Abstract
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) requires a shift in balance between tradition and renewal through the clarification of theologically based faith particularly for participants in the contemporary South African context. In this thesis I explore the Eucharist service liturgy, theology, ritual, symbolism and use of prophetic gifting in order to suggest ways in which the Eucharist can become more fully inclusive of women. (Due to limitations of the study, the thesis cannot fully engage with the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ persons and decolonial African society, though it attempts to retain an awareness for their inclusion too). The Eucharist service liturgy laid out in the 1989 Anglican Prayer Book (APB) reflects patriarchal, colonial-infused theology based on androcentric interpretations of biblical scripture. This may have been accepted when only male priests celebrated the Eucharist services but now that women also celebrate the Eucharist, it has become substantially problematic. ACSA in South Africa admitted women to ordination and to the celebration of the Eucharist in 1992. Since then, however, the Eucharist liturgy has not been adjusted accordingly (or in line with the political changes in South Africa in the last 25 years). The current theocentric, androcentric liturgical language and symbolism disempowers women priests, whose bodily presence now also represents Christ and breaks with the traditional patriarchal symbolism of the (male) divine. This thesis posits a Christian feminist inspired, fully inclusive Eucharist with renewed, non-violent, incarnational participatory theology, a prophetic-inspired Ubuntu kin-dom ritual, and a gender-fulsome decolonial liturgy and symbolism, all of which are more suitable for contemporary South African ACSA Eucharist participants.
M.A. (Religion Studies)