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15 pages, 224 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ain’t I a Woman? A Look at the Beauty of Blackness Amid the Internalized Body Politic of Genteel Whiteness

by Valerie Miles-Tribble

Religions 2024, 15(10), 1196; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15101196 - 30 Sep 2024

Viewed by 593

Ain’t I a Woman? This question was raised by activist and self-emancipated former slavewoman Sojourner Truth, who validly questioned the body politic of identity when contextualized to perceptions of female personhood. Essentially, what Truth challenged were presumptions about the standards set to revere female bodies through markers of genteel Whiteness, while the worth of embodied Blackness, precisely the beauty of Black women, is reviled. In this article, I seek to raise awareness about factors of patriarchy and societal ramifications. Patriarchy is a systematized phenomenology of norms privileging the male gaze. The White male gaze, particularly in strongholds of power, influences the body politic of communal identity. Black women tend to lean on their faith to embody strength, yet patriarchy also encumbers the gendered body politic in religious spheres. As a womanist scholar, my analysis considers the intricate roles that patriarchy holds in the cultural production of a genteel, pretty woman image, wherein the aura of Whiteness grounds a body politic that deems Blackness as other. Despite the influences of prevailing macrosystems, I propose a theoethic of self-love to push against negatively biased identity boundaries by affirming ways to embrace Black beauty with a subversive imperative to love oneself regardless. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Theologies)

8 pages, 203 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relationality and Revelation: Early Hindu Ecological Visions

by Rita D. Sherma

Religions 2021, 12(7), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070465 - 24 Jun 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3514

Abstract

This article, titled Relationality and Reverence: Hindu Ecological Visions, for the Special Issue on “Hinduism, Jainism, Yoga and Ecology”, edited by Christopher K. Chapple, focuses on the relationship of early Hindu texts (Samhitas and Upanishads) to the natural world. In relation to this effort, it is first necessary to recognize the value that ecotheologians confer on the recovery of epistemologies of respect for the earth’s ecosystems for recontextualizing theoethics and theopraxis for a viable future. The fabric of Hindu thought, from its inception, has contained strands which have been informed by a deep reverence for, and profound intimacy with, the natural world. Much of this perception and practice has become attenuated in the modern era. This paper will seek to draw attention to some key principles and perspectives within early Hindu textual traditions that can and should be ecotheologically re-evisioned for ecosystemic and societal sustainability within the “global” Hindu ethos. Full article

200 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Moral Bioenhancement through An Intersectional Theo-Ethical Lens: Refocusing on Divine Image-Bearing and Interdependence

by Tracy J. Trothen

Religions 2017, 8(5), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8050084 - 8 May 2017

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5579

Abstract

This article begins with a brief interrogation of the meanings of moral and virtue. Next, an intersectional Christian theo-ethical lens focusing on humans as divine image-bearers is used to generate critical insights regarding the influence of extreme individualism on approaches to moral bioenhancement. This alternative lens emphasizes the interdependence of life, and the contextual character of moral dispositions. The questions of what it means to be creatures bearing the imago dei and making moral choices, is at the center of this exploration. The author concludes that while there may be justifiable exceptions, for now moral bioenhancements are unwarranted. Moral improvement will be better achieved through more effective educational strategies, and possibly spiritual enhancements, that are geared toward appreciation for the interdependence of all life. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and the New Technologies)

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