Hinga was born in Kenya on January 25, 1955, to Agnes Wairimu and Ernest Hinga, pioneer
African Catholics who treated their male and female children equally, including in education.[2] Hinga attended a
Loreto high school.[3] She received a bachelor's degree in
English Literature and Religious Studies from
Kenyatta University in 1977 and a master's in Religious Studies from
Nairobi University in 1980.[4][1] She earned her PhD from the
University of Lancaster in the UK in 1990 with a thesis titled Women, Power and Liberation in an African Church: A Theological Case Study of the Legio Maria Church in Kenya on the role of women in African Christianity.[4][5] Hinga was a founding member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians and a member of the Kenyan Chapter of the Circle.[6]
Hinga died on March 31, 2023, after a protracted battle with cancer.[9]
Research and writing
Hinga's research interests included religion and women, African religious history, and the ethics of globalization.[4] She argued that the
Christ of the missionary enterprise was "ambivalent", both a conqueror legitimizing subjugation and a liberator.[7] Women, in particular, need to reject any
christology that "smacks of sexism and functions to entrench lopsided gender relations."[7]
Hinga's 2017 book, African, Christian, Feminist:The Enduring Search for What Matters is a collection of essays that examine her journey from Africa to
Silicon Valley, seeking to show the concrete impact of feminist work in religion in areas including
HIV/AIDS and
violence against women.[2][10][11] It includes the story of
Kimpa Vita, an African Catholic woman in the 1700s who was
martyred for challenging missionary Christianity and its support of
colonialism and
slavery.[2]