African theology

Modern African Christians are often faced with a dilemma as regards how to respond to the issue of conflict between Christianity and Traditional African Cultures. This is as a result of the fact that Christian Catechetical teachings which hails from the Christian missionaries has presented the Christian Bible and faith as standing in contradiction to the cultural practices of the African people. Hence for the African who embraces the Christian faith it becomes a matter of “either…or” and as a result many of them who will like to abide by the demands of their traditions and cultures and to participate in them whilst still claiming to be Christians, has adopted a kind of schizophrenic identity as regards the matter of faith and belief. This then raises the question: is the Christian Bible and faith incompatible with African cultures and traditional practices? This paper tries to look at this issue critically and seek to answer the question on whether being a Christian and upholding African cultural/traditional practices are mutually exclusive.

A contextual application of biblical doctrine ultimately derives from a contextual hermeneutic. What interpretive guidelines are critical to the development of a genuinely vernacular expression of theology in a local context?
The paper surveys some developments in the prolific field of African Christian Theology. The hermeneutical basis of a distinctly African theology appears largely built upon pre-Christian worldviews and spirituality.
The paper traces the methodology of the “afrocentric hermeneutic,” which assumes that a genuinely vernacular African theology requires a radical continuity between Old Testament concepts and practices and primal religions and worldviews.
The paper considers some case studies in African Christologies that exemplify the exegetical, theological, and practical problems that result from detaching cultural readings from the authorial intent of Scripture, namely the tendency to innovate error and propagate syncretism in the local churches.
The paper evidences the need for mission theorists to move beyond the non-critical reporting of aberrant contextual theologies and instead aid in the formation of a biblically tenable global theology on the basis of a biblically faithful hermeneutic. If the goal of contextualization is the transformation of biblical meaning into local significance, then the vernacular expression must be biblically legitimate and reliable otherwise contextualization has not occurred.
With this goal in mind, the paper urges for a reevaluation of the afrocentric hermeneutic, and suggests parameters for the biblically faithful application of Scripture in the local African church.

What composes an Evangelical demonology? This dissertation aims to provide a fresh Evangelical demonology, reflecting and systematizing the biblical material on the demonic.

To begin the process, Byang Kato’s background and demonology is examined, since Kato himself has a unique relationship to demonic practices by virtue of his upbringing. His demonological efforts are headlined by a booklet on the spirits, and throughout the rest of Kato’s theological output, Satan and his wicked comrades are frequently mentioned. Overall, Kato’s work presents timely contributions for our demonological goals, especially considering the multicultural context. In an increasingly intermingled world, with many backgrounds being represented in multicultural Christian communities, Kato’s demonology is a superior model. Human perceptions concerning the demonic are often inseparable from prevailing cultural attitudes, and the temptation to exalt one’s own culture must be avoided, especially due to the new norm of multicultural churches, para-church organizations, and seminaries. Kato’s demonology gravitates to the biblical material, and thus it delivers both challenges and affirmations to every party.

Furthermore, Kato’s writings on the demonic are inherently linked to soteriology. After discerning some of the major themes of Kato’s soteriology, his exclusivism (and how it relates to demonology) is specifically discussed. Since Kato views the world outside of Christ as the dominion of Satan and the demonic, he advocates that one must turn to Christ for redemption.

Then an Evangelical demonology itself is constructed. After highlighting particular contributions from Kato, criteria are outlined for the project before launching into the primary content. Demonic activity throughout the Bible is surveyed, and the argument is offered that demons do act as malevolent personal beings intent on instigating evil in the created order.

Through this study of the demonic, the assertion that “demonology matters” is presented, as the doctrine of the demonic relates to the reliability of the Bible and the quality of our salvation. A biblical, Evangelical demonology also rises to modern challenges, including skepticism and speculation. Christians are planted on the sure ground of the Scriptures, prepared for the spiritual realities of the world in which we live.

