This project was submitted as a final project for a course on Ethiopian Orthodox Christian thought in the 16th and 17th century. One of the key philosophers we learned about emphasized personal reflection and reason as essential to the strengthening of one’s faith. As someone who has left the faith they grew up in due to difference in perspective, this intrigued me. I asked people in my community about where their ruminations left them, and photographed them in locations that held specific significance to their spiritual journeys.

In my research, I set out to ask about the ways researchers, theologians, and general worshippers of varying identities understood God. The project initially and primarily asked questions in regards to Christianity, but is not entirely restricted to it.

God and Race

Specifically: How do racialized believers interrogate the disparities in thought from white and nonwhite theologians?

Basil Moore: "As such the nature and meaning of the Gospel is understood radically differently when it is approached from within the experiential context of white oppressors from what it is when black experiences and aspirations inform the interpretation. Thus Black Theology was about black people interpreting the Gospel in the light of black experience and interpreting black experience in the light of the Gospel." (Black Theology: In the Beginning)

James H Cone: "African culture informed black people's perspective on Christianity and made it impossible for many slaves to accept an interpretation of the Jesus story that violated their will for freedom. The passive Christ of white Christianity when combined with African culture became the Liberator of the oppressed from sociopolitical oppression... this Christ takes the black believer out of history entirely and places him in a new heaven where the streets are gold and the gates are pearl. But in every case, Christ is the otherness in the black experience that makes possible the affirmation of black humanity in an inhumane situation." (God of the Oppressed)

God and Colonialism

Specifically: How do Christians in colonized countries rectify the relationship between the violent promotion of Christianity from colonial forces with the faith they have today?

Mercy Amba Oduyoye: "There was never any need to debate the existence of God. The challenge was always to discern God at work. Does God take sides? If so, whose side is God on, and why? The African experience of God is that ultimately God is on the side of the weak and the side of justice."

"In South Africa, God was experienced by the Africans as active and operating with a whole lot of envoys when missionaries arrived to declare the whole system of [African religion] idolatrous and without God. It has taken the [African independent churches] to re-establish African language about God in the vocabulary of African Christians... God in the apartheid system was depicted in patriarchal and hierarchal terms, lending support to the oppressive regime. Traditional Christian theological terms like omniscience and omnipotence fuelled the oppressive authoritarianism and were no use to a people who understood God as abhorring slavery. The Africans found white authority incongruent to their traditional philosophy in which authority derives from serving the unity and well-being of the whole people. Authority is not power over." (The African experience of God through the eyes of an Akan woman)

God and Gender

Specifically: How might believers of marginalized genders confront the Biblical image of a masculine/patriarchal God?

Simon Howard, Debra L. Oswald, and Mackenzie S. Kirkman: "Taken together, the literature reviewed in this section supports the theory that a masculine conceptualization of God may serve to legitimatize the social and political authority of men in society, as well as legitimatize and rationalize unequal treatment between men and women as just and appropriate." (The Relationship between God’s Gender, Gender System Justification and Sexism)

Carolyn Pevey. Christine L. Williams, Christopher G Elison: "Feminist theologians and others have long argued that male God imagery is closely linked with the patriarchal teaching that females should remain subservient to male authority (e.g., Daly 1973;Reuther 1983; Sapiro 1986). While such God imagery may offer cultural legitimation for unequal gender relations, it is interesting that most of our Shady Grove women report considerable resourcefulness in managing and subverting cultural messages that are potentially demeaning." (Male God Imagery and female submission: Lessons from a southern baptist ladies' bible class)

Joy Ladin: "Gender-binary traditionalists tend to focus more on the idea that God created human beings ‘male and female''‘ than on the assertion that God created human beings “in God’s own image.” … the first chapter of Genesis emphasizes the creation of humanity in the image of God, which is mentioned four times, while creation of human beings ‘male and female’ is mentioned only once, in passing... the ‘image of God’ had nothing to do with sex, gender, human differences, or human bodies—but what, exactly, did it mean? That question—what aspects of humanity reflect our kinship with our bodiless Creator?—is at the heart of what I now recognize as my personal version of trans theology, not because it is a question specific to transgender people, but because being trans forced me to search for aspects of my own humanity that weren’t dependent on my body or the meanings others gave it."  In the Image of God, God Created Them: Toward Trans Theology

God and Sexuality

Specifically: How do believers of marginalized sexualities confront heterosexist ideals that have been normalized in multiple sects of their faith?

Kelly Kraus: "In order to develop a queer theology the LGBT community must first deal with the biblical verses traditionally understood to condemn homosexuality and in light of the fact that homosexual behavior is hardly mentioned in the Bible... The Bible has been incorrectly interpreted to condemn same-sex sexual acts and therefore gay and lesbian relationships. There are many branches of Christianity that use scripture to condemn gays and lesbians as an "abomination" or "perversion." This condemnation comes from a literal reading of the Bible, but it is important to remember the context and original languages the Bible was written in. Some branches of progressive Christianity have moved to a more modern and inclusive reading of the scriptures which focuses attention on the love preached by Jesus so as to welcome gays and lesbians into full inclusion of the church. Even with more Christian traditions heading towards inclusion, such as the Presbyterian Church, the majority of Christians incorrectly believe the Bible condemns gays and lesbians. It is important to note that this erroneous belief has led to devastating policies that unfairly target gays and lesbians because of their supposed immorality. In addition to these policies, the psychological damage done to LGBT individuals as a result of the church's stance is immeasurable." (Queer Theology: Reclaiming Christianity for the LGBT Community)