas are not interrogated so as to avoid any homogenizing, it can be dangerous.

3. Another speaker, a former student of Dr. Oredein, thanked her professor and asked as a Black, queer woman, theologian, how one honors those who have come before in all their historicity while at the same time challenging the ideas. How is it possible to hold it all?Dr. Oredein answered that she calls course readings as conversation partners that need to be diverse. She sees the importance of building on those many conversation partners. Speaking with an honest voice is a way to honor the ancestors.

4. A grateful colleague highlighted the difference between an ‘African American’ and an ‘American African’ which term this immigrant woman uses to describe herself. What might Mercy Oduyoye say to the current polarized reality?Dr. Oredein cited Mercy’s “two-winged theology” saying a bird cannot fly with one wing. This recognizes the need for everyone to be involved, not women only, for example, but men too. Living into one’s true self requires living with others’ true selves.

5. A colleague who studied with Mercy in Kenya 16 years ago in a course on African womens’ theology had asked Mercy about organ donation to help a loved one. Mercy said she would oppose it as it would desecrate the body by making it less than whole. The question is how might Mercy now think differently about this?Dr. Oredein did not want to speak for Mercy, suggesting it may have been a deeply personal matter for Mercy.

6. The moderator asked about Dr. Oredein’s connection to the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians and how such topics on body were discussed there. Dr. Oredein said she was trying to be in touch with the group without much success. She raised the important matter of where such questions come from and to what end is the question posed? Are these the questions of African women or are they being imposed on them?

7. With a warm invitation to discuss it at length later, the moderator invited Dr. Oredein to talk about her own current work. She said that she has spent time in white, Black, and Nigerian churches with various cultural dimensions. Her theological writing at the moment has to do with care–what we care about, how we express it, where it came from, etc. She is also writing about theo-poetics.

8. A European colleague shared her memory as a gesture of respect about Mercy’s courageous presence at the World Council of Churches meeting in 2013 in Seoul, South Korea when LGBTIQ issues were under discussion. Proponents need allies to speak, especially allies from the global south. Mercy, speaking as an African woman ally, had a great impact. Her courage is appreciated to this day.

Discussion continued with expressions of appreciation for and from Dr. Oredein who said that her goal was to focus on Mercy’s work, which she did so well.

Mercy collaborated with other women from the global south, including Ofelia Ortega of Cuba, in their generous work with the World Council of Churches to make sure that such voices were heard in rooms where they had not been before.

A closing question was how did Mercy and other foremothers do it? There was no one ahead of her, no mentor, role model other than her own mother and grandmother. The same was true for U.S. and Latin American-based foremothers —Who was before Mary Daly? Maybe Nelle Morton? But whom did Rosemary Radford Ruether follow or Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Ada Maria Isasi Diaz, Ivone Gebara? Many of these women, with Mercy, mentored each other. Letty Russell, who was a leading voice in Protestant feminist theology, counseled women never to go alone, always with other women for support.

Dr. Oredein insisted that these early women, including Mercy, felt called. They were compelled. They could not walk away from the work. Finding each other, they encouraged one another though they had distinct identities. Some, like African women, had a harder time.

WATER thanks Dr. Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein for sharing her book The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice. We look forward to more such discussion.