There is an ongoing challenge in defining African theology because of two important reasons: (1) the quest for a definitive African theology is a fairly recent pursuit and (2) the vastness and diversity of the African continent. Given this, this article presents the complexity of defining African theology and its methodological approaches through a background sketch of the development of African theology. Regardless of many definitions of African theology and its purposes, the article acknowledges African Christian theology as theology that should be derived from the interplay between Scripture, Christian tradition and African cosmology. In deriving theology from the aforementioned aspects, African theology should also seek to develop contextual African theologies with global relevance. In this way, African theology can claim its space in the universal church. Although we are conscious of the values and challenges associated with the task of doing African theology, we argue for its necessity. We further argue that if the centrality of Scripture is maintained in the African theological endeavour, it will cause African theologies to have some shared reference point with other Christian theologies and hence engaging globally, while contributing unique African perspectives to global theological discourse.

A referida temática se enquadra na esfera da Teologia Pública. Assim, pretende-se com este tema dar um contributo em como pensar a fé no espaço público angolano. Pois a nação hoje entendida como Angola, é em grande parte fruto das ações desenvolvidas pelos movimentos cristãos na região e também dos pensamentos teológicos e educacionais obtidos pelos, então, líderes dos movimentos de independência da Angola ou mesmo pela população em geral. Deste modo, para tratar do tema supracitado, dividiu-se o presente trabalho em três capítulos. Sendo que no primeiro capítulo se fez a abordagem histórica do protestantismo em Angola: trazer as vertentes teológicas bem como as origens das igrejas existentes em Angola será o foco neste primeiro momento. No segundo capítulo procurou-se mostrar o processo de descolonização em Angola assim como as tensões sociais e políticas desde 1961, passando pelas origens dos partidos de Independência e pela guerra civil que duraria desde 1975 a 2002. Por fim, no terceiro capítulo, a preocupação passou em demonstrar de que forma se dá a presença das igrejas protestantes na formação do Estado angolano, para além de assinalar algumas possibilidades de atuação da igreja na esfera pública angolana.

Palavras-chave
Angola; missões; Igrejas protestantes; Cristianismo e política; Teologia pública.

This theme becomes from Public Theology and it intends to reflect christian faith in Angolan public space. This nation called Angola, has in its history, lots of actions developed by Christian movements in the region that were influenced by theological and educational thoughts adopted by their independence movements leaders. The same happened to the population in general. The first chapter was presented the historical approach of Protestantism in Angola. The origin of the existing churches and its theological aspects will be discussed in this first part. The second chapter worried to show the process of decolonization in Angola as well as social and political tensions since 1961, through the origins of the Independence parties, and the civil war, from 1975 to 2002. Finally, in the third chapter, the concern was to demonstrate how the Protestant churches are present in the formation of the Angolan State, discussing some possibilities of its actions in the Angolan public sphere.

Keywords
Angola; Missions; Protestant Churches; Christianity and politics; Public Theology.

African Christian theology has many tasks today. This is evident both from a reading of the history of African christian theology and from the wide variety of current understandings of its nature and task. Some theologians today contend that the task of African theologian is to provide a clear and comprehensive description of the African Christian faith. Other theologians emphasize the importance of translating faith into terms that intelligible to the African cultures. For others, African christian theology must be defined as thinking about important issues from the perspective of the faith of African Christians. And still others insist that theology must be reflexion on the praxis of Christian faith within an oppressed community. Therefore this paper seeks to provide briefly some definitions, different approaches to contextualization as a process of theologization, the history of Christianity in Africa. We will proceed to explore the need for an African theology, its models and how it is taught to African Christians; the problems confronting African Christians today throuh different cultural values. We will conclude with the general guidelines on formulating the tasks of African Christian theologians.

This paper on gender and the Bible in African Christianity can only give broad highlights on phenomena that can be described in a million different ways in the whole continent, given the diversities of religion, ethnicity, race, sexuality, age and class in each country and how they construct social roles for their members.  Further, a paper on gender, bible and African Christianity underlines new cultural constructions that produce other complex categories of gender for three different reasons.  First, the Bible is a Jewish book that models different gender constructions, according to their cultural, religious, economic understanding.  Second, the Bible is a collection of sixty-six books written /compiled over two millennia, thus presenting conflicting gender constructions.  Third, African Christianity, especially the sub-Saharan one, is not uniform but a product of collision of modern European Christianities, brought by different denominations (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Methodist).  The European countries brought Christianity to Sub-Saharan Africa in a colonial context (laden with their own cultures) and planted it in different indigenous African cultures.    In the memories of African people, the Bible is thus tied together with colonial history. The Bible is linked with land, dispossession, but now claimed as a possession received through western colonialism.  The Bible is thus described as another set of wisdom, which co-exists with pre-existing collections of African oral wisdom.  In other words,  we do not have one African Christianity, but several African Christanities.  This  background informs three “windows” on Gender, Bible and African Christianity elaborated in this paper.  The windows are not definitive or uniform for all forms of African Christianity, given the complexity of gender constructions; the diversity of biblical books and their gender constructions; the diversity of African Christianities and their gender constructions, at different times and places. The three windows presented here are best seen as invitations to more research projects that are time and place-specific in the diverse contexts of the African continent.  The chapter thus defines and explores the intersection of gender, Christianity and colonialism in the African continent using several case studies.

