Black Women and Religious Cultures 3.1

The Northern Sotho proverb, lešaka la pelo, ga le tlale—literally, “the kraal of a (human) heart does not get full”—has the tenor that foregrounds the human tendency to be greedy and self-serving. In a nutshell, the more material goods one acquires, the more one would like to have. Taking my cue from the honoree, Dr. Mercy Amba Oduyoye, who taught us that African proverbs with androcentric undertones may be used to resist and challenge patriarchy (read: kyriarchy in the present text), this essay is an attempt to sketch a brief herstory of the situation of African-South African women in apartheid South Africa, and the role (albeit, relatively speaking, not always celebrated) which they played in the struggle against the policy of apartheid. Specifically, if one casts a bosadi (womanhood-redefined) gaze at women’s situation in the post-apartheid era (28 years later), an era that has been characterized by among other things, self-serving, greedy, and corrupt leaders, it becomes evident that these women, basically, continue to receive the short end of the stick. Yet the God who was proclaimed by black theologians and liberationist biblical scholars in apartheid South Africa, One that was proclaimed by the Circle of Concern African Women Theologians, including Oduyoye, takes sides with the oppressed. There is, accordingly, a call for justice-seeking leaders to dismantle kyriarchy by defeating the temptation to fill the ever-consuming proverbial kraal of the heart, thus humanizing South Africa again.

Wisdom Literature (WL), also referred to as sapiential literature, is an important component of biblical studies (particularly, studies in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible). WL has a direct bearing on human life and addresses issues of human experience and existence. It calls on human beings to acquire deep insight to navigate their existential challenges and other vicissitudes of life. WL does not concern itself with the issues of Torah or Prophecy, which are two major parts of the tripartite Hebrew Bible. As such, though this branch of biblical studies is very important, it has been mostly pushed to the periphery. Due to the peripheral treatment of WL, it is not surprising that its protagonist, Lady/Woman Wisdom (particularly in the Book of Proverbs), has also been slighted and treated as unimportant. It could probably be said that Wisdom has become a “lost” character. This article attempts to rediscover the apparently “lost” protagonist of WL, in the person of Lady/Woman Wisdom. The article uses Proverbs 8 as a case in point to propose that the protagonist of WL (i.e., Lady/Woman Wisdom) should be considered as the feminine consort of the Divine. The article also examines the idea of the feminine consort of the Divine as an integral part of the theosophical worldview embedded in African traditional religions (ATRs) and suggests this worldview is an often untapped resource for Western theological hermeneutics/biblical interpretation.

This paper considers how women may be empowered through African Pentecostal Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by examining ways organizations use CSR to develop their images in society with social welfare work beyond statutory compliance. Referencing practices described in narratives of the Gospels and Acts and combining critical analysis of historical documents with key informant interviews, the project analyzes the Christ Apostolic Church, Missionary Headquarters, Ita Baale Olugbode, Ibadan, to discover and assess its regular programs of CSR. Specifically, the author uses collected data to determine answers the following questions about Christ Apostolic Church: In what programs is the church involved that address social challenges in communities they serve? How effective are these programs? Does the church have a deliberate policy to address community social issues? Is the policy evident as a guide for the church in CSR matters? How does the church’s CSR policy impact women? Key words: Empowerment, Pentecostal, CSR