Womanist theology

The first generation of womanist theologians and ethicists began writing in the mid to late 1980s, and the field has since expanded significantly.

The term womanish was commonly used in Black daily language by mothers to describe adolescent daughters who act outrageous and grown-up, in contrast to girlish.

She also edited A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering, an anthology of writing by scholars from a variety of disciplines.

Womanist theology attempts to help black women see, affirm, and have confidence in the importance of their experience and faith for determining the character of the Christian religion in the African-American community.

Womanist theology opposes all oppression based on race, sex, class, sexual preference, physical ability, and caste.

Others draw on resources outside the Bible to enhance the plurality and cohesion of the texts along with our life experiences and reject scripture as a whole or part which is seen to serve male interest only.

[2] Patricia-Anne Johnson writes that "Renita J. Weems, a womanist professor and scholar of the Hebrew Bible, examines scripture as a world filled with women of color.

Through the use of womanist imagination, Weems helps students to understand female roles, personalities, and woman-to-woman relationships during the time when the biblical texts were written.

In the text, she argues that "womanist biblical interpretation [was] a natural development of African American women engaging in activism instead of simply [as] a response to second-wave feminism.

Womanist theology has expanded to encompass the spiritual, social, and political concerns of those who do not identify as black Christian women.

Monica A. Coleman challenges womanists who claim the title and theological purview that is rooted in Walker's definition, yet do not allow it to reach beyond non-Christians as faulty and a failure to do what it was created to accomplish.

[14] There are black feminists and Womanist scholars who believe that their time would be better used making contributions in the field and working with marginalized communities as opposed to being preoccupied with whether one is properly self-identifying.