Jawanza Clark

My primary training is in Protestant Christian theology, with specialization in Black liberation and womanist thought, but I am also interested in comparative theology as it pertains to African religions and African and African-American Christianity.  My research investigates the doctrine of the human being to determine whether the indigenous African concept, ancestor, offers a construal of the human being that can address and correct oppressive features of established Protestant approaches to theological anthropology for Black and Womanist theology and the theology of African and African American Christians generally.  My research raises questions about theological method and epistemology in a liberationist agenda if indigenous African religions and the black experience are included as theological sources for Black theology.  It also explores historical questions regarding black Christian formation in America during the antebellum and early post-bellum periods.  I conducted research in Accra, Ghana in 2006 where I studied indigenous African religions and African Christianity among the Akan and Ga peoples. 

Books

Indigenous Black Theology: Toward An African-Centered Theology of the African-American Religious Experience, Jawanza Eric Clark, Palgrave-Macmillan 2012.

Articles/Book Chapters
"The Great Ancestor: An African Conception of God," in Models of God and Alternative Ultimate Realities, Springer, 2013.

"Jonathan Edwards," in Beyond the Pale: Reading Theology from the Margins, eds. Miguel de la Torre and Stacey Floyd Thomas, Westminster John Knox, 2011.

"Reconceiving the Doctrine of Jesus As Savior in Terms of the African Understanding of Ancestor: A Model for the Black Church," in Black Theology: An International Journal Vol 8 (2) 2010.

Works in Progress:

Albert Cleage Jr. and the Black Madonna and Child, edited work (under contract with Palgrave Macmillan)

"Why a White Christ Continues to be Racist: The Legacy of Albert B. Cleage, Jr.," (forthcoming journal article-submitted to the Journal of Religion)

• Associate Professor of Global Christianity, Manhattan College, Bronx, NY (Fall 2016-present)
• Assistant Professor of Global Christianity, Manhattan College, Bronx, NY  (Fall 2012- Spring 2016)
• Lecturer, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA. (Fall 2008-Spring 2012)
• Adjunct Professor, Emory University, Atlanta, GA. (Spring 2007-Fall 2007)