Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro (born 1954) is a

Filipina Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or other ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

known for her writings in

Asian feminist theology Asian feminist theology is a Christian feminist theology developed to be especially relevant to women in Asia and women of Asian descent. Inspired by both liberation theology and Christian feminism, it aims to contextualize them to the condit ...

. She is a

Human Rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and Peace and Justice advocate.

Biography

Orevillo-Montenegro's parents and grandparents were amongst the first generation of

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

converts in the Philippines. She first pursued a pre-medical studies course, but due to financial strains, switched to political science. However, due to her father's death, she was unable to complete her second choice of studies. She later returned to studies and completed undergraduate degrees in

Animal Husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

and

Christian Education Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

Silliman University Silliman University (also referred to as Silliman or SU) is a private university, private Research institute, research university in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, the Philippines. Established in 1901 as Silliman Institute by the Presbyte ...

in 1979. After graduation, she worked as a youth worker for the

United Church of Christ in the Philippines The United Church of Christ in the Philippines ( Tagalog: ''Ang Nagkaisang Iglesia ni Cristo sa Pilipinas''; Ilokano: ''Nagkaykaysa nga Iglesia Ni Cristo iti Filipinas'') is a Christian denomination in the Philippines. Established in its present ...

. She became a full time pastor of United Church of Christ in the Philippines in 1980. In 1994, when she finished

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divi ...

, she began teaching at the Divinity School of

. She later went for further studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York and received an S.T.M. in 1999 and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 2003. In 2007, She was appointed and became the first female Dean of Siliman University Divinity School. In 2018, she was appointed the Coordinator of Interfaith Cooperation Forum, based in the Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs (APAY) in Hongkong.

Theology

Orevillo-Montenegro is best known for her writings in

. She published the book ''The Jesus of Asian Women'', to highlight the areas where Western Christologies are insufficient for Asian women. This book looks at feminist Christologies from South Korea to speak about

creation care Evangelical environmentalism is an environmental movement in the United States in which some Evangelical Christians have emphasized biblical mandates concerning humanity's role as steward and subsequent responsibility for the care taking of Creatio ...

, Filipina Christologies to discuss liberation theologies, and Hong Kong Christologies and the use of

postcolonial theology Postcolonial theology is the application of postcolonial criticism to Christian theology. As is in postcolonial discourse, the term ''postcolonial'' is used without a hyphen, denoting an intellectual reaction against the colonial, instead of be ...

. Elsewhere, she has critiqued the dominant popular Christologies in the Philippines of

Sinulog The Sinulog-Santo Niño Festival is an annual cultural and religious festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City and is the centre of the Santo Niño Catholic celebrations in the Philippines. The festival is considered to be the fi ...

and the

Black Nazarene The Black Nazarene ( es, El Nazareno Negro, Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno; fil, Poóng Itím na Nazareno, Hesus Nazareno) is a life-sized image of a dark-skinned, kneeling Jesus Christ carrying the Cross enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the ...

, and spoken about the need to reclaim the doctrine of the

Incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...

for Asian women.

Publication

* *Orevillo-Montenegro, Muriel ad Gordon Zerbe. "The Letter to The Colossians." In ''A Postcolonial Commentary on the New Testament Writings'', edited by Fernando F. Segovia and R.S. Sugirtharajah, 294-303. London: T & T Clark, 2007. *Orevillo-Montenegro, Muriel and Limuel Equiña. “Theological Education among the Protestant Schools in the Philippines: Retrospect and Prospect.” In ''Training to be Ministers in Asia: Contextualizing Theological Education in Multi-faith Contexts''. Edited by Dietrich Werner. Taiwan: Program for Theology and Cultures in Asia, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orevillo-Montenegro, Muriel World Christianity scholars Living people Christian feminist theologians Filipino Protestant theologians 1954 births