This paper highlights the proposed “Talitha cum” African women’s biblical hermeneutics of reading through sketching the practices of four African women scholars: Mercy A. Oduyoye (Ghana); Madipoane Masenya (South Africa), Musa W. Dube (Botswana) and Teresa Okure (Nigeria). As used in this paper, Talitha Cum hermeneutics refers to the art of living in the resurrection space: the art of continually rising against the powers of death—the powers of patriarchy, the powers of colonial oppression and exploitation, the powers that produce and perpetuate poverty, disease and all forms of exclusion and dehumanization. Walking in the legacy of Kimpa Vita, African women’s talitha cum hermeneutics are ways of living and insisting on staying alive; even where one confronts oppressive powers that crushes, one dares to rise.  The discussion of  the above four women reading strategies is preceded by an elaboration on the source of naming, that is, Talitha cum, derived from the story of the bleeding and dying daughter of Mark 5.

Even after one hundred and fifty years of Christian missions in Africa, the ancestral cult is still a reality. This is not only the case among the un-churched but among Christians as well. A good number of African Christians pledge allegiance to both the ancestors and Christ. Some sympathetic critics hold that there is no such thing as ancestral cult, but ancestral veneration- proper respect given to one’s elders. This position is cannot stand the evidence taken from various African communities particularly those South of the Sahara. The ancestors occupy a place of prominence among the deities of Africa, and in some cases, there are the only ones that are invoked. The practice is against the Christian scriptures, tradition, reason and experience. The African Christian must say no to the cult of the ancestors or anything that competes for the allegiance that rightly belongs to Christ.

The term 'inculturation' is becoming increasingly fashionable in church, and in particular Roman Catholic, mission circles. The popularity of the term is due to a heightened Christian self-understanding of the necessity of adapting the Christian message to its cultural environment. There is recognition that the implantation of European values in Africa, or in other parts of the world, is not necessarily desirous or successful as a mission strategy. African and other non-western criticisms of colonial hegemony, including a rejection of Christianity as currently taught and practised, have come from both within and outside the church, to the extent that some African Christian theologians are rejecting the 'Christ figure' alto­ gether.2 Christianity has failed to take root, often after centuries of evan­ gelisation, if one is to judge from phenomena such as the absence or scarcity of candidates for the priesthood, or the rejection of monogamy. A perceived threat to mission churches from African Independent and Western fundamentalist churches, as well as from Islam, also contribute to a sense of urgency in the search for new solutions. In this article I look first at some  of  the ways in which inculturation is being defined and at what have come to be regarded as some early experiments in inculturation, whether well received or finally rejected by church authorities and local Christians

What is the basic structure of African Indigenous Religions (AIR/s)? How is it gendered?  How did colonialism affect AIR/s?  Is the academic study of AIR/s among Africanists and feminists decolonized?  Using the context of Southern Africa, this paper will address the above questions by exploring the construction of gender in AIR/s’ concepts of community, ancestorhood and the Divine.  The paper will investigate the academic frameworks of Africanists and feminist scholars of AIR/s by investigating the naming of AIR/s and the frameworks of gender analysis within the postcolonial history.  It will further make some proposals on decolonized frameworks of studying AIR/s.

As a result of the HIV epidemic, masculinities in sub-Saharan Africa have become problematised. There is called for a transformation of masculinities. But what is the vision of such a transformation? This article explores the different visions and strategies proposed by on the one hand some African theologians and on the other hand a local Pentecostal church. The fundamental difference is that the church seeks to transform masculinity within a patriarchal framework while the theologians envision a transformation of masculinity beyond patriarchy, towards a reality called “gender justice”. The article critically analyses and discusses the different masculinity politics and makes a constructive contribution to the debate by providing an eschatological perspective to the transformation of masculinities.

