信仰是许多非裔美国妇女生活中的一股强大的指导力量。对于他们从精神社区得到的一切，他们给予了更多。事实上，黑人妇女长期以来一直被视为黑人教会的骨干。但他们广泛而重要的贡献是作为非宗教领袖，而不是作为教会的宗教领袖。

妇女占多数

非裔美国人教堂的会众主要是女性，而非裔美国人教堂的牧师几乎都是男性。为什么黑人女性不能成为精神领袖？黑人女性教徒怎么想？尽管黑人教会中存在着明显的性别不平等，为什么教会生活对这么多黑人妇女仍然如此重要？

达芙妮·C·威金斯（Daphne C.Wiggins）是杜克神学院（Duke Divinity School）前教会研究助理教授，她一直在追问这一问题，并于2004年出版了《正义的内容：黑人女性对教会和信仰的看法》。本书围绕两个主要问题展开：

• “为什么女性对黑人教会如此忠诚？”
• “黑人教会在女性眼中的表现如何？”

对教会的奉献

为了找到答案，威金斯找到了代表美国两大黑人教派的教堂的女性，采访了来自乔治亚州加略山浸信会教堂和基督里的莱顿神庙教堂的38名女性。这一群体在年龄、职业和婚姻状况方面存在差异。

哈佛大学的玛拉·弗雷德里克（Marla Frederick）在《北极星：非裔美国人宗教历史杂志》中评论了威金斯的书，并观察到：

...Wiggins explores what women give and receive in their reciprocal alliance with the church....[She] examines how women themselves understand the mission of the black church...as the center of political and social life for African Americans. While women are still committed to the historic social work of the church, they are increasingly concerned about individual spiritual transformation. According to Wiggins, “the interpersonal, emotional or spiritual needs of church and community members were primary in the women’s minds, ahead of systemic or structural injustices”.... Wiggins captures the seeming ambivalence of lay women towards the need to advocate for more women clergy or for women in positions of pastoral leadership. While women appreciate women ministers, they are not inclined towards politically addressing the glass ceiling that is evident in most protestant denominations.... From the turn of the twentieth century to now various Baptist and Pentecostal communities have differed and splintered on the issue of women’s ordination. Nevertheless, Wiggins contends that the focus on ministerial positions might camouflage the real power that women wield in churches as trustees, deaconesses and members of mothers’ boards.

性别不平等

尽管黑人教会中的许多女性可能并不关心性别不平等，但在其讲坛上讲道的男性却很清楚这一点。弗吉尼亚州诺福克市普莱森特山浸信会牧师、老自治领哲学副教授詹姆斯·亨利·哈里斯（James Henry Harris）在一篇题为《在黑人教堂实践解放》的文章中写道​大学写道：

Sexism against black women should...be addressed by black theology and the black church. Women in black churches outnumber men by more than two to one; yet in positions of authority and responsibility the ratio is reversed. Though women are gradually entering ministry as bishops, pastors, deacons and elders, many men and women still resist and fear that development. When our church licensed a woman to the preaching ministry over a decade ago, almost all the male deacons and many women members opposed the action by appealing to tradition and selected Scripture passages. Black theology and the black church must deal with the double bondage of black women in church and society. Two ways they can do so are, first, to treat black women with the same respect as men. This means that women who are qualified for ministry must be given the same opportunities as men to become pastors and to serve in such leadership positions as deacons, stewards, trustees, etc. Second, theology and the church must eliminate exclusionist language, attitudes or practices, however benign or unintended, in order to benefit fully from the talents of women.

来源

弗雷德里克，马拉。《正义的内容：黑人妇女对教会和信仰的看法》，达芙妮·C·威金斯著，《北极星》，第8卷，2005年春季第2期。

哈里斯，詹姆斯·亨利。“在黑人教堂实践解放”，宗教在线。基督教世纪，1990年6月13-20日。