To add a bit to my post below on Alice Walker and womanism, here’s Wikipedia’s entry on “Womanist Theology.” Apparently Alice Walker is indeed the source of it. Notice also the connection to James Cone, Jeremiah Wright’s mentor.

On a related note, here’s Wikipedia’s entry on “Thealogy” (the feminine form of “theology). Thealogy is a word used by modern feminist goddess “thealogians.” I’ve actually read some of this stuff, and I can tell you that it totally distorts the actual workings of goddess worship in non-Western cultures, which has precious little to do with anything we mean by feminism. But Alice Walker’s invocation today of her “inner goddess of the three directions” is part of just the sort of “womanist theology” and feminist “thealogy” you’ll find at prestigious places like Harvard Divinity School (or at least you could back when I was at Harvard.)