This article reviews the gendered Pentecostal Bible as documented by various researchers. It assesses how the prophetic-spirit framework encounters and functions within the framework of the inerrant but patriarchal written word. The Spirit framework is an oral canon that opens spaces of gender empowerment. Yet Pentecostal scholars problematise the supposedly liberating Spirit, highlighting that it sometimes denies the materiality of human existence and inhabits the constraining parameters of patriarchal church structures. The article suggests that in addition to the Spirit-Word framework, new Pentecostal theological categories, such as healing and deliverance and the prosperity gospel need to be investigated for the new spaces they open for gender justice. 'The authority of the Bible as the word of God, and the experience of the Holy Spirit form two of the most important sources of Pentecostal theology' (Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu 2004:390).

It is argued in this paper that the Holy Spirit is an agent of an inaugurated eschatology, the tight tension of the kingdom today and the kingdom to come. The Holy Spirit comes offering much more than the charismata, he comes as the eschatological Spirit bringing gifts of change and renewal for an eschatological reality (of which the charismata are a part). Such a reality finds its home primarily in the eschatological community, the church. Pentecostalisation has enjoyed considerable influence in Africa, a continent that is traditionally enchanted. Consequently, Africa is giving way to the emergence of an enchanted Christian society where traditional worldviews and a new form of Christianity synthesise. The effects are significant, sometimes laudable and encouraging, but at times troubling, especially when we consider pentecostalism’s elevation of capitalism, the growing theology of prosperity, and syncretism with African Traditional Religion (ATR). This article explores a theology of the coming Spirit of the resurrected Christ as an agent of inaugurated eschatology whose function is to shape and sanctify the ethos of such a Christian society. The renewal of the Spirit’s work in this re-envisioned enchanted community is to work in and through his people in the spirit of koinonia and social transformation, freeing Africans from misplaced desires and religious demands, bringing peace, working with them in nurturing the disenfranchised, and caring for his creation. It is argued that through the coming of the Holy Spirit, the enchanting of Africa will flourish.

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.

This article seeks to trace the fussy boundaries of religion and the public space in the modern colonial archive of southern Africa. It investigates how drawing such boundaries became a central strategy in translating indigenous cultures into sin and creating guilt in communities that did not observe the sacred and secular boundaries. The article uses the attestations of the 19 th century letters to Mahoko a Becwana, a London Missionary Society public paper, printed from Kuruman. While the Batswana worldview kneaded religion and all spheres of individual and collective public space, modern western colonial perspectives claimed otherwise. This paper analyses the letters for the intrusion of colonial religion into the public space of Batswana; the colonial agenda to translate key cultural beliefs and activities into the realm of evil and the various responses it initiated – thereby uncovering that perhaps the separation of religion from state has always been a mythological and ideological construction. When we attempted to convince them of their state as sinners, they would boldly affirm … that there was not a sinner in the tribe (Robert Moffat 18:42:254).

An essay that treats:

1. Historical Development of Small Christian Communities/Basic Ecclesial Communities in Africa
2. Themes of Small Christian Communities in Africa
    a. Relationships and Community
    b. Biblical
    c. Ecclesiastical
    d. Pastoral
    e. Contextual
    f.  Synodality
    g. Mission
3. Development of Small Christian Communities in Africa
4. Challenges of Small Christian Communities in Africa
5. Bibliography

