Featured JES Author: Rev. Dr. Gisela Uzukwu on "Crisis of Faith: Today's African Christians and Mami-Wata"

Issue 59.2 of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies is now available! For each issue, the Diablogue features one author and makes a full-text PDF version of their article available for 30 days on Project Muse. In this issue, we feature Gisela Uzukwu’s "CRISIS OF FAITH: TODAY’S AFRICAN CHRISTIANS AND MAMI-WATA.” A full-text PDF version of the article can be accessed HERE.

Dr. Gesila Nneka Uzukwu is a scholar of New Testament Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria. She holds a bachelor’s in Philosophy, bachelor’s in Theology, M.A and Licentiate in Theology and Religious Studies, and PhD in New Testament Studies (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium).

Her research interests are in New Testament Studies, Pauline literature, gender studies, and African Spiritualities and Theodicy. She is currently the Head of Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Nasarawa State University. She is the author of The Unity of Male and Female in Jesus Christ: An Exegetical Study of Galatians 3:28c in Light of Paul’s Theology of Promise. With her doctoral defence in New Testament Studies, she became the first African Woman to have obtained a Doctorate in Biblical Exegesis in Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. She has written several articles in both National and International journals. She is also a member of several editorial boards, such as, (a) Sapientia Logos: A Journal of Biblical Research & Interpretation in Africa; (b) THE CATHOLIC VOYAGE African Journal of Consecrated Life. A Publication of the Conference of Major Superiors of Nigeria; (c) Rubicon – NSUK Journal of Philosophy and Religion.

What is the argument of your J.E.S. article?

The J.E.S. article examines African Mami-wata spirituality in conversation with the present crisis of faith witnessed by many African Christians at the grassroots. The works of David Barrett, Philip Jenkins, and Andrew Walls have reiterated the intriguing shift in the center of Christianity to the Global South. In spite of all the creative theological enterprise that this paradigmatic shift has brought about, the issues of theodicy and Mami-wata spirituality have not been given the attention they rightly deserve. Yet, at the grassroots of African Christianities, Mami-wata spirituality in different forms has been used as an interpretative grid to explain the harsh existential problems confronting many African Christians. Unfortunately, systematic theologies in the Western traditions and their low-cost imitations in Africa have not engaged this crisis of faith at the grassroots of African Christianity, which is readily caused by the pragmatic appropriations of Mami-wata spirituality as a hermeneutical tool in order to interpret the existential problems of many African Christians. 

How, in your view, has the figure of Mami-Wata offered a solution to the problem of theodicy that Christianity has not?

The failure of African Christianity in its inability to solve the political and economic crisis of the African continent has further led many African Christians to seek help and solutions within the cultural precinct of traditional African spirituality. Historically, African Pentecostal Christianity has, for more than four decades now, mouthed the promises of wealth and prosperity to the African continent. Yet, most African Christians are living daily within the purview of enormous poverty and underdevelopment. Consequently, many African Christians are turning away from this Pentecostal message and seeking wealth and prosperity promised now by African Mami-wata advocates. Consequently, it seemed both African Pentecostal Christianity and Mami-wata religions were competitively at the long head in their quest to win over the soul of the African people.  Beyond this contestation, African Mami-wata spirituality appears to be winning in spite of the superficial victories of African Christianity in its populous character. For example, Mami-Wata spirituality deploys a realistic interpretative lens to the problem of good and evil. The theoretical and dogmatic nature of the Christian faith and its theology is not always at home with the African people since Africans are very practical in their representations of culture, traditions, and spiritualities. Guided by this understanding, some Africans would readily engage their African problems and solutions within their spiritual and traditional worldviews. Within this context, Mami-Wata spirituality has provided some Africans a fitting prism to engage their problems and find solutions. Similarly, the belief in witchcraft or spiritual manipulations is so prevalent and deeply embedded in the psyche of many Africans, (and Nigeria particularly) that it is almost impossible to explain the presence of evil without recourse to the mishap of spiritual beings.  Despite the many deliverance centers and prayer houses all across Africa, yet many African Christians underneath still romance with traditional African spiritualities. In Nigeria, this cultural romance embraces the inclusiveness of Mami-wata spirituality rather than the excessive dualism between good and evil as found in mainstream Africa Christianity.

