African Women’s Theology, Gender Relations, and Family Systems Theory

The Author: Mpyana Fulgence Nyengele is Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling in the William A. Chryst Chair of Pastoral Theology at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Delaware, Ohio. He holds an M.Div., an M.A. in theological studies, and a Ph.D. in theology and personality with an emphasis in pastoral care and counseling from the Claremont School of Theology in California. A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, he is an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church.

«This book is magnificently constructed. Moreover, it is written with the kind of precision and probing critical analysis that will be instructive to pastoral care and counseling teachers and professionals, as well as other helping professionals who value insights into relational and systems dynamics. From a theological perspective, Mpyana Fulgence Nyengele’s work challenges some of the traditional perspectives of pastoral assessment and intervention for interpersonal justice in global and family systems relationships.» (Vergel L. Lattimore, Professor of Pastoral Care, Methodist Theological School in Ohio)«This book introduces the prophetic voice of Mpyana Fulgence Nyengele to a broader audience drawn from theology, social science, couple and family therapy, ministry and pastoral care, counseling, and theology. From these penetrating pages a new agenda for pastoral care and counseling emerges – one in which diverse and rich thoughts drawn from African women’s theology, gender relations, family systems theory, and pastoral theology are placed in dynamic dialogue. The agenda that emerges has profound implications for the future church, emerging families, and developing personhood. Nyengele’s argument is developed with the thoroughness of solid scholarship toward a reality that is at once both profound and simple.» (William M. Clements, Edna and Lowell Craig Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Claremont School of Theology, California)«This book exemplifies the interdisciplinary nature of pastoral theology and thus offers learning of many kinds. Mpyana Fulgence Nyengele speaks with daring candor not only about problems in gender relations in African families and churches but also about requirements for reparation. Anyone caring for African men, women, or families will find both conceptual and clinical help here. But this book is not of value only in African contexts. Any reader needing introduction to two far-flung literatures – African women’s theology and family systems theory – will be aided by Nyengele’s summary analyses. His discussion of the theological concept of perichoresis illuminates gender-sensitive pastoral care and counseling in any context. Persons of any culture trying to reconcile traditions and futures, men and women, or selfhood and relationship will profit from learning from the African situation through this book. This is exactly the kind of book religious scholars and caregivers need to improve our engagement with an increasingly global and culturally pluralistic world.» (Kathleen J. Greider, Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Claremont School of Theology, California; Professor of Religion, Claremont Graduate University, California)