Churches need to engage with men in order to transform dangerous ideas about manhood in Africa. The HIV epidemic calls for the immediate action on attitudes to sex and sexual violence (Chitando 2007: 46). In the age of HIV and AIDS, masculinity and manhood roles, tendencies and attitudes have become matters of life and death (Maluleke 2007). Defining the Problem: Violent Youth Masculinities in one HIV&AIDS Context In the past twenty-eight years of living with HIV&AIDS and the effort to contain its spread, Botswana has undertaken an intense promotion of the sexual ethics of abstinence from premarital sex for adolescents and young adults; consistent and correct condom use for the sexually active and faithfulness among those in committed relationships. This promotion has been marked by a parallel male discourse of resistance that took three different forms over time. 1 The first stage of resistance was characterized by counter-myth and sayings. One saying, counteracting the promotion of condom use, held that " ga o kake wa ja nekere e phuthetswe, " that is, one cannot eat a wrapped candy (Shaibu & Dube 2002:7). It is not an exaggeration that in an HIV&AIDS context a penis could be as good as a deadly shot of HIV infected sperms, hence the promotion of condoms. Be that as it may, the masculinities of resistance insisted on unprotected sex by constructing the penis as a candy-a sweet candy-one that must be fully enjoyed, unwrapped. This is but one saying among a whole host of sayings of the counter discourse that sought to resist the promotion of condom use, including " mythologies such as condoms have worms " (7). In a research that we carried, focusing on high school-going adolescents on Gender, Sexuality, HIV/AIDS and Life Skills in Education, the boys said they, " never admit to a fear of HIV/AIDS: " We brag when with friends, claiming to be kings of AIDS " " (Chilisa, Dube, Tsheko & Mazile 2002:112). One that I found memorable was when we asked them what they have heard about HIV&AIDS. One of their answers was that some people say, " let us have sex now, for in the future HIV will be airborne! " (105). Obviously, this saying is a powerful counter statement against the promotion of abstinence that constructs HIV as less dangerous in its current transmission form. 1 Although I discuss three forms of male resistance, I believe they can be five: the strategy of HIV positive male partners who insisted, against the will of their female partners and during the times when HIV Prevention of Mother to Child Programs were not available, to have children; and the rise of multiple concurrent partners. The latter are quite different from the traditional practice of the so-called small house, which allowed a married man to be involved with another woman who was not his wife but who was officially reported to his wife, family and children and was known to the wider society. The so-called small houses were some form of polygamy; although the man could choose not to marry the second woman it was a known and lifetime relationship. In the HIV and AIDS context, small houses have evolved into the multiple concurrent partners, counteracting the HIV messages. Consequently, the National Campaign Plan: Multiple Concurrent Partnership of Botswana was launched March 2009.

This essay explores Jean Price-Mars’ reasonable arguments and propositions for the religious life and experience of African people. It seeks to demonstrate that religion pervades every aspect and dimension of the African experience. In rereading Price-Mars’ ideas on the faith of African people, this essay employs the comparative method used in religion, anthropology, and ethnology to evaluate the fundamental elements of religious life and experience; particular attention is given to African traditional religion. Using the pluralist approach to religion promoted by the philosopher of religion John Hick, this essay is also an attempt to bridge an important gap in the comparative study of religion, Africana Studies, Price-Mars’ scholarship, and Haitian studies. The basic argument of this essay suggests Price-Mars as one of the earliest pioneers who has offered a scientific study of African traditional religion in the Black Diaspora, and that he was one of the precursors who had laid the intellectual foundations for contemporary scholarship on African traditional religion as well as anticipated the academic study of African theology and theological ethics, by employing the comparative method.

Rev. Dr. John Stott, a British scholar and pastor, is highly esteemed in the Christian evangelical tradition. He was a profound theologian who successfully integrated scholarship with preaching ministry. He embodied and espoused the ideals and tenets of evangelicalism. Both Stott and Billy Graham are the two people mostly responsible for the global appeal of evangelicalism. This paper aim to demonstrate that Stott embodied key tenets of Evangelicalism especially in regard to preaching and social concern and that his influence extends beyond the borders of Britain to Africa. In order to develop the thesis, the paper begins by a brief look at John Stott's biography. Second, the paper examines Stott's approach to, and theology of ministry focusing especially on his theology of preaching and social concern. Finally, the paper offers some key lessons that African preachers can learn from the life of this notable theologian.

Is the demonic personal or impersonal? The question is rarely treated in depth. This thesis initially delves into the demonological offerings of a pair of twentieth century theologians, Karl Barth and Merrill Unger, in order to discern their particular positions upon the subject.

Personhood itself is a divisive issue between the two theologians. Barth’s perspective on personhood is not intrinsically linked to the physical nature. Persons are who they are because of their relationship with the divine. In reference to the demonic, Unger briefly assesses personhood by inseparably correlating it with ontological reality. Their disagreement continues into the definition of “demon.” Barth prefers to see the demonic as uncreated yet derived from God as a byproduct of His creative decree, and Unger opts for a famous classical construction that they are created beings who rebelled against their Maker.

