The Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) is a network of theologians coming primarily from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and interested in creating theology that is relevant for their contexts. The group tended to critique traditional Christian theology as being too European and underscored the need for theology that addressed the challenges of poverty and oppression. [1]
O. K. Bimwenyi from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was one of the key figures of the formation of EATWOT. While Bimwenyi was studying in Catholic University of Louvain, he visited the general meeting of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in India in December 1974 and discussed the need for a network of theologians to address the pressing concerns of poverty and oppression in the third world. [2]
In 1976, the first official meeting of EATWOT would be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with Joshua Russell Chandran as its first president until 1981. From this early start, the organization would produce a bi-annually published theological journal entitled Voices from the Third World. [1] [3]
In the beginning, the organization would not allow women to be members. It would only be at the New Delhi meeting in 1981 that women were beginning to be allowed to have a voice in EATWOT. [4] Female figures such as Virginia Fabella and Mercy Amba Oduyoye, the latter who eventually became EATWOT's first female president (1997–2001), would continually challenge the absence of female leadership in the global church and in EATWOT. [5] These efforts would result in the formation of the Women's Commission of EATWOT. [6]
Praxis, a transliteration of the Greek word πρᾶξις, means "practice, action, doing". More particularly, it means either:
The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements (SCM) forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement. The Federation includes Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic, Pentecostal and Anglican students.
African theology is Christian theology from the perspective of the African cultural context. It should be distinguished from black theology, which originated from the American and South African context and is more closely aligned with liberation theology. Although there are ancient Christian traditions on the African continent, during the modern period Christianity in Africa was significantly influenced by western forms of Christianity brought about by European colonization.
Justo L. González is a Cuban-American Methodist historian and theologian. He is a prolific author and an influential contributor to the development of Latin American theology. His wife, Catherine Gunsalus González, is a professor emerita at Columbia Theological Seminary, and the two have co-authored several books.
Mercy Amba Oduyoye is a Ghanaian Methodist theologian known for her work in African women's theology. She is currently the director of the Institute of African Women in Religion and Culture at Trinity Theological Seminary in Ghana.
Georges Henri Tavard was an ordained member of the Augustinians of the Assumption. He lectured extensively in the areas of historical theology, ecumenism, and spirituality.
Joshua Russell Chandran (1918–2000) was an Indian Christian theologian, who served as President of Senate of Serampore College, Bengal (1970–1), and as President of the United Theological College, Bangalore (1954–83), and was for some years a vice-chairman of the World Council of Churches (1966–68).
Jesse Ndwiga Kanyua Mugambi is a professor of philosophy and religious studies at the University of Nairobi with professional training in education and philosophy of religion.
Re-Imagining was a Minneapolis interfaith conference of clergy, laypeople, and feminist theologians in 1993 that stirred controversy in U.S. Mainline Protestant denominations, ultimately resulting in the firing of the highest ranking woman in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Re-Imagining: A Global Theological Conference By Women: For Men and Women, grew out of a U.S.A. Mainline Protestant response to the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Decade: Churches in Solidarity with Women 1988–1998. Participants met at the Minneapolis Convention Center during November 4 through 7, 1993.
Letty Mandeville Russell was a feminist theologian and professor. She was a member of the first class of women admitted to Harvard Divinity School, and one of the first women ordained in the United Presbyterian Church. After earning a doctorate in theology at Union Theological Seminary, she joined the faculty at Yale Divinity School, where she taught for 28 years. Russell was a pioneer in the field of feminist theology. She authored, co-authored or edited over 17 books, including: Feminist Interpretation of the Bible (1985), Inheriting our Mothers' Garden: Feminist Theology in Third World Perspective (1988), Church in the Round: Feminist Interpretation of the Church (1993), and Dictionary of Feminist Theologies (1996). She has been described as a "prominent matriarch of contemporary feminist bible criticism." She was also active in the ecumenical movement, and worked closely with the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, and the YWCA.
Henriette Marianne Katoppo was an Indonesian novelist and internationally known Asian feminist theologian. She was a recipient of the S.E.A. Write Award.
José María Vigil is a Latin American theologian highly recognized in the fields of the theology and spirituality of liberation, theology of religious pluralism, and new paradigms. He has been a Roman Catholic priest of the Claretian Missionaries since 1964 and since 1971 has been a naturalized Nicaraguan citizen who currently is based in Panama. He is known for his numerous writings, his editorial and cybernetic activity, his services from the "Association of Theologians of the Third World (EATWOT)" as the general editor of their Theological Journal "VOICES" ; also for his coordination of the yearly edition of the "World Latin American Agenda" and for his theology of religious pluralism.
Asian feminist theology is a Christian feminist theology developed to be especially relevant to women in Asia and women of Asian descent. Inspired by both liberation theology and Christian feminism, it aims to contextualize them to the conditions and experiences of women and religion in Asia.
Virginia Fabella, M. M. is a Filipina theologian and Maryknoll sister, known for her works in Asian feminist theology and postcolonial theology.
Meehyun Chung is a professor of the United Graduate School of Theology in Yonsei University and serving as the first female chaplain of Yonsei University. She was the editor of Korean Journal of Systematic Theology.
The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians is a pan-African ecumenical organization supporting scholarly research of African women theologians. The Circle serves to mentor 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.
Elsa Támez is a Mexican liberation theologian and biblical scholar. Her writings on feminist theology and contextual biblical criticisms brought new perspectives to these fields of study, laying the foundation for later scholars. Her books include Bible of the Oppressed, The Amnesty of Grace, and Struggles for Power in Early Christianity: A Study of the First Letter of Timothy (2007). She is Professor Emerita at the Universidad Biblica Latinamericana in Costa Rica. She was appointed president of Universidad Biblica Latinamericana in 1995, becoming their first woman president.
Anne Nasimiyu Wasike was the author of books and articles on education, ethics and the empowerment of the poor. Anne was also a well-known editor of several publications. She addressed the United Nations General Assembly Special Session in 2001 on the plight of women and the girl-child in Africa in the age of HIV/AIDS. She was a founder member of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians. She was the first African woman to obtain a degree in Catholic theology from Department of Theology at Duquesne university in 1986. While at Duquesne, she was a highly respected budding scholar during her graduate studies.
We Dare to Dream: Doing Theology as Asian Women is a 1989 non-fiction book about women using theology in Asian countries.
Isabel Apawo Phiri is a Malawian teacher and theologian who has been a Deputy Secretary for the World Council of Churches since 2012. She writes on gender justice, HIV/AIDS, and African theology.
