scholarly journals African Theology in the 21st Century: Mapping Out Critical Priorities

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Humphrey Mwangi Waweru
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
African Culture ◽  
African Theology ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Almost All ◽  
African Traditional Religions

There is a dialogue taking place in the area of African Theology; “do we call it African Christian theology or African Theology and how it relates to the African culture”? Depending on where one sits, any name will carry the day as long as it fulfills the academic desire intended. What is important is the dialogue that is taking place between the Bible and the African culture. Here, we shall take the name “African Theology” as the norm. It is evident in almost all ways that from a walk which is based on the mapping of African theology or from the wide variety of current understandings of its nature and task, there are several priorities in African Theology. A number of theologians today argue that the priorities of African theology are many. These include providing a clear and comprehensive dialogue between African culture and the Bible in relation to the African faith. They argue that the Bible has also been translated into local languages in order to enable the African cultures to become intelligible in the way they relate to the scriptures. On the other hand, others have prioritized the definition of African Theology so that they can deal with it from their perspective of African Traditional Religions. Also, others want to prioritize African Theology as a reflection of the praxis of Christian faith within a relatively deprived community. Therefore, this article seeks to briefly provide some priorities in African Theology, such as liberation, reconstruction, and poverty reduction theologies. In this study, we will proceed to explore the need for a definition of African Theology, how it relates to African Christian faith, and the challenges posed by African Theology to the Christian faith. We will conclude with the general guidelines on formulating the priorities of African theology.

Rethinking Public Theology in Ethiopia: Politics, Religion, and Ethnicity in a Declining National Harmony

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-171
Author(s):  
Wondimu Legesse Sonessa
Keyword(s):  
Public Theology ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
Ethnic Tensions ◽  
Religion And Ethnicity ◽  
Almost All ◽  
African Traditional Religions

Abstract Ethiopia is a country of multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. Almost all of its citizens claim affiliation with either Christianity, Islam, or African traditional religions. Adherents of these religions have been coexisting in respect and peace. However, there is a growing tension between the citizens since the downfall of the dictatorial military government of Ethiopia, which was displaced by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), in 1991. Politics, religion, and ethnicity are the major causes of the declining national harmony under the current government. My claim is that addressing the declining national harmony caused by the religious, political, and ethnic tensions in Ethiopia requires of the EECMY to rethink its public theology in a way that promotes a national harmony that values peace, equality, justice, democracy, and human flourishing.

Living Together with the Ancestors: Ancestor Veneration in Africa as a Challenge for Missiology

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Triebel
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Holy Communion ◽  
Ancestor Veneration ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Living Together ◽  
African Traditional Religions

The phrase “living together with the ancestors” summarizes the religious identity of Africans and opens the discussion about how far ancestor veneration may be regarded as the center of African traditional religions. Some stress only the social relevance of these rites, others the religious implications. This article describes the rites of ancestor veneration that were understood by the missionaries as a contradiction to the first commandment. The author looks for ways to integrate ancestor veneration into the Christian faith, finally focusing on Holy Communion where the ancestors may be integrated in the worshiping community and where the gifts that have been expected from the ancestors now are granted by Christ: the fullness of life.

African Traditional Religions in Christian Mission and Christian Scholarship: Re-Opening a Debate That Never Started

1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
The South ◽  
African Theology ◽  
Christian Mission ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
The World ◽  
African Black ◽  
African Traditional Religions

AbstractIn this essay I wish to argue that denial, outright dismissal, distortion and dismissive containment have been and continue to be aptly descriptive of the manner in which Christian mission and Christian scholarship have related to and dealt with African Traditional Religions (ATRs). This, I want to further suggest, has been as true of the South African situation as it has been true of the rest of the continent. Although most prevalent during the earliest periods of contact between Christianity and ATRs, the attitude which I am characterising as outright dismissal is by no means totally extinct today. This article seeks to re-open the question of the place ofATRs in the world of religions with particular reference to their relation to Christianity. This will be done by reference to three important 'voices': Okot p'Bitek, African theology and South African Black Theology.

Childhood in Eastern Patristic Thought: Some Problems of Theology and Theological Anthropology

1994 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 39-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Gould
Keyword(s):  
Theological Anthropology ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Eternal Salvation ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Present Life

The writings of the Early Church concerning childhood are not extensive, but in the works of a number of Eastern Christian authors of the second to fourth centuries it is possible to discern some ideas about childhood which raise important problems of Christian theology and theological anthropology. The theological problem is that of the question posed for theodicy by the sufferings and deaths of infants. It is harder to give a brief definition of the anthropological problem, but it is important to do so because to define the problem as the Eastern Fathers saw it is also to identify the set of conceptual tools—the anthropological paradigm—which they used to answer it. These are not, naturally, the concepts of modern anthropology and psychology. Applied to patristic thought, these terms usually refer to speculations about the composition and functioning of the human person or the human soul which belong to a discourse which is recognizably philosophical and metaphysical—by which is meant that it is (though influenced by other sources, such as the Bible) the discourse of a tradition descending ultimately from the anthropological terminology of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. Patristic anthropology seeks to account for the history and experiences of the human person as a created being—fhe experience of sin and mortality in the present life, but also of eternal salvation and advancement to perfection in the image of God.

