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Through the Eyes of Laughter : Fulata Lusungu Moyo’s Theology
Soko-de Jong, Thandi (2024): Through the Eyes of Laughter : Fulata Lusungu Moyo’s Theology, in: Nelly Mwale, Rosinah Gabaitse, Fundiswa Kobo, u. a. (Hrsg.), Nehanda : Women’s Theologies of Liberation in Southern Africa (Circle Jubilee Volume 3), Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press, S. 137–160, doi: 10.20378/irb-96493.
Author:
Title of the compilation:
Nehanda : Women’s Theologies of Liberation in Southern Africa (Circle Jubilee Volume 3)
Publisher Information:
Year of publication:
2024
Pages:
ISBN:
978-3-98989-000-8
Language:
English
DOI:
Abstract:
Fulata Lusungu Moyo is a Malawian systematics and feminist theologian, as well as one of the founding members of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. Her work spans over three decades and has raised great awareness — through storytelling that embodies interpretations and theologies of liberation — against issues that dehumanise women. She is a proponent of religious and cultural hermeneutics that engage with women’s experiences, as her work predominantly addresses religious and cultural influences on gender construction and women’s sexuality. In addition to her academic contributions, she is also an advocate for gender justice. She is accredited with encouraging churches worldwide to adopt the ‘Thursdays in Black’ campaign against rape and violence during her tenure as Program Executive for Women in Church and Society at the World Council of Churches (2007 – 2019). Against this background, this chapter — as the title suggests — is about Moyo's theology, particularly her mission to help co empower others and be a leading voice in discourse on justice, women and the church. My aim is to focus on how her contribution to theology inspires others, particularly young theologians and gender justice advocates. Through theologies of liberation by means of storytelling and humour, I will explore her contribution using the conceptual framework of storytelling. Storytelling is essential in the theological reflections of women of the Circle. Through storytelling, theological reflection proceeds “from the narrating of the story to analysing it to show how the various actors in the story see themselves, how they interact with others, and how they view their own agency in life as a whole”.1 This enables theological reflection from the perspective of faith through “a conscious implementation of biblical and cultural hermeneutics”.2 Thus, in terms of methodology, this chapter will focus on exploring the ways Moyo’s has used humour and storytelling to aid in the promotion of gender justice. Ultimately, this chapter forwards Moyo’s unique contribution as a Ngoni Tumbuka theologian who uses her experiences and knowledge to advocate for liberative theologies of gender justice. Furthermore, I argue that from a theology of liberation, her contributions critically respond to contextual issues of religion, gender and notions of African sexuality. In this way, the discussion below relates to two objectives of the volume that are (a) discussing the specific features and uniqueness of the theology of a particular Matriarch and (b) discussing the purpose of the Matriarch's generated theological thinking.
GND Keywords: ;
Moyo, Fulata Lusungu
Feministische Theologie
Keywords: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Fulata L. Moyo; ; ;; ; , ; ; ;
Women’s Theology
Co-empower
Scholar-activist
Activist-theology
Gender
Gender-based Violence
Kyriarchy
Laughter
Ngoni-Tumbuka
DDC Classification:
RVK Classification:
Type:
Contribution to an Articlecollection
Activation date:
July 23, 2024
Permalink
https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/96493