- Name: Marianne Katoppo
- Institution: Jakarta Theological Seminary, Indonesia; Communion of Churches in Indonesia (WCC).
- Archive Type: People
- Date Published/Inaugurated: –
- First Publisher: –
- Available File(s): Photo(s)
- Keywords: Marianne Katoppo, Asian woman, postcolonial theology, Marian theology.
- Link: –
Henriette Marianne Katoppo (1943-2007) is a novelist and Asian woman theologian from Indonesia. After graduating from Jakarta Theological Seminary in 1977, she took further studies at International Christian University, Tokyo (1964) and Shingakubu Doshisha Daigaku, Kyoto (1965). In 1978, she became an alumnus of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, hosted by the World Communion of Churches. Her career as a professional theologian revolved around working at British and Foreign Bible Society, London, and AB Svenska Pressbyterian, Stockholm, before later joining Yayasan Obor Indonesia.
She wrote several novels, such as Dunia Tak Bermusim (World Without Season; 1974), Anggrek Tak Pernah Berdusta (Orchids Never Lie; 1979), Terbangnya Punai (Flight of the Punai; 1978), and Rumah di Atas Jembatan (House Above the Bridge; 1981). Her storytelling works appeared in well-known magazines, such as Sinar Harapan and Ragi Buana. In 1982, she won the first woman winner of The S.E.A. Write Award.
Katoppo was one of the founders of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) Indonesia in 1982, Forum Demokrasi (1991), HATI Group (1980), and International Council WCRP. She was also a member of the Board Committee of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia. In 1991, she gave a speech titled, “Toward the Pacific Being and Ocean of Peace,” at the Christian Responsibilities for Pacific Civilization Conference, where she acknowledged Gustavo Gutiérrez‘s contribution to the forum. In 1995, she represented Indonesian postcolonial critic and novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer in receiving the Magsaysay Award in Manila, Philippines due to controversy in Indonesia, related to the rejection by a number of writers, among them is Magsaysay former recipient Mochtar Lubis, to the possibility of Pramoedya receiving the award.
One of her most influential works in theology is Compassionate and Free: An Asian Woman’s Theology, published by WCC in 1979, and then translated to Indonesia, Tersentuh dan Bebas (2007). In this book, she covers topics such as women as the other, men’s antagonism to women’s liberation, deconstruction of virginity, prostitutes, rape, and what it means to do theology in the “third” world. She was upset by the fact that although this book has been used as a textbook in many academic settings around the world, Jakarta Theological Seminary, her beloved school, has not yet used and translated it. She commented that it might be because the New Order was reigning and it was “unfriendly” to liberation theology and because theology at that time was still dominated by sovereign men.
Photo(s)
Source(s)
- Center for Process Studies, “Marianne Katoppo – Toward the Pacific Being an Ocean of Peace,” the 1991 Speech on Christian Responsibilities for Pacific Civilization Conference, video posted on January 30, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQwOJ3UK32E
- Deane William Ferm, Third World Liberation Theologies: A Reader (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1986).
- Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, “Marianne Katoppo (1943-2007),” Ensiklopedia Sastra Indonesia. 2016. https://ensiklopedia.kemdikbud.go.id/sastra/artikel/Marianne_Katoppo
- Marianne Katoppo, Compassionate and Free: An Asian Woman’s Theology (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1979).
- M. B. Wijaksana, “(Almh.) Marianne Katoppo: Yang Hampir Terlupakan dari Sastra Indonesia,” Jurnal Perempuan, No. 30, 2003. Jakarta: Yayasan Jurnal Perempuan, republished in Mereka yang di Atas Persoalan, Kumpulan Profil dan Wawancara Jurnal Perempuan. 2013. Jakarta: Yayasan Jurnal Perempuan. https://www.jurnalperempuan.org/tokoh-feminis/almh-marianne-katoppo-yang-hampir-terlupakan-dari-sastra-indonesia
Written by Abel K. Aruan (November 10, 2024); Edited by Abel K. Aruan (January 6, 2025).