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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