The Squaring the Womanist Circle Project integrates and translates Black women’s religious scholarship, creative expression and cultural work into transformative wisdom. It is a launching pad for a continuing Institute of Womanist Studies at Union Presbyterian Seminary.

Project directors are Katie G. Cannon,  Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Presbyterian Seminary; Angela D. Sims, Assistant Professor of Ethics and Black Church Studies at Saint Paul School of Theology (Kansas City, MO); and Erica  Kierulf, Ph.D. candidate at Union Presbyterian Seminary. 

Squaring the Womanist Circle initiates multi-voice-conversations among diverse groups of women of African descent to explore and address the lived concerns of African American girls and women. The project will give voice to women working for justice from a theological framework, sending an important and timely signal to the broader community that Black women of faith are committed to discerning new ways to focus on the well-being of women and girls in a mutli-religious world. 

“For almost three decades, African American women religious scholars and theologians have engaged in discourse on race, gender, sexuality and social class,” says Cannon. “Yet, a consistent criticism is that our womanist work as academicians is separated from our labor as scholar practitioners who address issues and needs throughout the Black community.”

Over a period of three years, Squaring the Womanist Circle will bring together scholar-activists who work as academics, religious practitioners, healthcare providers, artists, researchers, policymakers, and students from a variety of disciplines. They will share life lessons learned from embodied mediated knowledge, so that together women can imagine alternative ways of establishing healthy and innovative agendas for their future.

The initiative has been awarded a three-year grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. Education, particularly graduate theological educational institutions, is of particular interest to the Foundation.

About the Carpenter Foundation

In 1975, the Carpenter Foundation was formed by the late E. Rhodes Carpenter, founder of the Richmond, Virginia based company now known as Carpenter Co. During Mr. Carpenter’s lifetime, the Foundation made a few substantial gifts but for the most part had minimal assets. In accordance with Mr. Carpenter’s wishes, the Foundation received significant funding following his death in 1980. His wife, Leona B. Carpenter, died a year later leaving substantial assets to the Foundation. In 1982, the name of the Foundation was changed to the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. The Foundation operates independently of and has no connection to ER Carpenter Co.

About Union Presbyterian Seminary

Since 1812, Union Presbyterian Seminary, formerly Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education, (Union-PSCE) has embraced a vision to form leaders and transform the church. The seminary serves a diverse student body at campuses in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Its Extended Campus Program offers students a graduate level education that combines on-line learning with intensive periods of study on campus. ###