How do Mami-Wata’s various positive and negative qualities provide a model of feminine divinity beyond the passive form of the Virgin Mary?

Mami-Wata spirituality fiercely engages African problems through the recognition of its active power, energetic presence, and aggressive personality. The fierceness of her anger is traditionally acknowledged particularly in combative defence of her devotees and to punish persons acts of sacrilege against her. In contrast, the traditional picture of the Virgin Mary embodies the opposite of this Mami-wata spirituality. The Virgin Mary is largely passive and operates only within the restrictive context of the Catholic faithful, while Mami-wata is directly connected to all human beings who use water. Interestingly, the usual praise of the Virgin Mary for her docility and submissive nature does not entirely resonate with the present African drive, spirit and energy which aggressively in tandem with Mami-wata personality advocate for the confrontation of all the dehumanized condition of their corporate existence instead of merely submitting to the status quo. In this regard, rather than the Virgin Mary model of submissiveness, the subversive personality of the Mami-Wata deity appears dynamically intriguing for many African Christians at the grassroots.

Why have Western and African Christianities alike struggled to engage seriously with the informal sites of religious expression such as those you surveyed in this study in this study?

African Christianity remained methodologically enslaved to the approach, areas of research interests, and concerns of Western Christianity. This paternalistic control and cultural hegemony of the West on African Christian theological discourses do not allow very often the engagement of contextual and local realities, which may be weird or strange to the Eurocentric interests of Western scholarship. Breaking this hegemony, research in Mami-wata repositioned past studies in theodicy, particularly in the discourse of systematic theology, to engage the contextual realities of the African people. Most importantly, the emerging field of World Christianity needs these local discourses in order to show the variegated character of Christianity, and the regional contours in expressions, struggles, and presentation of Global Christianity.  

How did you get interested in the topic?

I was brainstorming together with` Dr Matthew Michael, a colleague of mine at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies here in Nigeria, when we suddenly realised that the standard discourses on theodicy in systematic theologies have not given recognition to the local discourses in theodicy which do not take the traditional path of talking about theodicy in direct relationship to God, but did not include the cultural significance of other supernatural beings in the discourses of theodicy. Dr. Michael encouraged me to pursue this important academic trajectory, and I am so glad I did because it clearly suggests the need to rewrite works on theodicy to include discourses on local deities or other contending spiritual entities. Consequently, this research interest already suggests that discourses on theodicy as done in the West should not be paternalistically imposed on other contexts such as Africa because the nature of discourses on theodicy is a little bit different here.

What is your next project?

As for my next project, I am working in collaboration with Dr. Michael on a book on “Mami-Wata spirituality and Theodicy.”  We hope that this work will bring to mainstream discourses on African Christianity and European systematic theologies the intriguing conversations on how local discourses on theodicy could enrich global Christian theology.

Featured JES Author: So Jung Kim on "Speaking In-Between: Vernacular Spirituality of a Woman in Late Chosǒn Korea"

The Fall Issue 58.4 of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies is now available! For each issue, the Diablogue features one author and makes a full-text PDF version of their article available for 30 days on Project Muse. In this issue, we are featuring So Jung Kim’s "Speaking In-Between: Vernacular Spirituality of a Woman in Late Chosǒn Korea." A full-text PDF version of the article can be accessed HERE.

So Jung Kim (Presbyterian Church, USA) is the Associate for Theology in the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, PCUSA. She has a Ph.D. (2021) from the University of Chicago (IL) Divinity School. Her entries on James Cone and Womanist Theology are included in Charles Taliaferro and Elsa J. Marty, eds., A Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion, 2nd ed. She has published a reflection on liturgy during the pandemic in Call to Worship: Liturgy, Music, Preaching, and the Arts and a book review for the International Review of Mission. She has taught as an adjunct at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, and in her present position, teaches and resources Presbyterian constituents in local, national, and global settings.

