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7 Our Stories Race in Theological Anthropology In the structures of perception and discourse, in the everyday language of thought and feeling, Africanity runs through and colors everything that can be called uniquely Cuban. Eugenio Matibag, Afro-Cuban Religious Experience For centuries Christian authors have attempted to articulate the nature of humanity , created in the image and likeness of God. Theological anthropology is the area in theology that strives to understand humanity’s relationship with God and its implications for the human community. In modern history, this area (and theology in general) has been elaborated predominantly through the lens of European and European-American philosophers and theologians with a heavy emphasis on the individual. This has produced a vision of the human that is highly individualistic, self-contained, and monolithic as a subject. An emphasis on the subject as an autonomous, active historical agent is a hallmark of modern notions of selfhood.1 The implications of this construction of identity are vast. As noted by Roberto S. Goizueta, “As autonomous, the modern self was not only alienated from its own life, and other human lives, but from God as well.”2 The relational and complex nature of humanity has consequently been greatly underdeveloped. In addition, humanity’s relationship with God suffers when such an independent vision of the human is perpetuated. In the past forty years a strong critique of this abstract individualism has entered into the halls of the theological academy. Feminist, African, Asian, Latin American, and U.S. minority theologians have contested this Eurocentric individualism, demonstrating the power dynamics operative in every theological construction.3 This critical engagement of modern Western anthropology emphasizes the contextual and constructive nature of theology. There are various strands that inform this critique: liberationist struggles, critical theory, postmodern philosophy, and postcolonial studies. Every theological statement is nourished and limited by the contours of its environment. It is no longer possible to speak of a theological anthropology; instead we consider various theological anthropologies that reveal the messiness, ambiguity, and beauty of humanity. 122 / Afro-Cuban Theology A theological anthropology that emerges from the Cuban-American context emphasizes the relational, complex nature of humanity and our relationship with the divine. In the context of the Cuban and Cuban-American communities , this vision of the human is markedly informed by the realities of race. Modern Western anthropologies, in their decontextualization of human experience , have ignored how the complexity of human identity, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, culture, gender, class, and sexuality, shape theological anthropology. Our racial identity is a fundamental reality that colors our human existence and our relationship with the divine. Race is thus central to theological anthropology. Within the Cuban and Cuban-American contexts, the Afro-Cuban nature of Cuban culture and religiosity place race at the forefront of theological anthropology. As a lens for approaching a Cuban-American anthropology, this chapter focuses on literature, poetry, and essays as a window into the Cuban and CubanAmerican contexts. My use of these forms is an intentional effort to enter into Cuban and Cuban-American realities in a highly contextual manner. In addition , my methodology is informed by a privileging of aesthetic expressions as a fundamental resource for theology.4 Literature, poetry, and essay offer unique points of entry that reveal the significance of race and the way it has shaped daily life and religiosity in Cuban and Cuban-American communities. This chapter is divided into three sections. The first examines the use of literature and narrative as sources for a contextual theology. Literature and narrative often reveal a community’s identity and its faith in daily life. The second section examines Cuban and Cuban-American literature, poetry, and narratives, emphasizing the function of race and religiosity in these discourses. My third and final section articulates a Cuban-American theological anthropology grounded in the insights of the previous section. Like the other theological loci examined in this book, a Cuban-American anthropology emerges from specific aesthetic contexts, yet its insights serve the Christian community as a whole. Contextual Approach: Literature, Narrative, and Theology To propose literature as a resource is not new to theology. From the writings of Dante to the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, literature has been theology’s aesthetic voice. Theologians have used literature to tap into the theological imagination of humanity. A theological methodology that places literature in explicit conversation with theology, however, is often characterized by the ambiguity and tension of its interdisciplinary task. George Salyer, in his introduction...

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