Caribbean Bible study book receives enthusiastic response

["Daphne Martin_Gnanadason" <Daphne.Martin_Gnanadason@wcrc.ch>]

World Communion of Reformed Churches  
News Release
18 May 2011
 
CaribbeanBible study book receives enthusiastic response
 
A book of Bible studies written by church women from the
Caribbean has received an enthusiastic welcome at a book launch
event in Jamaica. 
 
Righting Her-Story: Caribbean Women Encounter the Biblewas
launched on Tuesday at the United Theological College of the
West Indies (UTCWI) in the Jamaican capital, Kingston. Over 200
people gathered for the launch of the book that had received
considerable advance publicity in Caribbean media.
 
Faith Webster, a Jamaican government official, told the crowd
that the book is “poised to contribute much to the consciousness
of critical reality given the patriarchal context that exists in
the religious world”. 
 
Webster, who is Executive Director of the Bureau of Women’s
Affairs, hailed the book as the “first ecumenical book of
Caribbean feminist and ‘womanist’ post-colonial Bible studies”. 

 
The book of Bible studies and biographies of pioneering
Caribbean women theologians is published by the World Communion
of Reformed Churches (WCRC) – a global network of Reformed,
Presbyterian, Congregational and United churches known for their
commitment to mission, church unity, and justice.  The head of
WCRC’s Justice and Partnership Programme, Patricia
Sheerattan-Bisnauth, was the editor. 
 
Righting Her-Storyincludes a Bible study training guide,
outlines for worship services, 20 Bible studies with accompanying
stories and poems from Caribbean women, as well as resources for
a campaign on violence against women.
 
Paulette Brown, a Jamaican-Canadian theologian and pastor who
represented Sheerattan-Bisnauth at the event, commended the
Guyanese Presbyterian pastor for her role in organizing key women
church leaders from the Caribbean, Geneva, Canada, the United
States, Africa and Asia to contribute to the book. 
 
“Rev. Pat is resolute about Caribbean women reading the Bible
alongside Caribbean men in the context of violence against women,
and for the sake of transformation,” Brown told the crowd.  
 
All the writers are lay or ordained women from Baptist,
Congregational, Evangelical, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic,
Reformed and United traditions. While most are from the Caribbean
region, two are from the Caribbean diaspora in North America and
two from Asia and Africa.
Sarojini Nadar of the School of Religion and Theology at South
Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal, was the featured speaker at
the book launch. The African academic has published extensively
on gender, spirituality and theologies in Africa.
 
In her address, Nadar endorsed the book’s diverse
representations of Caribbean women. “It is not all about sisters
or sisterhood…for beyond sisterhood, there is racism, colonialism
and imperialism,” she declared. Nadar concluded her remarks with
a challenge to the crowd: “What is left to be done?”
 
WCRC was created in June 2010 through a merger of the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical
Council (REC). Its 230 member churches representing 80 million
Christians are active worldwide in initiatives supporting
economic, climate and gender justice, mission, and cooperation
among Christians of different traditions. 
 
Media Contacts: 
Kristine Greenaway
Office of Communications
Email: kgr@wcrc.ch
tel: +41 (0)22 791 62 43;
fax: +41 (0)22 791 65 05
www.wcrc.ch ( http://www.wcrc.ch/ )