Teresia Mbari Hinga
Born(1955-01-25)January 25, 1955
Kenya
DiedMarch 31, 2023(2023-03-31) (aged 68)
Chicago, Illinois, US
Academic background
Alma mater
Academic work
DisciplineTheology
School or tradition
Institutions
Main interests
  • African women's theology
Notable works
  • Women, Religion and HIV/AIDS in Africa (2008)
  • African, Christian, Feminist (2017)

Teresia Mbari Hinga (January 25, 1955 – March 31, 2023) was a Kenyan Christian feminist theologian and a professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University in California. She was a founding member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians.[1]

Early life and education

Hinga was born in Kenya on January 25, 1955, to Agnes Wairimu and Ernest Hinga, pioneer African Catholics who treated their male and female children equally, including in education.[2] Hinga attended a Loreto high school.[3] She received a bachelor's degree in English Literature and Religious Studies from Kenyatta University in 1977 and a master's in Religious Studies from Nairobi University in 1980.[4][1] She earned in PhD from the University of Lancaster in the UK in 1990 with a thesis titled Women, Power and Liberation in an African Church: A Theological Case Study of the Legio Maria Church in Kenya on the role of women in African Christianity.[4][5] Hinga was a founding member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians and a member of the Kenyan Chapter of the Circle.[6]

Career

Hinga was one of the co-founders of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians,[4] established in 1989 at a gathering of African women theologians in Ghana.[2] She was associate professor of religion at DePaul University in Chicago.[7]

Hinga was on the faculty at Santa Clara University from 2005.[4] She was a member of the Black Catholic Symposium of the American Academy of Religion and of the Association for the Academic Study of Religion in Africa.[4] She was on the editorial board of the Journal of Global Catholicism.[8]

Hinga died on March 31, 2023 after a protracted battle with cancer.[9]

Research and writing

Hinga's research interests included religion and women, African religious history, and the ethics of globalization.[4] She argued that the Christ of the missionary enterprise was "ambivalent", both a conqueror legitimizing subjugation and a liberator.[7] Women, in particular, need to reject any christology that "smacks of sexism and functions to entrench lopsided gender relations."[7]

Hinga's 2017 book, African, Christian, Feminist:The Enduring Search for What Matters is a collection of essays that examine her journey from Africa to Silicon Valley, seeking to show the concrete impact of feminist work in religion in areas including HIV/AIDS and violence against women.[2][10][11] It includes the story of Kimpa Vita, an African Catholic woman in the 1700s who was martyred for challenging missionary Christianity and its support of colonialism and slavery.[2]

Selected publications

Books

  • Hinga, Teresia Mbari (2008). Women, Religion and HIV AIDS in Africa: Responding to Ethical and Theological Challenges. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publishers. ISBN 9781875053698.
  • Hinga, Teresia Mbari (2017). African, Christian , Feminist: The Enduring Quest for What Matters. Orbis Books. ISBN 9781608337149.

Chapters

Journal articles

Personal life

Hinga was a single mother to two children, Pauline and Anthony, and two grandchildren.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Teresia Hinga". Catholic Theological Ethics in the World. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Notes from WATERtalks: Feminist Conversations in Religion Series". Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual. 17 October 2018. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  3. 1 2
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Teresia Mbari Hinga". College of Arts and Sciences: Department of Religious Studies. Santa Clara University. Archived from the original on March 25, 2023.
  5. ↑ Hinga, Teresia Mbari (1990). Women, Power and Liberation in an African Church: A Theological Case Study of the Legio Maria Church in Kenya. University of Lancaster.
  6. ↑ Fiedler, NyaGondwe (2017). A History of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians 1989-2007. Mzuni Press.
  7. 1 2 3 Maseno, Loreen (2004). "Gendering inculturation in Africa: a discussion of three African women theologians' entry into the inculturation scene". Norsk Tidsskrift for Misjon. 4.
  8. ↑ "Editorial Board". Journal of Global Catholicism. Archived from the original on May 7, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  9. ↑ "In Memoriam: Teresia Mbari Hinga". Santa Clara University. April 27, 2023. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  10. ↑ Mudiwa, Rudo (2019). "African, Christian, Feminist: The Enduring Search for What Matters by Teresia Mbari Hinga (review)". Africa Today. Indiana University Press. 66 (1): 146–147.
  11. ↑ Oredein, Oluwatomisin (27 April 2018). "African, Christian, Feminist". Reading Religion. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
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