Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro

Constructed as a collective story of African women doing communal theology, this book begins with tales of a child marriage and an unfaithful husband, told with the aid of biblical texts. Kanyoro explains and analyzes the cultural resources, the experiences and the practices of African women, and the role of cultural hermeneutics in reading the Bible. At the centre of the book stands an African woman's reading of the book of Ruth, and the concluding chapters analyze the cultural hermeneutics and address the issue of the accountability of the Church, its women's organizations, of women in Africa and of African women theologians. A blend of story and practice, theory and application, this book shows the vitality of bible reading among African women and the need for a feminist cultural hermeneutics.

A Key to African Women's Liberation Theology

Introduction to Feminist Cultural Hermeneutics

Mercy A. Oduyoye

What is the reality of being African, woman, and Christian? In this collection of original essays, African women theologians write about the life and dreams, the sorrows and joys of African women in a continent where religion shapes the whole of life. The first two parts of the book describe the role of women in terms of culture, rites of passage, and daily life. Attitudes toward birthing and naming, marriage and widowhood, polygamy, prostitution, and death are all explored. The third part focuses on the church, reviewing biblical attitudes toward women, and showing how African women can and should contribute to the life of the Christian church. Contributors: Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro Mercy Amba Oduyoye Rosemary N. Edet Anne Nasimiyu-Wasike Daisy N. Nwachuku Rabiatu Ammah Judith Mbula Bahemuka Lloyda Fanusie Bernadette Mbuy Beya Teresa M. Hinga Anne Nachisale Musopole R. Modupe Owanikin Teresa Okure ÒThe themes in 'The Will to Arise' constitute the base of contemporary African women's theological scholarship. . . . At their most creative, these theologians affirm cultural traditions and criticize their failings, in order to lead the reader to new visions that can renew religious life in our various contexts. --from the Foreword by Katie G. Cannon

Women, Tradition, and the Church in Africa

The Will to Arise

Aruna Gnanadason

Lucia Ann McSpadden

Amidst conflict situations all around our increasingly violent world-ranging from wars between nations to abuse of women and children within the home-women are making effective, courageous, and often creative nonviolent responses. Yet little attention has been given to the specific contributions of women to conflict resolution. This book helps to fill that gap. After three analytical essays, women from thirteen countries around the world present case studies of how women's groups are confronting violence in their contexts. What they have in common is that all grow out of an awareness of the interlinkages of various forms of violence, an emphasis on practical action, and an insistence on nonviolence as the only appropriate and workable means of responding to violence. At the time of the first printing of the book the three editors were staff members of the three organizations responsible for the study on women and nonviolence, from which this book emerged, namely Aruna Gnanadason (World Council of Churches), Musimbi Kanyoro (Lutheran World Federation), and Lucia Ann McSpadden (Life & Peace Institute). The focal goal of the study was to stimulate networking between scholars and women practitioners and to enhance the efficiency of a nonviolent struggle for human rights.

Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro

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