Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians

Last updated
Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians
Formation1989;35 years ago (1989)
Founder Mercy Oduyoye
Type academic association
Location
  • African continent
Continental Coordinator
Musa Dube (July 2019 –July 2024)
Continental Coordinator
Molly Manyonganise (July 2024 - Present)

The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians is a pan-African ecumenical organization that supports scholarly research of African women theologians. The Circle mentors the next generation of African women theologians throughout their academic careers in order to counter the dearth of academic theological literature by African women. The Circle has chapters in more than a dozen countries across the African continent, as well as diaspora chapters in Europe and North America. [1]

Contents

History

The organization was formally established in 1989 at Trinity College in Legon, Ghana, with 79 founding members convened by the Ghanaian theologian Mercy Oduyoye. [2] Oduyoye contends it informally began in 1976 when she invited female scholars of theology and religion to join the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians. However, quota limits hindered these activities, which gave a stimulus for ultimately establishing the Circle. [3] The official launch in 1989 was as "a culmination of a decade-long work and the realisation that while women were the majority in faith-based organisations, they were visibly absent in religious leadership and academic study of religion." [4] Oduyoye was working at the World Council of Churches at the time of founding. Hence, the group awarded the WCC its Appreciation of Partnership Award at its 5th pan-African conference in 2019 "because the WCC created the space in which the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians was born and flourished." [2]

The Circle has highlighted issues related to sexuality, including concerns around violence against women and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. [1] It has published over 30 books by group authorship and several single-author monographs written by Circle members. The Circle was also instrumental in establishing a research center for women, religion and culture in Accra, Ghana, and a women's resource center in Limuru, Kenya. [1] According to the World Council of Churches, the Circle has "contributed research and writing that has added immeasurably to the ecumenical movement, particularly in the area of gender justice." [2]

In July 2019, the Circle celebrated its 30th anniversary at its 5th pan-African conference at the University of Botswana in Gaborone. The four-day conference was held on the theme "Mother Earth, Mother Africa in Religious Imagination" and was attended by scholars from 17 countries. At the anniversary celebration, founder Mercy Oduyoye noted that the Circle's first meeting was held in 1980, but that it was officially launched in 1989. At the time, Oduyoye said, there was only one women serving as a representative in the synod of her church, even though 80 percent of the congregants in churches were women. Keynote speaker Puleng LenkaBula added that the work of the Circle did not only acknowledge "the evil of oppression in our societies, but also the injustice of colonialism of our bodies and of the earth." For LenkaBula, the Circle represents "a contestation and a call for justice, but also a path that feminist and womanist theologians came to shape the narratives that were often muted in church and society." [4]

Notable women from the Circle

Kenyan Theologians

Associated Organizations

Related Research Articles

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Mercy Amba Ewudziwa Oduyoye is a Ghanaian Methodist theologian known for her work in African women's theologies and theological anthropology. She is currently the Director of the Institute of African Women in Religion and Culture at Trinity Theological Seminary, Ghana. She founded the Circle of Concerned African Theologians in Ghana in 1987 to promote the visibility and publishing agenda of African women Theologians.

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Samuel Ayete-Nyampong is a Ghanaian theologian and Presbyterian minister who was elected the Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) making him the chief ecclesial officer of the church. The role is equivalent to the rank of executive secretary or secretary-general of the national church, serving from 2012 to 2019. He is also the Vice President of the World Communion Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) based in Hanover, Germany, and the Theological Consultant to the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS) based in Stuttgart, Germany. He is a Lecturer in Pastoral Care and Counselling at the Trinity Theological Seminary, Accra-Ghana.

Esther Moraa Mombo is a Kenyan Anglican female theologian and a full professor of theology in the school of theology at St. Paul's University, Limuru. She researches on church history with a focus on mission history, interfaith relations and theology, gender studies with a focus on African women's theologies, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. She is the founder of the Tamar campaign in Kenya which acknowledges gender-based violence in society and empower churches to address it. She is the founder member of Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians St. Paul’s chapter in Kenya.

Emily Awino Onyango is a Kenyan priest who became the first female bishop in the Anglican Church of Kenya in January 2021. Prior to becoming a bishop, she taught theology at St. Paul's University in Limaru, Kenya. She attended the founding conference for the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians in Ghana in 1989, and is a member of the Kenyan chapter of the Circle.

Nyambura J. Njoroge is a Kenyan feminist Theologian and ecumenical leader. She was the first Kenyan woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa in 1982. She was the first African to work in the World Alliance of Reformed Churches from 1992 to 1998 when she joined the World Council of Churches. She is a founding member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians and a member of the Kenyan chapter. She is a member of ANERELA+ . She co-edited Talitha Cum! Theologies of African Women, with Musa Dube. In 1992, she became the first African woman to earn a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. She was the first African woman to study a Bachelors Degree in Divinity at St.Pauls University, Limuru,Kenya.

Puleng LenkaBula is a South African academic and university administrator. She is the first ever female vice-chancellor of the University of South Africa (UNISA).

Isabel Apawo Phiri is a Malawian theologian known for her work in gender justice, HIV/AIDS, and African theology. She has been a Deputy Secretary for the World Council of Churches since 2012.

Sarojini Nadar is a South African theologian and biblical scholar who is the Desmond Tutu Research Chair in Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape.

Teresia Mbari Hinga was a Kenyan Christian feminist theologian and a professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University in California. She was a founding member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians.

Fulata Lusungu Mbano Moyo is a Malawian systematic and feminist theologian who is an advocate for gender justice. Moyo has written over twenty-eight journal articles.

Mary Getui is a Kenyan theologian and professor of religious studies at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. She is a founding member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. In 2009, Getui was named a Moran of the Burning Spear. She was appointed as chair of the National Aids Control Council of Kenya that same year.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Circle of Concerned African Woman Theologians". thecirclecawt.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 8 Sep 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Pan African Conference celebrates the past, inspires the future". oikoumene.org. 17 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-12-20. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  3. Smith, Yolanda. "Mercy Amba Oduyoye". Biola University. Archived from the original on 2019-11-01. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  4. 1 2 Mothei, Tsholofelo (3 July 2019). "Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians celebrate". dailynews.gov.bw. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  5. "Nyambura J. Njoroge". Sojourners. 2013-01-01. Retrieved 2021-02-09.

Further reading