Next month I’ll be taking a class at Biblical Seminary (only five more to go until I’ve completed my course work) called Theology, Ethnicity and Gender. Dr. John Franke (who has written a handful of thought-provoking books and always ensures stretching conversation over pizza at Fiore’s Restaurant) is teaching the course. I’m extremely excited about this course – especially since just a few weeks ago Franke officially announced that this academic year would be his last at Biblical. I’ll have him for my senior seminar in the spring as well, which will be his last semester at Biblical – and mine as well.
Not only am I excited about the professor, I’m excited about the topic. Most of my experience in church has been directly led and influenced by white, middle-aged men. I’m grateful for what I’ve learned from them regarding God, faith and church – but from a global perspective that is a pretty small slice of thought. I’m excited to learn from other perspectives on the issue of theology so as to broaden my theological bandwidth. I’m eager to learn from others who come from different vantage points. I’m sure I won’t agree with every aspect I hear throughout the class (one of the many things I appreciate about my seminary experience thus far is the diversity of thought and conviction while still being rooted in orthodoxy) But the different thoughts and opinions and thoughts help me think critically and helps to further reinforce that my faith is my own. Who knows? Maybe my current perspective will be changed a bit in the process (to some extent, I hope that’s the case).
I’m about to buy the required texts for the class. Has anybody ever read any of these books before? If so, I’d love to get your thoughts on them. (And, if any of you own them, I’d love to borrow them if I could).
James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation, twentieth anniversary edition (Orbis, 1990)
Jonathan Y. Tan, Introducing Asian Theologies (Orbis, 2008)
Stephanie Y. Mitchem, Introducing Womanist Theology (Orbis, 2002)
Nicola Hoggard Creegan and Christine D. Pohl, Living on the Boundaries: Evangelical Women, Feminism and the Theological Academy (InterVarsity, 2005)
Jared said...
1I read several articles by Cone at Westminster and loved them. But then again, that was my first introduction to minority theologies so it might have been the newness that I enjoyed rather than Cone himself. But I do remember thinking that he was very articulate and not angry – contrary to the two things I assumed all minority theologies would be.
09/8/10 10:02 AM | Comment Link
Quinn said...
2That sounds neat. I read an article in Theology Digest one time called “Reading the Bible in Latin America.” It was about how Latin American culture shaped the way the Bible was read and therefore understood in a different way than Europeans.
While you are in the class, could you perhaps throw the phrase “Christian imperialism” a few times to see the reaction? That would be neat.
09/14/10 11:14 PM | Comment Link