The chapters in this volume foreground the ambivalent role of religion and culture when it comes to African women's health and well-being. Reflecting on the three major religions in Africa, i.e. African indigenous religions, Christianity, and Islam, the authors illustrate how religious beliefs and practices can either enhance or hinder women's holistic progress and development. With a specific focus on Zimbabwean women's experiences of religion and culture, the volume discusses how African indigenous religions, Christianity, and Islam tend to privilege men and understate the value of women in Africa. Adopting diverse theological, ideological, and political positions, contributors to this volume restate the fact that the key teachings of different religions, often suppressed due to patriarchal influences, are a potent resource in the quest for gender justice. In sync with the goals for gender justice and women empowerment envisioned in the United Nations' Agenda 2030 and Africa Agenda 2063, the contributors advocate for gender-inclusive and life-enhancing interpretations of religious and cultural traditions in Africa.

Mother Earth, Postcolonial and Liberation Theologies adds another contribution to the ongoing interrogation of an imminent universal crisis, global warming. Examining the environmental crisis from liberation, postcolonial, and theological lenses in Africa, the continent whose people stand to bear the brunt of ecological catastrophe, the contributors provide fresh perspectives that place this book at the forefront of new research being done across the African continent. The volume serves as a compendium for the intersection of African spirituality, cultural expression, and the earth.

Religion, Gender, and Wellbeing in Africa argues that, in many African societies, ideas and practices of wellbeing and gender relations continue to be informed and shaped by religious epistemologies. The contributors affirm that for many Africans, it is through religio-spiritual frameworks that daily experiences, interactions, and gender relations are understood and interpreted. However, for many African women, religions have functioned as a double-edged-sword. Although they have contributed to the struggle against issues such as colonialism, gender justice, climate justice, and human rights, they have also endorsed and perpetuated sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, and the denial of human rights for a wide variety of people on the margins. The chapters within this collection demonstrate that most religions and religious formations in Africa have not yet positioned themselves as forces for wellbeing, gender justice, and security for African women and children. The contributors challenge simplistic and superficial readings and interpretations of religio-spirituality in Africa and call for deeper engagements of the interplay between Africa's religio-spiritual realities and the wellbeing of women, particularly around issues of gender justice, reproductive health, and human rights.