Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made: A Womanist Theology

Black women in America have carved out a distinctive and instructive faith stance that is influential well beyond the historic black church. Diana L. Hayes a leading commentator and forger of womanist thought especially in the black Catholic setting here offers strong brew for what ails the church the Christian tradition and the world.. Hayes specifically shows how womanist commitments in the Christian tradition provide a critical lens for seeing the strengths and weaknesses of a Christianity that has often flourished at the expense of or neglect of African Americans. She shows how a womanist understanding demands a pro-active stance on behalf of the least among us marginalized because of race gender class and/or sexual orientation. As sometime strangers and sojourners in their own church black women also have a unique take on the Catholic churchs stance. Yet their unquestioned devotion lends a hope and optimism often missing from critical thought and as Hayes shows in this powerful volume invites the church itself to a new conversation and role.