In Delores Williams' essay, "Black Women's Experience of Surrogacy and the Christian Notion of Redemption," Williams articulates her problems with the troubling feature of most atonement theologies relying on a substitution model to understand the death of Jesus. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The majority of atonement theories assert how Jesus died in place of sinful humans, thereby saving humanity from suffering a similar or worse fate. This essay will primarily focus on analyzing the possible implications of Jesus' surrogate nature in the context of African American women's surrogate roles through a feminist lens of gender and, therefore, salvation. Specifically, Williams explains in paragraph two of page two how African American women have had a long history of oppression and, as a result, have been forced into different types of surrogate roles, both forced and voluntary. As an example, she references the forced and popular surrogate role of “moms” that fueled the stereotype of black women “being nurturing, asexual, religious, overweight, self-sacrificing women.” It is safe to say that surrogacy is dehumanizing; it takes away the freedom to choose, so black women have been deprived of their autonomy, a product of systematic racist oppression. As a result, I can agree with Williams on how the idea of ​​Jesus dying on the cross in our place as our substitute can be awkward for African American women (or anyone) who are trying to give meaning to the death of Christ as something positive and liberating, since there is nothing positive about the idea of ​​an innocent person being forced to die; nor is it liberating. This notion makes surrogacy seem like something sanctified instead of calling it out for what it is, a structure of oppression. But this fact is not so shocking considering how atonement theologies reflect the times, and such notions are consistent with the dominant patriarchy of the time that is still present today. If we are to reference the theme of patriarchal values ​​and their role in theology in the context of surrogacy among black women, I believe one can argue about how Jesus somehow played the role of a “mom” and, in a way, played the role of a feminist who brought salvation to humanity. If we look at it from an insightful feminist perspective, one of the reasons black women have been led to take on the surrogate role of "moms" is that it follows patriarchal directives of women's duty to nurture , take care of the housework, clean. , do anything stereotypically associated with being feminine; a woman's duty. William states how "forced roles involving black women were in the areas of education, field work, and sexuality." If one agrees with William's assertions at the end of his essay on Jesus, rather than coming as something like a sacrificial lamb for the sins of man, but rather coming "for life, to show humans a perfect vision of the ministerial relationship that humans had long forgotten,” in a way, it can be argued that Jesus, in this context, challenged patriarchal notions of gender. The role of a mother in the field of a household was).