Sacred Seminary Symposium

Sancta Colloquia

In this episode, Sabrina and I discuss Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz's book Mujerista Theology, specifically looking at chapter 3: "By the Rivers of Babylon: Exile as a Way of Life".

Isasi-Diaz takes time to walk her reader through the structure and language of Psalm 137, a Psalm that marks her life journey as one of exile. Exile is not an easy place to live...when we think of exile we may think of one being a stranger in a strange land, but what if that strangeness is felt both at "home" and one different soil? Those of us accustomed to being "accepted" as part of the dominant and in group do not know this feeling of being neither here nor there. In a world that loves classifying bodies as "illegal" maybe we should stop and think about the strain of permanent exile?

Sabrina and I discuss some of the primary themes of the chapter and drive home the recurring theme that our praxis as Christians matters...even if small, Sabrina reminds us, those small acts have beautiful ripple effects.

Here are some quotes we look at specifically:

p37: “I learned how to do scientific exegesis. But no matter how much i tried, I was not able to acquire that disinterested objectivity that seems to be required for this discipline. There are two things that always troubled me about this. First, as a mujerista theologian, a Hispanic women’s liberation theologian, my hermeneutics of suspicion led me to conclude what most of the time thwart is considered objectivity is the subjectivity of dominant groups who can impose their understanding on others.”

p48: “Then, as I struggle to stand in solidarity with the poor in this country and in other parts of the world, Psalm 137 helps me sustain hope and maintain a countercultural posture while living in one of the richest countries in the world. This means, among many other things, not succumbing to consumerism, not caring so much about always having enough money that I am not generous in sharing what I have. It means that I have to influence other Christians, in whatever way I can, to understand and accept that we cannot call ourselves Christian if we do not avidly work so all can have what humans need in the struggle for fullness of life; food, shelter, healthcare, employment. Psalm 137 helps me to maintain a countercultural position by remind me to ‘live simply so other can simply live.’”

p38: "The point of entry is precisely the reader: she is the one who frames the questions being posed about the text and to the text; her hermeneutics will ultimately influence what the text is understood to have meant and meant today. Because scientific biblical studies ignore this, they cannot get at the real meaning of the Bible. Attempts to recover the original meaning in reality turn the Biblical text into an undiscovered archeological artifact."

p46 "The 'speech of assault', I believe, often becomes not cathartic but rather as a screen for the complicity (by omission if not by commission) of all of us in exile in what has happened in Cuba. The cries for vengeance can indeed function to absolve us falsely of all responsibility for the situation in our country."

p39fn7, "middle-class white woman": "One of the most shocking things that I came to realize many years later was that in coming to the USA my race had changed from white to "Hispanic."