Abstract
The writer, as a womanist, interprets the proposed theme, “Bridging the Church and the Academy” with a “hermeneutic of suspicion” due to sexist, classist, racist, homophobic, ageist, and oppressive elements in the Black Church and the academy. A womanist theologian asks: Are the majority of male leaders in the Black Church and the academy suffering from the sin of patriarchy? Is this why they do not inquire about the deaths of Black female children and female adults? Are they caught up in die historical cacophony of “servant-hood theology” in America? Jacquelyn Grant, Calloway Professor of Systematic Theology at the Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, Georgia, provides insight into the meaning of “servant-hood theology.” “Black men are still
servants of servants, white women are still servants of servants, and Black women [girls] are still servants of the servants of servants.”