Beyond the Womanist Classroom: Recent Episodes
Mitzi J Smith PhD
Beyond the Womanist Classroom is a weekly podcast hosted by womanist biblical scholar Dr. Mitzi J. Smith (PhD). We discuss all things womanism, cutting-edge biblical interpretation, and justice. Please consider supporting us by subscribing to our podcast on buzzsprout.com.
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Dr. Mitzi J. Smith's guests are Drs. Oluwatomisin Oredein and Lakisha Lockhart-Rusch, the co-editors of Theopoetics in Color: Embodied Approaches to Theological Discourses (Grand Rapids: Wm B Eerdmans,2024). Available at Amazon.com, Eerdman's publishing, and other book sellers.
Dr. Oluwatomisin Oredein is Assistant Professor in Black Religious Traditions, Constructive Theology and Ethics at Brite Divinity School, Texas. Dr. Oredein is a graduate of The University of Virginia (BA) and Duke Divinity School (MDiv). She completed her ThD at Duke in Theology and Ethics in May 2017. Her dissertation examined the theology and ethics of Mercy Oduyoye, which is the first time someone has focused this kind of attention on this theologian. In order to follow up on this work, she is in the process of completing a book which is tentatively titled, Mercy, Me: The Theo-Feminism of Mercy Amba Oduyoye. In addition, Dr. Oredein has contributed several articles to academic and professional journals, chapters and essays in edited volumes, and has published several pieces of poetry. She is already taking leadership in the academy and guild by providing lectures and presentations at meetings and has participated in workshops at the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Religion and Theology. Dr. Oredein is a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church, USA.
Dr. Lakisha Lockhart-Rusch is Assistant Professor of Christian Education at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA. Lockhart’s research interests are in the areas of religious education; practical, liberation, and Womanist theologies; ethics and society; multiple intelligences; embodied faith and pedagogies; theological aesthetics’ theopoetics; creativity, imagination, and play. Her teaching takes seriously the benefits and necessity of play, movement, aesthetics, creative arts, and embodiment. For Lockhart, the body is a locus for doing theology and theological reflection.
She has authored and co-authored numerous publications and book chapters, including United Against Racism: Churches for Change: Facilitator’s Guide; “Enfleshing Catechesis Through Embodied Space” in the book Together Along the Way: Conversations Inspired by the Directory for Catechesis“; “Let’s Dance: Zumba and the Imago Dei of Beautiful Black Bodies” in The Other Journal: An Intersection of Theology & Culture; and “My Wildest Dream: A Letter to My Black Son” in Religious Education. Lockhart also was featured in the “Just Womanist” series for The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership.
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In Season 2, Episode 5, podcast host welcomes co-editors and contributors of the special issue of the African Journal of Gender and Religion entitled "Black Women's Radical Religious Epistemologies in Mahogany & Steepled Towers."
Co-editors:
Dr. CL Nash is a Political Theology Research Felow at the University of Edinburgh's School of Social and Political Science and a recent recipient of the prestigioous JIAS Writing Fellowship. Nash directs the Misogynoir to Mishpat ("hatred of Black women to justice") Research Network.
Dr. Geeta Patel is an interdisciplinary scholar, poet/translator, curator, and writer-activist, with degrees in three sciences, philosophy, and South Asian Studies. Institutional Affiliation: University of Virginia
Contributors:
Dr. Anna Perkins ("On/Unstained White Dress(es)...: Afro- Caribbean Female Purity in Sacred Spaces in Three Caribbean Women Poets") is a Senior Programme Officer with the Quality Assurance Unit, Office of the Board for Undergraduate Studies, University of the West Indies. Perkins earned a PhD in ethics.
Dr. Clementine Nishimwe ("Doing Church Differently: Crafting a Church Using the Circle's Theologizing Methodologies in a Xenophobic and Gendered Context") is a postdoctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi University in Finland.
