A collaborative book project centering the liberative theopoetics practiced by a new generation of scholars of color What is theopoetics? Once a field dominated by white liberals in the ivory to
A collaborative book project centering the liberative theopoetics practiced by a new generation of scholars of color
What is theopoetics? Once a field dominated by white liberals in the ivory tower, this embodied form of theology has flourished in the work of a new generation of scholars of color. In this groundbreaking book edited by Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein and Lakisha R. Lockhart-Rusch, a diverse team of theologians shows how theopoetics can be practiced “in color.”
Featuring unconventional and artistic forms of religious reflection, this collection demonstrates how theology can become accessible when it reflects the embodied experiences of marginalized people and communities. These creative contributions defy the limitations of the white, Eurocentric academy, including such works as:
• an explanation on the use of experimental theater to express theological theses
• a guide to spiritual disciplines for metaphorical cyborgs seeking liberation
• a meditation on the theological import of Filipino potlucks
• a literary reflection on the meaning of religion to Black boys and men
Diverse in scope and radical in perspective, this bold volume reclaims the liberative potential of theopoetics. Scholars and students of theology and the arts will discover inspiring new methodologies and fresh ideas in these pages.
Contributors:
Brian Bantum, Yara González-Justiniano, James Howard Hill Jr., Carolina Hinojosa-Cisneros, Yohana Agra Junker, Peace Pyunghwa Lee, Lakisha R. Lockhart-Rusch, Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein, Patrick B. Reyes, Joyce del Rosario, Tiffany U. Trent, Tamisha A. Tyler, Lis Valle-Ruiz
“In the desert of theological ideas, this book is a seed bank, carrying seeds of life, liberation, and transformation. Come and travel in the fields of God, of the Gods. Get some of these seeds and take them home. Plant there and see how, in the correlations of your own soil, you can create new seeds of liberation and transformation.”
— Cláudio Carvalhaes, Union Theological Seminary, from the foreword
“This should be the first book readers turn to on the subject of theopoetics. The range of approaches interwoven in this beautifully edited collection demonstrates and explicates how theology might come closer to touching on divinity. The authors evoke divine poesis in futuring; resistance; telling and listening to the truth/s of real lives, harms, and loves; and memories in adage, image, ritual, story, and food. A vital guide for anyone interested in better understanding and revivifying the work of theology.”
—Laurel Schneider, Vanderbilt University
“Theopoetics is not merely poeticizing a received theology. It instead invites the democratization of humanity and divinity. As such, it is both inclusive and expansive. This wonderful collection of visions and voices in Theopoetics in Color will become an important core text in our MA program in theopoetics and writing ”
—Scott Holland, Bethany Theological Seminary and the Earlham School of Religion
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Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein is a Nigerian American creative and scholastic writer who teaches constructive theology and ethics as well as Black religious traditions at Brite Divinity School.
Lakisha R. Lockhart-Rusch is a womanist play facilitator and educator who teaches Christian education at Union Presbyterian Seminary.
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Table of Contents
Foreword by Cláudio Carvalhaes
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Theopoetics, Why in Color? by Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein
Part 1: Performance and Voice
1. Cyborgs and Future Wars: A Revolutionary’s Guide to Living in Liberation by Patrick B. Reyes
2. Fleshly Theopoetics: Performance as Resistance in the Theological Academy by Lis Valle-Ruiz
3. Toward a Theopoetic Wholeness: A Womanist Reflection in the Theological Academy by Lakisha R. Lockhart-Rusch
Part 2: Methods and Inquiries
4. Listening Theopoetically: Methods and Approaches for Researching with a Theopoetic Ear by Tiffany U. Trent
5. A Theopoetic Method: Four Movements by Tamisha A. Tyler
6. Theoespíritu as Pedagogy: Un Jale Bruto by Carolina Hinojosa-Cisneros
Part 3: Interlocutors
7. Imaging Loss and Longing: Doris Salcedo’s Art and the Power of Collective Testimony by Yohana Agra Junker
8. Somethin’ Like Sanctified: Theopoetics, Black Music, and the Strangeness of Estrangement by James Howard Hill Jr.
9. “In the Dark We Can All Be Free”: The Sacralizing Vision of Alvin Baltrop by Peace Pyunghwa Lee
10. God-Talk and Lorde-Speak: Audre Lorde and Inappropriate Theopoetics by Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein
Part 4: Hermeneutics, Proclamation, and Claim
11. Potluck Theology: A Theopoetic of Fullness by Joyce del Rosario
12. “Mi Abuela Decía . . .”: Inheriting Life and Faith through Popular Refrains by Yara González-Justiniano
13. We with God: An (A)Systematic Theology in Five Parts by Brian Bantum
Conclusion: Now Theopoetics, in Living Color by Lakisha R. Lockhart-Rusch
Contributors
Index
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