Emilie Townes - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Emilie Townes

Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Oct 1, 2004

SBL Press eBooks, Sep 7, 2017

Interpretation, Dec 11, 2019

This essay uses Katie Geneva Cannon’s notion of Black womanist consciousness as a methodological ... more This essay uses Katie Geneva Cannon’s notion of Black womanist consciousness as a methodological tool to discuss the contours of our contemporary economic and immigration debates.

New York University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2022

In this 1955 essay, Baldwin explores Richard Wright’s novel Native Son to illuminate what it mean... more In this 1955 essay, Baldwin explores Richard Wright’s novel Native Son to illuminate what it means to be a Negro in America. For Baldwin, this is visceral. He is tired of Black folk being treated as mere social agendas rather than as flesh and blood. He notes that dehumanization is never a one-way street, that the loss of identity—be it stolen, borrowed, denied, or annihilated—has consequences far beyond those who are the immediate victims. For Baldwin, our crimes against ourselves echo and haunt and damn and eviscerate us. It is not enough (not in 1955 when the essay was published, not today) to think that we can leave our memories checked at some dismal door of gerrymandered elections or xenophobic nationalism or sycophantic equalities. Indeed for Baldwin, the story of Black folk is the story of Americans, one that is not, in his words, “a very pretty story. ”2 This is a story of shadows, or a series of shadows that are for Baldwin “self-created, intertwining.” And, sadly, Black folk do not exist except in “the darkness of our minds.”

This volume is an interdisciplinary exploration of the interplay between the contemporary Black C... more This volume is an interdisciplinary exploration of the interplay between the contemporary Black Church in the United States and African American womanist spirituality and social witness. Historically, the Black Church itself has represented a strong yoking of social witness and spirituality. This blend has endured whether the primary theology and ethical import of the Church has been accomodationist or protest-oriented. African American women in the Church have carried this legacy in their lived witness of spirituality and social action. This volume will explore some of the historic roots of this journey, the literary testimony of this heritage, and offers a constructive ethic for a contemporary social witness which is steeped in spiritual formation and growth.

This work was originally published as Attridge, Harold W., Miroslav Volf, Joseph Cumming, and Emi... more This work was originally published as Attridge, Harold W., Miroslav Volf, Joseph Cumming, and Emilie M. Townes. 2007. "Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to A Common Word between Us and You." International Journal of Frontier Missiology 24 (4): 215 - 17.

Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil, 2006

We begin with ourselves. Each of us must answer the question: What will we do with the fullness a... more We begin with ourselves. Each of us must answer the question: What will we do with the fullness and incompleteness of who we are as we stare down the interior material life of the cultural production of evil? Rather than content ourselves with the belief that the fantastic hegemonic imagination, the motive force behind the cultural production of evil, is a force that sits outside of us, we must answer remembering that we are in a world that we have helped make. The fantastic hegemonic imagination is deep within us and none of us can escape its influence by simply wishing to do so or thinking that our ontological perch exempts us from its spuming oppressive hierarchies. These hierarchies of age, class, gender, sexual orientation, race, and on and on are held in place by violence, fear, ignorance, acquiescence. The endgame is to win and win it all—status, influence, place, creation.

Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Apr 1, 2022

Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil, 2006

I begin with part of the actual text of the special field orders because I find many things about... more I begin with part of the actual text of the special field orders because I find many things about it noteworthy. First, the phrase “and a mule” is no where to be found—not in sections 1 and 3 above, not in sections 2, 4, 5, or 6 that are more concerned about loyalty to the Union and military service and defense. Second, this was a decidedly un-universal field order. The boundaries are clear: islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. Johns River, Florida, in other words, the sea islands on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia (These included Edisto, Hilton Head, Port Royal, St. Helena, and many other smaller islands that had been under Union control since 1861.)

Our postmodern culture suffers from the enormous impact of market forces on everyday life. We liv... more Our postmodern culture suffers from the enormous impact of market forces on everyday life. We live in an era where the United States has replaced Europe as the global hegemonist. There is an increase of political polarizations along the lines of nation, race, gender (sex, sexuality, sex roles, sexual orientation, sexism), class, denomination and faith traditions. In our world, culture is sanitized and then commodified. This process of changing aesthetic tastes—domestication of the once exotic or feared other, uncontrolled appropriation, market-driven refiners’ fires, mass production, and marketing—is for our enjoyment at the expense of people’s lives and shrinking paychecks. Often the solution is placed in the hands of lottery games—games of chance.

Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Oct 1, 2004

SBL Press eBooks, Sep 7, 2017

Interpretation, Dec 11, 2019

This essay uses Katie Geneva Cannon’s notion of Black womanist consciousness as a methodological ... more This essay uses Katie Geneva Cannon’s notion of Black womanist consciousness as a methodological tool to discuss the contours of our contemporary economic and immigration debates.

New York University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2022

In this 1955 essay, Baldwin explores Richard Wright’s novel Native Son to illuminate what it mean... more In this 1955 essay, Baldwin explores Richard Wright’s novel Native Son to illuminate what it means to be a Negro in America. For Baldwin, this is visceral. He is tired of Black folk being treated as mere social agendas rather than as flesh and blood. He notes that dehumanization is never a one-way street, that the loss of identity—be it stolen, borrowed, denied, or annihilated—has consequences far beyond those who are the immediate victims. For Baldwin, our crimes against ourselves echo and haunt and damn and eviscerate us. It is not enough (not in 1955 when the essay was published, not today) to think that we can leave our memories checked at some dismal door of gerrymandered elections or xenophobic nationalism or sycophantic equalities. Indeed for Baldwin, the story of Black folk is the story of Americans, one that is not, in his words, “a very pretty story. ”2 This is a story of shadows, or a series of shadows that are for Baldwin “self-created, intertwining.” And, sadly, Black folk do not exist except in “the darkness of our minds.”

This volume is an interdisciplinary exploration of the interplay between the contemporary Black C... more This volume is an interdisciplinary exploration of the interplay between the contemporary Black Church in the United States and African American womanist spirituality and social witness. Historically, the Black Church itself has represented a strong yoking of social witness and spirituality. This blend has endured whether the primary theology and ethical import of the Church has been accomodationist or protest-oriented. African American women in the Church have carried this legacy in their lived witness of spirituality and social action. This volume will explore some of the historic roots of this journey, the literary testimony of this heritage, and offers a constructive ethic for a contemporary social witness which is steeped in spiritual formation and growth.

This work was originally published as Attridge, Harold W., Miroslav Volf, Joseph Cumming, and Emi... more This work was originally published as Attridge, Harold W., Miroslav Volf, Joseph Cumming, and Emilie M. Townes. 2007. "Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to A Common Word between Us and You." International Journal of Frontier Missiology 24 (4): 215 - 17.

Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil, 2006

We begin with ourselves. Each of us must answer the question: What will we do with the fullness a... more We begin with ourselves. Each of us must answer the question: What will we do with the fullness and incompleteness of who we are as we stare down the interior material life of the cultural production of evil? Rather than content ourselves with the belief that the fantastic hegemonic imagination, the motive force behind the cultural production of evil, is a force that sits outside of us, we must answer remembering that we are in a world that we have helped make. The fantastic hegemonic imagination is deep within us and none of us can escape its influence by simply wishing to do so or thinking that our ontological perch exempts us from its spuming oppressive hierarchies. These hierarchies of age, class, gender, sexual orientation, race, and on and on are held in place by violence, fear, ignorance, acquiescence. The endgame is to win and win it all—status, influence, place, creation.

Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Apr 1, 2022

Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil, 2006

I begin with part of the actual text of the special field orders because I find many things about... more I begin with part of the actual text of the special field orders because I find many things about it noteworthy. First, the phrase “and a mule” is no where to be found—not in sections 1 and 3 above, not in sections 2, 4, 5, or 6 that are more concerned about loyalty to the Union and military service and defense. Second, this was a decidedly un-universal field order. The boundaries are clear: islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. Johns River, Florida, in other words, the sea islands on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia (These included Edisto, Hilton Head, Port Royal, St. Helena, and many other smaller islands that had been under Union control since 1861.)

Our postmodern culture suffers from the enormous impact of market forces on everyday life. We liv... more Our postmodern culture suffers from the enormous impact of market forces on everyday life. We live in an era where the United States has replaced Europe as the global hegemonist. There is an increase of political polarizations along the lines of nation, race, gender (sex, sexuality, sex roles, sexual orientation, sexism), class, denomination and faith traditions. In our world, culture is sanitized and then commodified. This process of changing aesthetic tastes—domestication of the once exotic or feared other, uncontrolled appropriation, market-driven refiners’ fires, mass production, and marketing—is for our enjoyment at the expense of people’s lives and shrinking paychecks. Often the solution is placed in the hands of lottery games—games of chance.