Jacquelyn Grant

Jacquelyn Grant
Born	Georgetown, South Carolina
Occupation	Reverend, Author, Theologian, Professor
Language	English
Nationality	American
Education	Bennett College, Turner Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary
Notable works	White Women's Christ and Black Women's Jesus: Feminist Christology and Womanist Response, Perspectives on Womanist Theology
Spouse	Reverend John Collier (died 2009)
Children	John W.P. Collier III, Joan K. Collier

Jacquelyn Grant (born December 19, 1948) is an African-American womanist, theologian, and author, one of the developers of womanist theology.

Overview

Jacquelyn Grant is an author, theology professor, and minister. She has earned a Ph.D in systematic theology and was nominated Woman of the Year by the Iota Phi Lambda Sorority. Grant has written the notable White Women's Christ and Black Women's Jesus: Feminist Christology and Womanist Response.

Biography

Grant was born December 19, 1948 in Georgetown, South Carolina. She always had an interest in religion, attending Catholic school at a young age, and graduating from the local Howard High School in 1966. A graduate of Bennett College and Turner Theological Seminary, she became the first black woman to earn a doctoral degree in systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary. There she created the thesis The development and limitations of feminist Christology : toward an engagement of white women's and black women's religious experiences NY under the tutelage of James Hal Cone, who is known as the father of Black Theology. In 1977, Grant became involved with Harvard Divinity School’s Women’s Research Program and with her involvement, it led to the creation of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program in which she remained for two years. Grant led efforts to join women in the fight for equality: “She spearheaded efforts to bring women together to address the role and equality of women with a position paper on the status of women written for the 1976 General Conference, convening a meeting of the female ministers at the General Conference to voice concerns about representation in the governing processes and ministry of the AMEC, and leading a delegation to take these concerns before the Council of Bishops in 1977 at Atlantic City, NJ.”

In 1981, she founded the Center for Black Women in Church and Society at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta in 1981, where she holds the title of Professor. She has been assistant minister at Flipper Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1980 to 1982,and later the Victory African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta. She is now the Callaway Professor of Systematic Theology at the Interdenominational Theological Union in Atlanta where she is additionally the Founding Director of Black Women in Church and Society. She is widowed to Reverend John Collier Jr., and now resides in Atlanta.

Achievements and contributions

Grant is considered to be a Community Mother well known for her commitment to building stronger communities and churches. As a Result of this, Grant founded the Center for Black Women in Church and Society at the Interdenominational Theological Center (Atlanta, GA) in 1981. Through her Black Women in Ministerial Leadership Program, Grant continues to serve as director and professor also mentoring numerous Black women. Through her wisdom, women of color are learning to harness their collective wisdom to build stronger families, communities, and churches that will influence future generations. Grant was also featured in the 1983 April issue of Ebony Magazine as one of the contributors to article "School of Religion for Men Behind Bars" and the 1992 December issue to article "Gifts of the Spirit".

Grant was the recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ministry Award in 1986 and has been nominated as the Woman of the Year in Religion by the Iota Phi Lambda Sorority. She has appeared in the Who's Who Among African Americans. Dr. Grant currently has a research project that examines African American understanding of the divine through Black theology and Black art.

As a womanist theologian

“Theologian Jacquelyn Grant distinguishes between the remote and heavenly Christ worshipped in mainline white churches and the immanent and intimate Jesus whom black women recognize as their friend”. Many of these women share a commitment in using their faith to avoid construction of stereotypes. With black women being the vast majority of active participants in their churches, their work tends to be undervalued. Women serving as activist for the black church were put into institutional barriers for their political expression by the black church itself. However, Dr. Grant reminds black women “while it sounded like a compliment to justify that they are the “backbone” of the church, “the telling portion of the world backbone” is ‘back’. It has become apparent to me that most of the ministers who use this term have reference to location rather than function.”

Rev. Dr. Grant is a first generation of womanist theologians. She differs from the others such as James Hal Cone, whose work was seen as sexist because of his male centered views and for not including the experiences of black women in his sources. Dr. Grant felt as though he did not take into account the experiences of black women as she points out "Black women have been invisible in theology including black theology and feminist theology”. Also arguing, the oppression of black women is different then that of black men. She then concludes with the idea that black women are more oppressed and therefore need more liberation than white women and black men. Dolores Williams took the work of both theologians and expanded them by concluding that “Womanist theology is a prophetic voice concerned about the well-being of the entire African American community, male and female, adults and children. Womanist theology attempts to help black women see, affirm, and have confidence in the importance of their experience and faith for determining the character of the Christian religion in the African American community. Womanist theology challenges all oppressive forces impeding black women’s struggle for survival and for the development of a positive, productive quality of life conducive to women’s and the family’s freedom and well being. Womanist theology opposes all oppression based on race, sex, class, sexual preference, physical ability, and caste”.

Book reception

Jacquelyn Grant is widely regarded as an important “womanist theologian”. Her book White Women's Christ and Black Women's Jesus: Feminist Christology and Womanist Response became a best seller. The text is described as laying out the complex relationship between Christology and feminism. Grant expands on the idea by interjecting women other than European descent and origin into this equation. Outlining these relationships, Grant intersects these concepts of Christology and womanist theology. The result of exploring the two concepts together helps to address the historical and modern day experiences for Black women’s plight.

Grant’s work in White Women's Christ and Black Women's Jesus: Feminist Christology and Womanist Response conveyed the "tri-dimensional reality render[ing] their situation a complex one. One could say that not only are they the oppressed of the oppressed, but their situation represents the "particular within the particular," as author Joan M. Martin points out in The Notion of Difference for Emerging Women Ethics to address a broader subject on ethics in society. By exploring the relationship between Black women and Jesus as a “divine co-sufferer”, womanist theology provides meaningful examples to expound on an assortment of topics dealing with Black women’s experiences.

Publications

• White Women's Christ and Black Women's Jesus: Feminist Christology and Womanist Response (Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1989. American Academy of Religion academy series).
• (co-ed. with Randall C. Bailey) The Recovery of Black Presence: An Interdisciplinary Exploration : Essays in Honor of Dr. Charles B. Copher. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995.
• Perspectives on Womanist Theology. Atlanta: ITC Press, 1995.
• "Black women and the church" in Hull, Gloria T., Patricia Bell-Scott, and Barbara Smith (eds), All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, but Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies. Old Westbury, N.Y.: Feminist Press, 1982.
• "The challenge of the darker sister" in Soskice, Janet Martin, and Diana Lipton. Feminism and Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.