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Mujerista Theology: A Theology for the Twenty-First Century

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Ada María Isasi-Díaz (born 1943) is professor of ethics and theology at Drew University, as well as the founder and co-director of the Hispanic Institute of Theology. She is also the developer of "Mujerista theology." ("Mujer" is Spanish for "woman." It is thus related to Alice Walker's concept of "womanism".)

She states in the Preface to this 1996 book, "This book ... is an attempt to take seriously comments made to me regarding the need for a more complete elaboration of mujerista theology. I have gathered here a selection of essays written during this last decade. My goal has always been and still is to ... take note of the religious understandings and practices that play such an important role in the Latina struggle for survival and liberation in the United States of America."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Muchas gracias to the women of the parish where I worship ... their religious understandings and practices, as well as those of many other Latinas spread across the USA, are the main source of mujerista theology."
"I am an activist-theologian, and for me doing mujerista theology is one of the ways I participate in the struggle for the liberation of latina women and our communities in the USA" (Pg. 1)
"(M)ujerista theology ... is a process in which the oppressed are protagonists, participants in creating a reality different from the present oppressive one." (Pg. 1)
"Following the example of grassroots hispanic women, I do not think in terms of 'spirituality.' But I know myself as a person with a deep relationship with the divine, a relationship that finds expression in walking picket lines more than in kneeling, in being in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed more than in fasting and mortifying the flesh..." (Pg. 33)
"Mujerista is the word we have chosen to name devotion to Latinas' liberation. A mujerista is someone who makes a preferential option for Latina women, for our struggle for liberation." (Pg. 61)
"Mujerista theology has consistently insisted on the lived-experience of Latinas as not only the locus theologicus, the starting place of theological reflection, but the very source of our theology." (Pg. 107)
"The daily ordinary struggle of Hispanic women to survive and to live fully has been the central element of mujerista theology from the very start because it is, I believe, the main experience in the lives of the majority of Latinas." (Pg. 129)

I read this book for a feminist theology class and found it to be very helpful. Although many of the chapters were once published as stand alone essays it is very well edited and flows seamlessly. A quick and very enlightening read for Christians and non-christians. It is sure to resonate with the experience of any Latina who reads it. It is written for an audience that is not necessarily versed in feminist theology, making it very approachable.

In her book, Mujerista Theology, Isazi-Diaz makes a priority of describing not only the tenets of a mujerista approach, but also its roots. She opens the book with a series of chapters addressing her personal experience as a Latina, a nun, and a Cuban exile, and how these aspects of her identity form her approach to theology. She makes a point of addressing this basis as inherently subjective, forestalling criticism, and explains how subjectivity is integral to a mujerista approach. In the second half, she then describes the three hallmarks of mujerista theology: The locus theologicus as the mestizaje of Hispanics, lo cotidiano as a source of theology, and the values and mission of liberation theology.

By rooting mujerista theology in what she refers to as lo cotidiano, she exalts the importance of the mundane perspective and set of life experiences common to many Latinas. By including where she was able to connect with this theology, she also shows various ways in which this theology is growing out of response to specific needs within the Hispanic community. She repeatedly identifies mujerista theology as a liberation theology. This includes liberation from various forms of oppression, including economic, physical, marginalizing and ideological. In fact, it is the liberation goal of mujerista theology that serves as the anchor of the lens of lo cotidiano.
She then delves into an explanation of the fundamentals of the Mujerista perspective, namely what liberative praxis guided by the experience of lo cotidiano would require. She identifies solidarity with the oppressed, the struggle for justice, and the focus on traditional Hispanic values, such as community and family.

Isazi-Diaz makes a variety of very subtle points about the nature of theology and common methologies, the most important of which is her treatment of subjectivity. By openly proclaiming her subjectivity and its humanizing effect on theology she brings to light inherent biases in theological perspectives that are often invisible under the guise of objectivity.