When They Honor the Voice: Centering African American Women's Call Stories

In: Journal of black studies, Band 40, Heft 4, S. 666-682

Abstract

This study assumes a personal and critical perspective and explores the point of view of a few African American ordained women ministers whose stories about their calls to the preaching ministry give clues as to the motivation and inspiration of other women committed to answering a Divine call. It combines thinking of womanist theology, the African American oral tradition, and African Diaspora life storytelling. By using ethnography, theology, and Afrocentrism, it assumes Black women's "centeredness"—a concept that speaks to one finding one's own voice in the midst of confusion and uncertainty—in examining the language, voice, and terminology that these women use to place call stories at the center of consideration about their relationship with the Divine.