Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz

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Ada María Isasi-Díaz
State University of New York at Brockport
  • Union Theological Seminary
    • ThesisEn la Lucha / In the Struggle (1990)
    Influences
    Academic work
    Discipline
    Mujerista theology
    Websiteusers.drew.edu/aisasidi

    Ada María Isasi-Díaz (March 22, 1943 – May 13, 2012) was a Cuban-American

    theologian who served as professor emerita of ethics and theology at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. As a Hispanic theologian, she was an innovator of Hispanic theology in general and specifically of mujerista theology. She was founder and co-director of the Hispanic Institute of Theology at Drew University until her retirement in 2009.[3]

    Early life and education

    Born on March 22, 1943, Isasi-Díaz was born and raised in

    Union Theological Seminary in New York City where she earned both a Master of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree with a concentration in Christian ethics in 1990. In 2006, she was awarded a Doctor of Divinity honoris causa from Colgate University.[4][5]

    Career

    Her studies and involvement in the feminist theological movement led her to begin to develop a theology from the perspective of Latinas in the United States, which led to the development of mujerista theology. This theology included their religious experiences, practices, and responses to the daily struggles of life. Early in her career Ada was very involved in the women's ordination movement within the Catholic Church.[6] Because of this, Latina women living in the US who are keenly aware of how sexism, ethnic prejudice, and economic oppression subjugate them, use the term mujerista to refer to themselves and use mujerista theology to refer to the explanations of their faith and its role in their struggle for liberation. She was on the faculty of the theological and graduate schools of Drew University from 1991 to 2009. She was a panelist and occasional contributor to the "On Faith" online discussions at The Washington Post and Newsweek.

    Mujerista theology

    The term Mujerista was coined by Isasi-Díaz. Mujerista is both a self-identification as well as being a conceptual framework, used in thinking and understanding people, ideas and movements.[7] Latina women living in the US who are aware of how sexism, ethnic prejudice, and economic oppression limit their wholeness of life, use the term mujerista to refer to themselves as well as to mujerista theology, a type of liberation theology that categorizes their faith and its role in their struggle for liberation from distinct experiences of subjugation.[7]

    Controversy

    In 2007 she became an unofficial church pastor after the

    Archdiocese of New York closed Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church in East Harlem, the parish church she attended while in seminary.[3] A group of parishioners began holding protests and prayer meetings outside the building, but eventually it became a neighborhood institution where Isasi-Díaz delivered sermons.[8] In March 2012, Isasi-Díaz's invitation as a keynote speaker at the Vanderhaar Symposium at Christian Brothers University was canceled due to her support for the ordination of women to the Catholic priesthood and because she ministered at her nephew's same-sex marriage ceremony at a Unitarian Church in Washington in 2009.[9]

    Death

    She died, after receiving her

    requiem mass was held at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Miami, Florida, on 19 May 2012. Later that day she was buried at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery.[11]

    Publications

    Library resources about
    Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz
    By Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz
    • En la Lucha/In the Struggle: Elaborating a Mujerista Theology (Second edition, Fortress Press, 2003)
    • La Lucha Continues: Mujerista Theology (Orbis Books, 2004)
    • Mujerista Theology: A Theology for the 21st Century (Orbis Books, 1996)
    • Sixth chapter of Transforming the Faiths of Our Fathers: Women Who Changed American Religion, edited by Ann Braude. (2004)

    Co-edited/Co-authored books

    • Ada María Isasi-Díaz and Fernando F. Segovia, ed. Hispanic/Latino Theology: Challenge and Promise (Fortress Press, 2006).
    • A. Isasi-Díaz and Yolanda Tarango, Hispanic Women: Prophetic Voice in the Church (Harper & Row, 1988)

    See also

    References

    1. ^
      ISBN 978-1-4982-1997-6
      .
    2. ISBN 978-0-567-02603-3
      .
    3. ^ a b "In Memoriam: Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz | Drew Today | Drew University". Drew Today. Archived from the original on July 31, 2019. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
    4. ^ "News & Events: Spitzer urges Colgate graduates to stay in New York state". Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
    5. ^ Isasi-Díaz, Ada Maria. "Ada María Isasi-Díaz's sermon at Colgate's baccalaureate service". Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
    6. ^ "Ada Marìa Isasi-Díaz, Mother of Mujerista Theology". religiondispatches.org. May 16, 2012.
    7. ^ a b "Untitled Document". www.users.drew.edu. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
    8. ^ "Catholic dissident was champion of poor Latinas". The Sydney Morning Herald. June 5, 2012.
    9. ^ "The Commercial Appeal". The Commercial Appeal.
    10. ^ Notice of death in New York Times obit section
    11. ^ "DR. ADA MARIA ISASI-DIAZ's Obituary on the Miami Herald". the Miami Herald.

    External links

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ada_Maria_Isasi-Diaz&oldid=1217647029"