The women have told their stories and the voices of African theologians have been heard in the commentary. I now offer a review of these five women’s stories under the following collective themes:
5.4.1. Mother’s Table Setting
All five participants reminisce about their mothers in their stories. Letty Russell (1988:14) affirms how “the image of our mothers and grandmothers is often empowering for our lives as we seek to ground faith and action in our own herstory”. Phumzile recalls attending church with her mother and she calls to mind how her mother was one of the women who helped with all the work in their home church. The opening lines of Busisiwe’s story tell how her mother and grandmother were the ones who talked to her about God and she too attended church with her mother. Dawn tells how her mother spoke to her about God and encouraged her to attend Sunday School. Gina’s reference to her mother emphasises her strong Methodist roots and she remembers that her grandmother was a Sunday School teacher. Linda’s mother played a significant role in her life and she too was the one who took Linda to church. The mothers of these women played an important role in shaping their children’s spirituality. Even though none of the women indicated that their fathers were anti-church, none of them mentioned their fathers as the key figure in their childhood spiritual formation.
5.4.2. Children at the Table
The Methodist women were asked to reflect on their childhood experiences of God and the MCSA when they wrote their stories. More than one woman experienced fear and guilt as a child in the Church even though Jesus welcomed children into the circle. Gina was made to feel responsible for Jesus’ Crucifixion and Dawn was made to feel guilty about everyone coming to Jesus’ birthday on Christmas Day and not giving him a gift.
Kenneth Mtata (2011) has recently in his article ‘African Theological Anthropology: the
184 Place of Children’, challenged the discipline of African Women’s Theologies, whose scholarship he says, despite campaigning vociferously for inclusivity in their theologising, is nevertheless lacking because they have not included children in their theological discourses. He argues that “had their scope of marginalisation been enlarged to encompass children, this would have given African womanist theological reflection a positive nuance it currently misses” (Mtata 2011:55).132 Only when children are included, then will the quest for a more inclusive African theological anthropology be complete. Holness (2009:67) also reminds us of the importance of the prophet’s words and challenges the Church to “bring children in from the margins of faith, taking note of the real significance of those six short words in Isaiah’s prophecy: “a little child shall lead them” (Is. 11:6)”.
5.4.3. Minding our Manners at the Table
Even now, when women are supposed to feel welcome at ‘the Table’ through ordination in the MCSA, a sense of limitation still mars women’s participation in the Church. Tradition plays a prevailing role here, particularly when it comes to how women ought to dress and whether they may fill key positions of leadership in the Church.
Phumzile and Dawn have indicated their unwillingness to be told what to wear or how to behave, yet others have accepted the demands tradition makes on them. Busisiwe, however, is one of the women who perpetuate these notions, especially about women’s work in the Church and women covering their heads at Holy Communion. Njoroge (2005:68) reminds us of the desperate need for the “prophetic voice in a continent that is languishing in a litany of woes that devalue and diminish women’s fruitfulness and creativity”.
5.4.4. Bible Reading Around the Table
One thing emerges repeatedly in all the women’s stories – this is the importance of the Bible in their lives. The women are at different places with regard to the Bible133but it has nevertheless occupied a revered place in their spiritual journeys. Carolyn Osiek’s (1985:97ff) five-part typology of the Bible is a helpful tool with which to categorise where each woman situates herself with regard to the Bible. I do not think these terms cover
132 The question, however, needs to be raised as to whether male African theologians include children.
133 People often embody more than one position at any given time.
185 every perspective one can have on the Bible and although I use Osiek’s terms, the description of them is my own interpretation.
"Rejectionist"
This view declares that the Bible does not have ultimate authority and that the Christian Church is completely sexist and irredeemable. This view holds out no hope, as it sees the Church as misogynist and an institution that continues to abuse and marginalise women. Although Gina has expressed rejectionist tendencies, she in fact still holds onto the hope that the MCSA will change.