Dr. Claudette Anderson ("Obeah/Obia by Igbo Spelling: Affirming the Value of After God is Dibia") is Executive Director and Professor of Ọbịa at Unụchi Foundation, an Afro-Atlantic Religious Reparations nonprofit.
You can find the petition mentioned in the podcast on Change.org under Repeal 1898 Obeah Law.
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Podcast Host, Dr. Mitzi J. Smith's guest is Dr. DeAnna M. Daniels. She is Assistant Professor of Africana and Religious Studies at the University of Arizona. In 2023 Dr. Daniels earned her Ph.D. in Religion with a concentration in African American Religion from Rice University. Her scholarly interests are diverse, focusing on Black religion, the intersections of gender and sexuality, Black speculative fiction and horror, popular and visual culture, and art and aesthetics. Additionally, her research engages critical theory, disability theory, Black studies, and cultural studies. In this episode we discuss horror and religion and what each has to say to the other and about Black women.
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In Episode 3 of Season 2, Podcast host, Dr. Mitzi J. Smith talks with Rev. Dr. Tijuana Gray (DMin, Columbia Theological Seminary) about her completed doctor of ministry project: "Queer Black Women Preaching: Womanist Thought as a Tool for Normalizing Uncomfortable Conversations."
Rev. Dr. Tijuana L. Gray recently received her Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2024 and marked the ninth anniversary of her ordination to the ministry with the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. She also holds a Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary, a bachelor’s degree in theatre from Loyola University Chicago, and several certifications in movement and bodywork. Tijuana continuously explores embodied spirituality and how we bring our whole selves into our relationship with the Divine. Currently, Tijuana is on a clergy leave of absence while she discerns the next stage of her calling. In the mean time, she is enjoying bonding with her spouse after an extended period of long distance and letting her cats teach her how to rest.
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In Season 2, Episode 2, podcast host Dr. Mitzi J. Smith discusses the film "The Book of Clarence" with Drs. Amy Lindeman Allen (Assoc. Prof. of New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary, IN) , Kyle Brooks (Visiting Asst. Prof. of Theology and Religious Studies at the Univ. of San Diego), and Tina Pippin (Prof. of Bible & Religion at Agnes Scott College). The film written in the Black radical imagination focuses on the journey and evolution of Clarence, the twin brother of the apostle Thomas. We discuss the racial, gendered, political, theological, christological, pedagogical, and ethical dimensions and implications of this film that unambiguously centers the Black imagination. The film is available Netflix.
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Podcast host Dr. Mitzi J. Smith interviews Dr. Dianne Stewart about her book Black Women, Black Love: America's War on Africa American Marriage (Seal, 2020). This is an important study of the systematic and unrelenting terroristic attack on Black love and marriage through the capture of Africans, enslavement, emancipation, reconstruction, civil rights era and in the present. We discuss the negative and debilitating impact of Christian theology and uncritical readings of the Bible support problematic patriarchal marriage and partnerships. Dr. Stewart's website is https://www.diannemstewart.com/about .
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In this episode 21 podcast host Dr. Mitzi J. Smith talks with Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems about the 18 tenets of Africana Womanism, which is a term Hudson-Weems conceptualized. The sixth edition of Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems' classic text Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves will be published this year by Routledge. Dr. Hudson-Weems is Professor of English at University of Missouri. She was the first to argue that the lynching of Emmett Till was the impetus for the civil rights movement. Her recently published edited volume Africana-Melanated Womanism: In It Together (Cambridge Scholars) is available from Amazon and other book sellers.
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In Episode 20, podcast host Dr. Mitzi J. Smith dialogues with Dr. Kenneth Ngwa, Prof of Hebrew Bible, Drew University Theological School, about his new book Let My People Live: An Africana Reading of Exodus(Westminster John Knox, 2022). Dr. Ngwa's book is available from the publisher, Amazon.com, and other book sellers. He is founder and director of the Religion and Global Health Forum at Drew and founder of "Never Stop Breathing," a research and praxis organization working at the interface of racial, social, and health justice.
