9| African Women Befriending Jesus in Teresia Hinga’s Ecclesia

Abstract

Teresia Mbari Hinga, is a Kenyan and a professor of Religious Studies in USA, specializing in African religions, Feminist theologies, Religion and contemporary moral issues. She holds a Doctorate from the University of Lancaster UK Her doctoral work was a unique contribution to her theological enterprise wherein she was able to examine the Legio Maria independent Church and the transformations this church had made upon Mariology from the Roman Catholic Church (Hinga 1992b). For her, the distinct history of Africans is a history that is marked by colonialism, therefore the cultural context from which African women theologians speak is distinct. There is a decisively ambiguous impact of Christianity in the lives of African women. Christianity has participated in the oppression of women, since it has functioned to legitimize colonialism, racism and sexism. However, at the same time, African women have appropriated for themselves the gospel of liberty implied in Christianity (Hinga 1996: 31).