Phenomenological Approach to African Theology

2021 ◽  
pp. 108-131
Author(s):  
Mbosowo Bassey Udok
Keyword(s):  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
African Culture ◽  
African Theology ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Phenomenological Methodology ◽  
African Context

This chapter examines the phenomenological approaches to African theology. Over the years, there have been several attempts to think about theology to be a Western venture, thus resulting in such claims as “there is nothing like African theology.” This work seeks to investigate whether there truly is an African theology. It further analyzes the study of theology in an African context with respect to ethno-theology, inculturation theology, and Black or liberation theology. Using hermeneutical-phenomenological methodology, which seeks to interpret African theology with a view to bringing out its essence and of course reasons for its existence, findings show that employing phenomenological approaches like epoche or bracketing, eidetic reduction, and comparative approaches, African theology takes its primary data from the Bible, African tradition, and history. The chapter concludes that there is African theology with respect to African culture, nature, and experience.

Ways to improve the lives of the poor and poorest by providing available services: international experience

10.12737/8253 ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 108-118
Author(s):  
Татьяна Харитонова ◽  
Tatyana Kharitonova
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Almost All

The article presents an analytical study of the problems of poverty and quality of life of the poor and the poorest of our planet. Basic information database of the research are materials of the UN and its constituent units. This article discusses and clarifies the concept of absolute and relative poverty, and presents an approach to the definition of deprivation poverty. The main indicators of poverty, according to the report of the UN World Development, are highlighted. The author links the indicators of availability of services with the provision of basic human needs according to Maslow´s theory. The article also examines the main economic causes of poverty, including in a number of Third World countries. Further, the author shows the contribution of the United Nations and the developed countries in addressing the problem of poverty and absolute poverty. In this regard, suggested is the poverty reduction strategy, the implementation of which should lead to the achievement of the goals by 2015, that is, to the present time. Almost all of the goals are related to the availability of socially important services for the poor and the poorest. It is proved that a regulatory role in this process should be undertaken by the state, and the process should be based on the mechanism of social partnership between government, service providers and major consumer groups. In the final part of the article highlighted are criteria for selecting suppliers and funding mechanisms for services for the populations concerned.

The Bible, Its Status and African Christian Theologies: Foundational Document or Stumbling Block?

1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Punt
Keyword(s):  
Vantage Point ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
African Theology ◽  
History Of Interpretation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe relationship between the Bible and Christianity, including Christian theology, is traditionally strong and undisputed; however, in Christian theology in Africa, as elsewhere, the status of the biblical texts is contested. A brief consideration of the Bible as 'canon' leads to a broader discussion of how the Bible has to a certain extent become a 'problem' in African theology also, both because of theological claims made about its status, and - and in conjunction with - its perceived complicity in justifying human suffering and hardship. The legacy of the Bible as legitimating agent is dealt with from the vantage point of the history of interpretation; but the latter also provides for a 'rehumanising' of Scripture. In the end, this article is also an attempt to explain some of the different views of the Bible's status in Africa, and to address and mediate the resulting conflict by attending to proposals to view the biblical canon as 'historical prototype', foundational document' - as scripture. A number of important aspects regarding the continuing role of the Bible in African theologies in particular, conclude the essay.

scholarly journals James Cone vis-à-vis African Religiosity: A decolonial perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub Urbaniak
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
South African ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Student Movements ◽  
White People ◽  
The Third ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
Ambivalent Attitude ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
African Traditional Religions

This article builds on my recent engagement with James Cone’s binary view of Africanness and Christianity which focused on his Western locus of enunciation and the criticism he received from his African American colleagues. I believe that analogical questions regarding Christian theology’s attitude towards Africanness in general and African religiosity in particular present themselves to us who live in and try to make sense of South African reality today, including white people like myself. I start by introducing a decolonial perspective as it manifests itself through the recent #MustFall student movements. In this context, I offer three theses regarding the decolonial perspective on African religiosity, each of which constitutes a more or less direct critique of Cone’s ambivalent attitude towards Africanness, and African Traditional Religions in particular. The first thesis concerns the distinction between postcoloniality and decoloniality; the second thesis concerns engaging African religiosity as a requirement for decolonising Christian theology; and the third thesis concerns problematising the relationship between the categories of blackness and Africanness.

scholarly journals Augustine Shutte’s autobiographical account of his Christian theology

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-256
Author(s):  
Patrick Giddy
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Karl Rahner ◽  
African Culture ◽  
Traditional Church ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
Selection Of

Before his death in May this year (2016) Augustine Shutte wrote an “autobiographical account” of a selection of his theology papers that situates his writings within his public involvement in church and society – seminary, academy, the Catholic Church, African culture, a thought-world of science and secularity. The account also documents a pattern of development in his understanding of Christian faith that arises out of this involvement. As such the narrative constitutes a theological reflection on God’s self-communication in Jesus in the context of doctrinal formulations and traditional church practices that cry out for rethinking. The influence of Karl Rahner is evident throughout but his narrative also acknowledges his two formative teachers, at Stellenbosch and UCT, as his theology as a whole can be seen as an exercise in secularisation (Johan Degenaar) through a truly personal and existential appropriation of our Christian heritage (Martin Versfeld). The narrative is introduced by myself through a brief account of its author and of the genesis of the article.

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