She has presented at workshops and panels in several settings in the U.S., including, most recently, the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago. Ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA), her research interests involve several forms of theology, anthropology, Korean Christianity, and ecumenism.

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In two sentences, what is the argument of your J.E.S. article?

In my scholarly exploration, I examine the transcultural and transhistorical ramifications of ordinary language usage on Christian spirituality. The focal point of my analysis is the case of Yi Suni, a Korean female martyr. I posit that Yi Suni’s employment of sermo humilis, a literary style historically linked with Augustine, signifies a Spirit-inspired influence independent of Western missionary involvement. While prior research has addressed Yi Suni’s dual identity as a Confucian woman and a Catholic, I underscore the significance of scrutinizing her linguistic expressions, particularly evident in her letters, to understand better the challenges she faced within her transcultural milieu.

How does your reading of Yi Suni’s letters from prison help us to see her as more than a “virgin martyr” as typically understood among Korean Catholics?

In the ensuing section of this exposition, my attention is directed toward the spiritual dimensions of sermo humilis within Yi Suni’s correspondence penned on her deathbed letters. I delve into the intricate interplay between Confucian and Christian virtues, as evident in her writings. The discussion navigates through Yi Suni’s intricate negotiation of her conflated identity as a Confucian daughter and a Christian virgin martyr. I highlight the nuanced perspective that the contemporary emphasis on her ascetic life as a virgin martyr might present an incomplete portrayal of who she is – still, a filial daughter and a wife in a Confucian society.

In scrutinizing the text, I aim to unravel the multifaceted aspects of her identity, the messages conveyed therein, and how she grapples with the complexities of her era in a nuanced way. In the West, people tend to be classified into rigid religious categories such as Christian or Confucian.

What can Yi Suni’s story teach us about the fluidity of religious identities? 

The emergence of stringent religious categorizations in the modern Westernized world can be attributed not merely to “the West,” but specifically to its colonial and imperial impact. This influence has, in turn, engendered diverse forms of religious conflicts in the world under Western colonial influence. Yi Suni’s correspondence marks an early instance of this modern religious inclination, albeit an independent attempt to choose Catholicism with agency. However, despite the agency, her letters illustrate the inherent challenge in the notion of being committed to one religion between religious identities. The reality reflected in the letters underscores the coexistence of multiple religious affiliations within an individual’s identity and contextual framework.

I pose the question of whether the compelling force of Western religion, which necessitates choosing one religious identity over another, may engender confusion and potentially violate one’s choice to remain who she is in between more than two languages, cultures, and religions. Simultaneously, I wonder whether the possibility that acknowledging the fluidity of religious identities could alleviate such inner turmoil. Yi Suni’s utilization of diglossic vernacular language in her letters serves as a manifestation of this struggle, highlighting the complexity inherent in navigating diverse religious influences within her identity. However, we are still left with “what if?”

How did you get interested in the topic?

My academic journey has been centered on exploring various facets of Christianity and its global trajectory, encompassing both theoretical and practical dimensions. This led me to complete a doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago, Divinity School, which delves into the transformation of everyday language use in Christian religiosity and spirituality, examining its evolution within transhistorical and transcultural contexts. During this research journey, I encountered Yi Suni’s letters, which became a focal point in a chapter of my dissertation.

What is your next project?

As for my next project, I am developing my doctoral dissertation into a comprehensive book. This endeavor aims to serve as a foundational theory aligned with future works, contributing to academic discourse and offering valuable insights to religious communities in the diaspora.

Furthermore, my ongoing research expands into the intricate tapestry of Christianity as a religion and its spiritual practices. I explore how it integrates cultural, ethnic, and diasporic elements, focusing on the intersections of nationality, racial-ethnic identity, gender, and sexuality. This exploration is grounded in the understanding that these intersecting factors shape the lived, everyday experiences of individuals within the Asian diaspora. The resonance of these experiences extends across the transcultural and transnational journey of Christianity, manifesting on local, national, and global scales.

Thank you, Dr. Kim!