"Revisionist"
Within a revisionist understanding is the view that the text is patriarchal, but that this is due to the era in which it was authored and recorded. This view supports the notion that there is sacred truth in the Bible and that the language could be made inclusive. I would place Gina, Phumzile, Dawn and Linda in this category and to an extent I even believe Busisiwe has a few revisionist tendencies.
"Sublimationist"
This view perseveres at exploring feminine symbols and images of God in the Bible, and proposes that these ought to be discovered and developed. Linda, Dawn, Gina and Phumzile have each indicated in their stories that they are committed to discovering new images for God but none of them now wants to limit God to feminine images.
"Liberationist"
This view claims that the Bible’s primary aim is to facilitate liberation. All aspects related to images for God and language of the Bible are secondary. This view rejects any perspective on the Bible that does not overtly support liberation. Gina has expressed liberationist tendencies in her story but even she would not situate herself wholly in this category. Phumzile, Dawn and Linda would agree that the Bible has liberatory qualities but like Gina, they would not agree that liberation is its only objective. Here we also acknowledge that there are different perspectives on liberation. Liberation theologians have worked with political activists to change oppressive regimes but spiritual liberation is also an aspect, which cannot be ignored. A postcolonial reading of the Bible is essential in Africa as this adds an additional liberatory quality to the Bible, as does a gender reading.
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"Loyalist"
This view ascribes to the Bible absolute authority. It is the Word of God and therefore cannot be oppressive. It needs to be acknowledged that all five women’s introduction to the Bible began with this view. Only Busisiwe, however, has remained a loyalist. For the other four women, various experiences, studies and extensive reading have drawn them into acquiring a new perspective on the Bible. For most of them, their view of the Bible is now a mixed perspective, related very much to the context they find themselves in.
5.4.5. Exclusion From the Table
All the women in these stories have shared the pain of being excluded, at some time or another. Feminist theology emerged out of “pain” – the deep pain of the exclusion and marginalisation of women in the Church. Each of these women’s stories of exclusion was different. For Phumzile it was a conscious exclusion by her co-Bishops even though she too had been elected to the same high office in the MCSA, whereas for Busisiwe it was an unconscious exclusion, which she did not acknowledge, but was nevertheless real. For Gina it was the exclusive language of the hymns and liturgies in the Church and the way the Bible seems such an unfriendly book to women. For Linda it was being overlooked for leadership positions because she is a woman with blindness and, although she does not mention it, not having a liturgy printed in Braille at a major function in the MCSA. For Dawn it was being told, via her husband, not to wear brightly coloured stockings and, on another occasion, being relegated as a minister to serve in the Sunday School for three years. Feminist theologians have lamented the exclusion of women in the Church and will continue to do so until the Church changes.
5.4.6. Changing the Shape of the Table
While all the women talk of exclusion and pain, they also demonstrate incredible courage and hope, through various efforts. Linda’s perseverance at ministry, often in difficult circumstances, is encouraging. Her commitment to campaigning for gay rights in the MCSA is an example of a sure hope that change will come. Dawn’s dream to establish a church that will be different from any other church because it’s minister is a woman is another sign of hope. Gina’s willingness to serve on committees to examine policies in the MCSA means women are represented where changes need to take place. Phumzile’s
187 commitment to the AIDS Hospice where she serves continues to bring hope to the people living with HIV in her community. The values that are important to Busisiwe keep her committed to her family and loyal to the MCSA. African woman theologians are recognising that “God’s call to them is not passive. It is compelling and compulsory. It is a call to wholeness that challenges the will and the intellect” (Kanyoro and Oduyoye 2006:1). It is in accepting this call and in responding to this challenge that the shape of ‘the Table’ is being changed.
Inasmuch as theology is the study of God and of God’s relationship with humanity and the universe, ecclesiology is the study of the Church in all its forms. In the following section, I examine feminist ecclesiological perspectives, in relation to the women’s stories and my own experiences.