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In this Episode 19, podcast host Rev. Dr. Mitzi J Smith talks with Rev. Dr. Raquel S. Lettsome, Distinguished Visiting Professor of New Testament and Womanist Hermeneutics at Eden Theological Seminary about her journey to womanism, her seminal text Call and Consequences, and her ministry (www.RSLministries.com).
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In this episode 18 podcast host Dr. Mitzi J. Smith welcomes guest and colleague Dr. Ralph Basui Watkins, the Peachtree Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA. He is a documentarian, pastor, professor who teaches with digital media, and the scholar with a camera who is building bridges to justice. He is a staunch supporter of womanism and feminism, Black women in general, and/or LGBTQI+ peoples. In this episode we discuss his latest work. Check out his website at www.drralphbasuiwatkins.org.
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In Episode 17 podcast host Dr. Mitzi J. Smith has a conversation with womanist colleague the Rev. Dr. Angela N. Parker. Dr. Parker is assistant professor of New Testament and Greek at McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Decatur, GA. We discuss how Dr. Parker became a womanist biblical scholar and her wonderful book If God Still Breathes, Why Can't I: Black Lives Matter and Biblical Authority.
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In this episode 16 podcast host Dr. Mitzi J. Smith conducts a fascinating interview with Dr. Mmapula D. Kebaneilwe, Hebrew Bible/OT Womanist Scholar, University of Botswana, Humboldt Research Scholar based in University of Bamberg, Germany, and Project Partner with Profs. J. Stiebert of Leeds University and Dr. Katie Edwards of Sheffield University (UK) on The Shiloh Project on Rape Culture, Religion, and the Bible (for which Dr. Smith is one of the consultants). Dr. Kebaneilwe discusses her upbringing in Botswana, her journey in/to womanism, and her research. She is a force!
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Hebrew Bible/OT womanist scholar, author, preacher, and public theologian Rev. Dr. Renita J. Weems is the guest of this episode 15 of Season 1 of the Beyond the Womanist Classroom Podcast. The host, Rev. Dr. Mitzi J. Smith speaks with Dr. Weems about her essay "The Biblical Field's Loss Was Womanist Ethics' Gain: Katie Cannon and the Dilemma of the Womanist Intellectual." That essay can be read in its entirety in Walking Through the Valley: Womanist Explorations in the Spirit of Katie Geneva Cannon, edited by Emilie M. Townes, Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Alison P. Gise Johnson & Angela D. Sims (Westminster John Knox, 2022). Enjoy!
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In this Episode 14, podcast host Rev. Dr. Mitzi J Smith (womanist scholar, author, professor) interviews Rev. Dr. Sharon Ellis Davis about her new book The Trauma of Sexual and Domestic Violence: Navigating My Way through Individuals, Religion, Policing and the Courts.
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In this Episode of Beyond the Womanist Classroom, podcast host Dr. Mitzi Smith interviews Dr. C L Nash about her womanist activist work in the United Kingdom and her brainchild Misogynoir to Mishpat, a website devoted to the work of Black women (of African descent) religious scholars. Listeners can find Misogynoir to Mishpat on Facebook and Twitter.
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In this Episode 12, Dr. Mitzi Smith (Podcast Host) has a conversation with her womanist colleagues, Dr. Marcia Y. Riggs (womanist ethicist) and Dr. Lisa Weaver (womanist scholar of liturgy) about negotiating life and work in a predominantly white academy and institution. We discuss the challenges, Black women's resilience, and our beautiful minds, starting with Dr. Aisha S. Ahmad's essay "A Survival Guide for Black, Indigenous, and Other Women of Color in Academe: How to protect your bright mind from the drain of everyday racism you may encounter in academic life" (Chronicle of Higher Education, July 6, 2020). This episode drops Friday, November 18, 2022.
