Member
Heleen Joziasse
I am a feminist theologian and an ordained minister in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands from 1994. Between 2009-2014 I worked at St. Paul's University in Limuru, Kenya. During those years I taught in the area of Systematic Theology and I co-taught with Prof. Esther Mombo in the areas of Gender and Theology and African Women's Theologies. Together we have also done extensive field research among churchwomen's groups in various areas in Kenya on various topics but especially focusing on Christology. This resulted in several articles and a book: "If you have no voice, just sing". There are still two more books in process.
Currently, I work 1,5 days a week in a faith based organization (Mara Foundation), coordinating a project for support of international and migrant churches in The Hague. Besides, I am in the final stage of writing my PhD-research at Utrecht University, supervised by Prof. Martha Frederiks, Dr. Lieve Troch and Prof. Esther Mombo. My research deals with Kenyan women's lived Christologies and the quest for transformation of gender relations, based on case studies in two Churches. In this research I try to bring to the fore the voices of some churchwomen in the Reformed Church of East Africa and the African Israel Nineveh Church. Life stories will be the stepping stones in this research. The voices were listened at in a multi-faceted, participatory research project in Kenya. I am very much interested in the dialogue between theologians from African and European descent about fullness of life, and view this as a catalysator for local multi-cultural relations amongst Christians and people of other faiths. My focus is on the intersection of systematic reflection on lived faith, race, culture and gender relations.