What are post-colonial approaches?

R.S. Sugirtharajah, in his introduction to Voices from the Margin, defines a post-colonial reader as “the real and actual reader/hearer…these flesh-and-bone readers—minjung, dalits, indigenous people, male and female, professional and lay, standing within their own social location—oppressive, caste-ridden, patriarchal, multi-religious, and trying to make sense of their context and the texts” (3). This is also a Third World theology, from peoples who are from previously colonized areas, and who are now trying to break down the oppressive systems that still control aspects of their lives.

The hermeneutics a post-colonial interpreter utilizes will be different depending on his or her situation. For example, “a hermeneutics of liberation which is envisaged for an African women’s struggle will be at once a human, African and feminist hermeneutic of liberation” (Mosala, 173). Whatever forms of oppression in their lives, post-colonial interpreters will use theologies to struggle against them.

This approach is so open to addressing everyone’s struggle, and recognizing that each person will have a different experience and context out of which they read and interpret the Bible. This allows for richness in interpretations and more ways of discovering meaning from the Biblical text. I like this approach because of its “attempts to address the issues of struggle, marginality, and colonialism” (Sugirtharajah 1). Trying to break down systems of oppression, and allowing everyone a chance to use their lives as a way of interpreting scripture is inspiring and meaningful.

What are canonical approaches?

Canonical criticism is a faith-based approach. It involves the Bible as sacred scripture, which means that the Bible has special authority and a special role in the community of faith. These communities of faith try to think of the text as a whole, they do not fragment what they read. They see the voices in one part of the text as having meaning in another part. This means people who use the canonical approach cannot justify just throwing out a certain section of scripture because it may not agree with their situation. The Bible is the authority to hear and discern God’s will. If you throw out a part of it, then you could be stifling what God wants for your life.

Since the Bible has such authority for canonical approaches, it has special expectations. The Bible is to help with faith, to edify and/or correct a person’s way of living. Since the Bible is to aid in faith, then communities of faith are the best suited to interpret scripture.

This approach is more than just studying the Bible closely. It has to do with revelation, and trying to discern God’s will. “The dependence of Christian theology on the alleged revelation of God in Jesus Christ is the key to its close relationship with the Bible” (Barton 115). There are so many different ways God chooses to reveal Godself to us. This can include tradition, experience, creation, and also the Bible. They are all important ways of seeing God work in the world. The Bible should be the basis of the revelations though. In the case of the Reformations, Luther saw in the Bible that indulgences were nowhere to be found. He challenged the traditions of the church based on scripture. It was a new interpretation, through a canonical approach, based on the fact that the Bible is a sacred scripture, and as such, it can reveal God’s will for our lives, if only we listen.

What is Liberationist Theology?

Liberationist theologies come out of South America, mostly from poor communities. It grew out of Bible studies that base groups were having where they studied the Bible in-depth together. These communities that were intensely studying the Bible together noticed that Jesus cared about the liberation of the poor. They understood that God prefers the poor and will deliver them, as seen in the Exodus in the Old Testament. God reveals Godself through this act. This is how we know God. In George V. Pixley and Clodovis Boff’s essay, A Latin American Perspective: The Option for the Poor in the Old Testament, they state, “The Hebrews who came out of Egypt understood that their success had been due to Yahweh, their God, being with them….the clans gradually came to accept Yahweh as their God” (220). “Yahweh had presented himself as a God of the poor, promising their liberation” (226). God loves the poor and wants them to be free. These thoughts prompted the marginalized societies to become more conscious of their social situation. They became activists and became more politically involved.

Just as Womanist Theology grew out of Black Theology, so Mujerista grew out of Liberationist Theology. Latin American women saw themselves as being doubly oppressed. Mujerista grows out of a macho culture, where there is a definite separation between men and women, and their roles. Since these Latin American women were poor and females, society worked against them in two ways. These women work for justice and peace, not just for equality, but to change the oppressive society they live in. Personal and political ethics need to be combined. When they are separated, they breed oppression, which is what Liberationist theologies try to work against.

What is Womanist Theology?

Womanist Theology is a mixture of Black Theology and Feminist Theology. Since the African-American woman is always the ‘other’ in the Bible, they created a space to share their voice when reading and interpreting scripture. They cannot choose between their two identities, being Black and a woman; they need them both.

Womanist Theology treats everyone equally. There is no difference between races, gender, etc. Jesus died for every person, regardless of what color their skin is or whether they are a man or a woman. Community is a source of strength, and a very important aspect of Womanist Theology. Relying on woman’s wisdom and a mentor is also important. Delores S. Williams, in her essay Womanist Theology: Black Women’s Voices, says, “Black mothers have passed on wisdom for survival—in the white world, in the black community, and with men—for as long as anyone can remember” (78). Traditions of life are remembered in this manner.

Encounters with the Spirit are important in Womanist Theology. “The importance of this emphasis on the spirit is that it allows Christian womanist theologians, in their use of the Bible, to identify and reflect upon those biblical stories in which poor oppressed women had a special encounter with the divine emissaries of God, like the spirit” (Williams 85). This can affect their political action, and the manner in which they seek justice. The Spirit can be always with them, which places God with them also. God will make a way if there seems to be none.

Womanist Theology will always be changing and growing. As long as “black women come together and connect piece with piece” the “God-content” of Womanist Theology will continue to be created, until one day it will come together and “reflect the divine spirit that connects us all” (Williams 86).