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In Episode 11 of BTWC, Dr. Mitzi J. Smith's guest is Dr. Marcia Y. Riggs, a womanist ethicist. Dr. Riggs discusses her book Plenty Good Room: Women Versus Male Power in the Black Church. Dr. Riggs argues that we must break free from the social mythologies that we inherited from our enslavement and from white-patriarchal-capitalist society to create new mythologies that engender justice and freedom from gender-sexuality based oppression.
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This is Episode 10 of Beyond the Womanist Classroom. Podcast host Dr. Mitzi Smith interviews Dr. Ralph Basui Watkins about his project "Seeing the Future of the African American Church in the Rainbow." Find more info at futureoftheBlackChurch.org .
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In this Episode 9, Dr. Mitzi J Smith and co-host Rebecca Christian lift up the voices of women in the struggle for freedom and empowerment. These are women from the past, from Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer to Pearl Cleage and Michelle Obama and Stacey Abrams. We want to affirm our right to vote, celebrate our right to vote, and encourage us to use our power to vote!
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This is Episode 8, Season 1 "The Burden & Responsibility of Citizenship: if it Wasn't for the Women!" with podcast host Dr. Mitzi J Smith (womanist professor, author and scholar) and co-host Ms. Rebecca Christian. We discuss Black women voting rights activists and Mark 12:13-17 (render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God).
*See the complete oral history interview civil rights activists Ms. Rosie Head.
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In this episode 7 Women, Sexual Violence and Power, womanist biblical scholar Dr. Mitzi Smith discusses sexual violence against women and power. She focuses on the so-called biblical story of "the woman caught in adultery" and the apocryphal story of Susanna.
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In Episode 6 of the weekly podcast "Beyond the Womanist Classroom," Dr. Mitzi J. Smith's guest is Dr. Michael Newheart, her first biblical studies professor at Howard Univ School of Divinity. Dr. Smith talks with Dr. Newheart about the recent book they co-authored that focuses on the Bible as a collection of testimonies and what that means for biblical interpretation.
In Season 1, Episode 5 of the weekly podcast Beyond the Womanist Classroom, Dr. Mitzi Smith hosts a conversation with Ms. Rebecca Christian (a public school education in the DC area) about Womanism, approaching the Bible as a collection of testimonies (testimonies about testimonies within testimonies) and justice.
In Season 1, Episode 4 of the weekly podcast Beyond the Womanist Classroom, Dr. Mitzi J. Smith hosts a conversation with Ms. Rebecca Christian (a public school educator) about the. need for different and diverse questions. Black women must raise their questions when doing biblical interpretation and in life.
In Season 1, Episode 3 of Beyond the Womanist Classroom, womanist biblical scholar Dr. Mitzi J Smith discussions womanist biblical interpretation and justice in conversation with public school educator Ms. Rebecca Christian. We privilege the world in front of the text, where we live and where we interact with God!
In this Episode 2 (not 3; my error in the audio) of the weekly Beyond the Womanist Classroom podcast, the host Dr. Mitzi J Smith (womanist biblical scholar, professor, and author) discusses the Bible as a "human" text and what that means for interpretation. Dr. Smith's dialogue partner or co-host for this episode is Ms. Rebecca Christian, a public school educator who is new to womanism. We are delighted you have joined us!
This is Season 1, Episode 1 of the weekly podcast Beyond the Womanist Classroom hosted by Mitzi J. Smith, PhD and co-hosted by Ms. Rebecca Christian. Dr. Smith is a womanist biblical scholar, professor, and author. In this introductory episode Dr. Smith discusses Alice Walker's definition of "womanist," the Bible as an artifact of the Black community, and justice.
This is the trailer for the new "Beyond the Womanist Classroom Podcast" hosted by Mitzi J. Smith, PhD, womanist biblical scholar, professor, and author. The podcast is co-hosted by Ms. Rebecca Christian, a public school educator. Please join us as and our guests as we talk all things womanism, biblical interpretation and justice.