Taking womanist theology to the beauty shop

Candice Benbow is a theologian, writer, and educator whose work focuses on Black women’s shared faith experiences. She created the #LemonadeSyllabus social media campaign and established the LouiseMarie Foundation, which supports community mental health projects and nursing students at historically Black colleges and universities. Her debut book, Red Lip Theology, is a collection of essays that defines the parameters of her progressive theology, which grows out of and expands on womanist theology as well as her own lived experiences within the church, the academy, and the community of Black women who raised her.

The phrase “red lip theology” came to you after a White male classmate asked you if you were a theologian or a Black theologian. You define it as “the space in which young, Black churchwomen can sit with the parts of ourselves and be honest about all of them.” You are clear that this is a book for Black women. Why was it important to identify your audience?

I’m writing to other Black women about our faith experience because too often we don’t get that luxury. Black women are the most religious demographic in America, but we don’t get the same opportunities to have theological discussions that center us. We often read texts that don’t speak to our lived experiences and have to make them sit for us in ways that non-Black women of faith don’t have to do. I really wanted to use this opportunity to center Black women’s faith experiences and say that these can be just as pivotal, educational, and transformative as everyone else’s.