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ornamentalhermit's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
A beautiful weaving of life experience, women of faith and biblical stories to highlight "abuelita faith".
natgeographic's review
2.0
I value Armas’ perspective on life as a woman of color living in Western Christianity, and she gives some good insight into women of the Bible and Latina women throughout history. However, I believe liberation theology takes the truth that God values justice and offers freedom, and places it on a pedestal instead of the gospel. I also felt that she misrepresented some of the biblical stories for the sake of making a point, without ever explaining how she reached her unusual interpretive conclusions.
karibaumann's review
I thought this was good but I am not the right audience for it. Would be good for a Sunday School class or book discussion group that is beginning to think about these topics.
lifeisstory's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I am a white, male American pastor. When I consider my academic training—B.S. in Religion, M.A. in Theological Studies, D.Min. in Ministerial Leadership—and reflect on my professors, they are almost exclusively also white, also male, also American. And that means I have a perspective problem. A lot of what I’ve learned about faith has been spearheaded by people who have almost exclusive come from my exact background. When I graduated seminary with my Masters, I went to work at a primarily Chinese church as their English pastor. That’s when I first grasped how limited my perspective had been and how I needed to purposefully seek out teachers and voices different from mine to expand my understanding of faith. Abuelita Faith is, for me, a part of that expansion.
Kat Armas writes a scholar, as a woman, and as a Cuban. Her premise is not just “Look, Brown women can also become as intellectually astute as white men,” though that alone would be a paradigm-altering shift that challenges the patriarchalism and racism insipient within American theological structures (White evangelicalism, in particular). Instead, her premise is that faith in God is expressed just as fully in an Abuelita Faith—a faith that is “real, raw outworking” of belief that is transformative within Latine religious culture. While Armas writes within her particular ethnic context, she is also cognizant of Black, indigenous, and other cultures who share the stories of strong, godly women who embody and pass on a love for God despite a lack of formal training or recognition.
Armas expertly weaves personal experience with Biblical narrative and cultural perspective to create a work that is both grounded in Biblical truth but seen through a decolonizing lens. The opening chapter, “Abuelita Theology” develops the robust, academic background that serves as the book’s foundation. Abuelita Faith draws out some of the lesser-known women of the Bible and centers their stories to reveal them for the theologians and faith leaders they were. For example, in a chapter on protest and justice, she tells the story of Rizpah while interweaving storylines of contemporary and historical social justice campaigns. It’s a captivating narrative that shows the long history of faithful women speaking truth to power.
For some, like myself, Abuelita Faith is a needed perspective shift. Armas helps me grasp faith in a way my education failed me, offering me the lived experiences and perspectives of those different than me and showcasing the richness and beauty of their faith. For others, this book is a revealing. It is recognition. Armas didn’t write this book to educate white people like me. Nor should she have. She wrote it to celebrate the all-too-often uncelebrated faithfulness of marginalized women and lift them up as examples of wisdom, persistence, and strength. Abuelita Faith turns the spotlight to where millions of faithful women have labored through trials and tribulations to serve God and imbue faith into the next generation. It is a God-honoring, Abuelita-honoring work that invites readers into the margins to find a living, thriving, growing faith.
granolatwins's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is the second time I’ve read this book in a year. Kat is a beautiful writer. It made me sit and think. It wrapped up so many scattered thoughts I’ve had over the past few years… and it brings hope.