Notes of a Native Daughter: Testifying in Theological Education (Keri Day) -- a Review
NOTES OF A NATIVE DAUGHTER: Testifying in Theological Education. By Keri Day. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2021. Viii + 143 pages.
Theological
Education is going through a period of massive change. Many factors are contributing
to this era of change that ranges from economics to evolving student
populations. The day when the majority of seminarians were recent college
graduates intending to pursue ordained ministry, which was true when I went to
seminary some four decades back, seems to be a thing of the past. The
demographics have changed dramatically, with more women and people of color
entering seminary. Many are second career. Still others are not sure what the
future holds for them. They may be in seminary to explore religious options
without any vocation expectations. Then
there is the wrench of COVID that has turned everything upside down.
One of
the biggest change is that of a theological perspective. That is, more and more
people are raising questions about traditional theological education that has
been largely a white male endeavor. When I went to seminary my teachers were
mostly white males. In fact, Roberta Hestenes was my only female professor in
seminary. As for people of color, well I did attempt to audit a class in political
theology taught by an adjunct who was a black Pentecostal pastor/scholar. You
would think things would have changed in the past forty years, but while there
are more women and persons of color on the faculty of the seminary I graduated
from white males still dominate. Nevertheless, as seen in the contributions to
the Theological Education Between the Times series, of which I’ve read three
books (all three by persons of color—Willie James Jennings (African American
male), Amos Yong (Malaysian male), and now Keri Day (African American woman))
the voices of those who have been underrepresented in theological education are
making their voices heard, contributing to the changes that theological
education is undergoing.
Notes of a Native Daughter by Keri Day is the third book in this series of
reflections on theological education that I’ve read. Jennings wrote from the
perspective of a former academic dean who has returned full-time to the classroom.
Yong writes as a dean and professor. In Notes
of a Native Daughter, Keri Day writes as one who has participated in academic
leadership, but more as a professor. She uses the idea of testifying, which is
a mode of expression in the black Pentecostal churches she grew up in to tell
her story.
Day is
an associate professor of constructive theology and African American Religion
at Princeton Theological Seminary. Before coming to Princeton, she directed the
Black Church Studies Program at Brite Divinity School, a Disciples of Christ
seminary. In this book, Day brings together her academic background along with
her experiences as a Black Woman theologian with a Pentecostal background. She
addresses the challenges that each of these dimensions of her experience brings
to the Table. She does so using the medium of testimony.
The
book is organized around a series of testimonies (something that is prominent
within Pentecostal contexts). She wants to bear witness (testify) to both the
trials and sufferings experienced by students and faculty of color as well as
the potential that is present in the world of theological education for persons
of color. She writes from a liberationist/womanist perspective, with a
Pentecostal twist. What we have here is a series of testimonies designed to
"tell the truth about difficult experiences that mark theological
education, not out of spite or bitterness but to demonstrate the toll that
broken community takes on all of us" (pp. 2-3). Therefore, she writes: “in
this book, I call theological education to repentance by being truthful about
the racist character of the theological enterprise even in the midst of its
growing racially diverse landscape” (p. 3).
What
might that include? In one of the testimonies (chapters), she speaks to the
feeling on the part of persons of color to learn to pass, to simply blend into
the white theological world so as not to make waves, all because structural
racism remains present. As evidence of this, she shares how many African
American women academics are discouraged from doing theology or biblical
studies from a Womanist perspective. Instead, they are urged, for the sake of employment
and advancement to focus on white male theologians. That happens in what one
would assume are relatively progressive programs.
As one would
expect from a book of testimonies, this is a very personal book. Day shares not
only her experiences as an African American teaching in predominantly white
institutions (when she was at Brite she was the only Black woman on faculty and
at Princeton, she was the first Black woman to teach theology), but she also speaks
to the challenges present within the Black church, which doesn't always welcome
women or LGBTQ folks within their ranks (as she discovered while at Brite). Her
testimony about her experiences at Brite is a reminder that the context of theological
education is complicated. So, while the seminary is progressive, many of the
black pastors who helped guide the Black Church Studies program were more
conservative. At the same time, many of her white colleagues didn’t understand
her perspective as a black woman who is also Pentecostal. Thus, this is a book
that speaks to the reality that many participants in theological education have
to transgress boundaries. As we're discovering with the push back against
Critical Race Theory, folks who transgress boundaries are not always well
received.
Because
this is a collection of testimonies it's difficult to summarize what one finds
here. There is lament but there are also words of hope. Day speaks prophetic
words to the reality she finds, but at the same time, she is committed to theological
education. As one expects when prophetic words are shared the words will challenge
the hearer (or in this case, the reader). The intriguing part of this
particular contribution is that Day brings her Pentecostal experience to the
Table (the same is true for the book by Amos Yong). She reminds us that
Pentecostalism can contribute to the transformation of theological education
with its emphasis on the Spirit. We’re also reminded, in her testimonies, of
the contribution to the overall program of theological education made by students
who do not wish to pursue traditional ministry but desire a seminary education.
She also speaks of the fear and suspicion that many African American students
bring with them to seminaries that are predominantly white. I can only imagine
what it must be like to enter an academic setting where you are in the minority
and where the perspectives of the majority are considered normative.
As I
read Day’s Notes of a Native Daughter, having already read Willie James
Jennings’ After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging, I was reminded of
my own experiences with theological education. As noted above, I managed to
make it through seminary, through a Ph.D. program in historical theology, and
not have one professor who was a person of color. In fact, going back to
college the only person of color I had as a teacher was my college Old
Testament professor who is Korean. Things have changed at both institutions, nevertheless,
I will confess that ultimately my education was deficient in this area (and I
had really great professors). But, I will also note that I didn’t have many
options since the faculty at the time was almost completely white male. So, we
need to hear testimonies like the ones we find here.
Testimonies
often call for change, and change is happening, but often slowly. There is a need
for lament and repentance, but we also need words of hope. Voices like the one
we hear in this book point us in the right direction. As Day writes in her
closing postscript, “I want our theological institutions not to settle for
institutional preservation but courageously to lead communities into futures of
love, care, and justice. But this is possible only when we are open to otherwise
moments that acknowledge and name racial trauma and pain, moments that shock us
with unanticipated experiences of intimacy because we have been truthful and
vulnerable, moments that cultivate spaces for institutional accountability and
transparency, moments that teach us something about communities of belonging”
(p. 135). It is a challenging testimony, but in its powerfulness, we find hope.
For that, even when Keri Day made me feel a bit uncomfortable, I was grateful
for her testimony. For that reason, this is a book that needs to find a wide
audience so that the Spirit that she speaks of in Notes of a Native Daughter
can move us forward.
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