5 Quotes by Mitzi J. Smith

As prophetic activist, the womanist biblical scholar knows her power is derived from her relationship with the God who created the universe and everything in it, and who created all human beings equal.

Yet even as women are the majority in most black churches and even though black women’s oppressions, especially with regard to sexual assault, have been the impetus for the Civil Rights movement,264 the black church has failed on any significant scale to be an activist for gender inclusivity and sexual orientation.

I would argue that the essential task of a womanist hermeneutic consists in analyzing black sermonic texts with regard to how they “participate in creating or sustaining oppressive or liberating theoethical values and sociopolitical practices.

She must constantly make available to God her fallible humanity so that God might continually encourage, transform, and regenerate her for the work she is called to do for herself and her community.

The womanist prophetess submits herself to God as a text to be read, indicted, and transformed so that she in turn can be a revolutionary, transformative force in the world.