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The Madonna Image in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Alice Walker’s Meridian
Get PDFThe madonna is a literary figure which has theological origins and implications. In two novels written by American women, there arecharacters identified as madonna figures which function in theologically significant ways. A study of these characters will indicate changingconcepts of the role of women as madonnas in contemporary society. The women characters in The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin, a white woman from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1899, and in Meridian, written by Alice Walker, a black woman from Georgia, in 1976, suggest changes in the role of the madonna figure which are paradigmatic for theology as well as for culture
Religious Humanism: Its Problems and Prospects in Black Religion and Culture
Get PDFAs my contribution to this volume, I would have preferred to narrow my concern to a description of the controlling categories and inner logic of religious humanism,1 thus providing the reader with a neatly packaged model to compare and contrast with competing perspectives in black theology and religion.2 However, because of the actual circumstance and rank of religious humanism in black religion, I have found it necessary to adopt an approach that is decidedly more apologetic
Black Ecumenism and Theological Education: Reflections From Prison
Get PDFWhen we think of ecumenism in theological education, we usually do not think in terms of that body of Christians who are incarcerated in our State and Federal prisons, or Correctional Facilities. But when we think of black ecumenism and theological education we cannot afford to ignore that body of incarcerated Christians in prison. An over-represented proportion of inmates come from our own black communities, families and churches. The generic meaning of the term ecumenical is ‘to inhabit the world.’ It has to do with promoting Christian understanding and unity among the many Christian denominations. Ecumenism is concerned with the study of the nature and mission of the church and has to do with the historical character of all theological reflection. This includes theological reflection done in prison
A Critical Review of James Deotis Roberts’ Roots of a Black Future: Family and Church
Get PDFMany of you are aware of the fact that Dr. Roberts was my teacher at Howard University Divinity School and also the first reader for my dissertation which resulted in my book, Redemption in Black Theology (Judson Press, 1979).One might conclude, then, that my review of his book Roots of A Black Future: Family and Church will be influenced by those previousrelationships. This is not the case. When I was researching and writing my dissertation on an occasion of my meeting with Dr. Roberts I felt compelled to inform him that I did not agree fully with all of the positions which he articulated in Liberation And Reconciliation: A BlackTheology. Without hesitation he responded: “Brother Moyd my aim is to make scholars not disciples.” That statement was liberating. (Of course, I was aware of the fact that “making scholars” depended upon the materials at hand.) That statement did provide the freedom for the stating of my disagreement with my teacher. I still enjoy that freedom as I review his book today
Role of Black Religion in Political Change: The Haitian Revolution and Voodoo
Get PDFIn his rather magnificent tribute to the Haitian Revolution called The Black Jacobins, C. L. R. James describes the rather dramatic scene linking black religion and political change on the eve of the revolution in 1791. In forests of the Morne Rouge, the enormously built slaveBoukman, who is also a houngan (a Voodoo priest) is presiding at the ceremonies, thought by some students of this old African religion to be incantations for one of the loa in the Petro rite. Translating the Creole, James renders the incantation as follows:The god who created the sun which gives us light, who rouses the waves and rules the storm, though hidden in the clouds, he watches us. He sees all that the white man does. The god of the white man inspires him with crime, but our god calls upon us to do good works. Our god who is good to us orders us to revenge our wrongs. He will direct our arms and aid us. Throw away the symbol of the god of the whites who has so often caused us to weep, and listen to the voice of liberty, which speaks in the hearts of us all.
Howard Thurman: Literary/Humanist Theologian
Get PDFExamining the works and life of Howard Thurman, one cannot avoid reminiscences of other persons who have uniquely combined philosophy, literature, and religion. He calls to mind those persons to whom Roland Frye refers as Christian humanists, such as Augustine, Dante, Erasmus, Zwingli, Melancthon, Calvin, Luther, Milton, Sydney, and Johnson, who exercised a “conscious Christian approach to literature, philosophy, and other humanistic disciplines.” As Frye describes their approach as not necessarily being that of philosophical humanism1 (for their professions differed and they represented diverse philosophical leanings), the same may be said of Thurman. There is some question as to whether he has systematically represented any facet of literature, philosophy, or religion. Though he has a system of his own and he has developed systematically over his life-span of seventy-nine years, one may not be able to place him safely within either of these three disciplines. Admittedly, he was a theologian, philosopher and clergyman by profession; yet to typify him as such occasions some difficulty. So, allowance will have to be made for him and his works to establish their own place or create their own system. Certain characteristics he does have in common with existing systems and trends, but he is, on the other hand, distinctly different from those. His most outstanding trait is mysticism; yet, he is not simply a mystic, and this study will not concentrate merely on that aspect of his character
Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Back Matter, 1982
No full textInterdenominational Theological Center An Ecumenical Professional Graduate School of Theolog
Martin Luther: Resistance to Secular Authority
Get PDFLuther’s political ethics has often been misinterpreted as teaching a dualistic separation between church and state which caused the believer to divorce religion and politics and to avoid involvement in public policy, indeed to remain passive even toward unjust government. Such a view of the Reformer’s teaching on the “two kingdoms,” or on the secular and spiritual realms, has included the charge that it paralyzed the German church so as to impede any viable political intervention in Hitler’s totalitarian regime
Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Back Matter, 1985
No full textJournal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Back Matter, 198
Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Back Matter, 2015 no. 2
No full textJournal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Back Matter, 2015 no.