Yet, Barth and Unger are both found to not only adhere to personal language concerning the demonic but also to posit demons as personal beings. According to Barth and Unger, demons are real, personal, and malevolent. This unusual unity, even with their distinct theological backgrounds, can only be properly understood as the result of their mutual profession to reflect the biblical material.

Considering the dated nature of Barth and Unger’s writings, recent biblical scholarship is examined in order to determine whether or not their attestation of a demonic personhood is borne out by current studies. While a few exceptions are noted, the majority of scholars indicate that the biblical material portrays personal intermediary players besides God and humanity, with the category of “demon” becoming progressively prevalent as one chronologically journeys through the divine revelation. Spurning a Bultmann-inspired demythologization, Barth and Unger simply attempt to reflect the biblical material.

But how does Barth and Unger’s idea of demonic personhood hold up in light of the multicultural context? As the globe hurriedly shrinks during our technologically connected age, the boundaries between cultures have fallen, resulting in numerous contexts which contain two or more cultures sharing the same space. How can Christianity navigate such turbulent times, except by emphasizing the centrality of the God’s Word! It coheres God’s people, while convicting and transforming every contacted culture. In the multicultural context, specifically through the Western and African worldviews, Barth and Unger’s personhood of the demonic speaks admonition and affirmation to the Christian masses. Unhealthy superstition is challenged, and dismissive skepticism is chastised. Caution is upheld, and the openness of the African worldview is vindicated. Thus, in light of the multicultural context, a biblical personhood of the demonic realm is plausible, and as a revelation-centric position, it surpasses current ethnocentric expressions of the topic.

As we turned toward constructing some conclusions, Barth and Unger’s strengths and weaknesses were assessed. Karl Barth claims that conveying the biblical testimony is his first concern, but on the subject of the demonic, he entertains a confusing philosophy which unpredictably maintains personhood. Merrill Unger paints with broad brush strokes, failing to discuss or respond to the progressive way in which the demonic is unveiled throughout the biblical text. One of the strengths of Barth’s demonological presentation, which includes demonic personhood, is that he highlights the activity of the demonic before the ontology of the demonic. Though interacting with scholars and theologians, Unger’s clear emphasis and strength is on recapitulating the biblical text, linking nearly every point to numerous texts.

Finally, if we accept the reality of a personal demonic, our response to the demonic should reflect it. Theologically, it should spur us onward toward a truly personal view of redemption. Practically, it means that we should critically analyze and carefully consider the constructive works of counselors, pastors, and deliverance practitioners that we may cautiously adapt our ecclesiological practices to reflect biblical realities.

In quest for an eco-justice reading, this article invites readers/listeners to theater, where the drama of creation is staged.  God enters the stage where the Earth is formless, dark and void, but covered by the Spirit of God.  God begins to call various members of the Earth community into being through God’s own word over six days.  They each come marching into the stage.  God views each created member and pronounces them good and finally pronounces all members to be very good.  God gives the sun and the moon the power to rule the Earth.  During the creation drama God invites the Earth to the stage to give forth vegetation, water creatures and animals. The Earth, thus does not only host all members of the Earth community, but also becomes the co-creator with God, who ensures continuity of creation. On the sixth day the Earth is no longer dark, void or formless, for there is the light, atmosphere, sun, moon, stars, dry ground, seas, vegetation and living creatures of all sorts on the stage.  God Looks at them and says, “Let us make an earthling in our image, in our likeness.”  And thus a human being came into being as a child of the Earth and was told to keep the Earth Community just as good as God created it.

This paper is primarily based on fieldwork research, carried out by different researchers over the last ten years.  It will explore the position of women in the church of Botswana, by examining:
a. women from different church backgrounds, that is, Mainline churches, African Independent Churches, and evangelical/pentecostal  churches
b. How and why they became leaders and their experiences in church and society
c. models of gender empowerment that emerge from the studies.
Collected fieldwork  data , therefore, sought to  analyse stories of Batswana women in church leadership in order to identify strategies employed to assume church leadership. The conclusion maps out  several strategies used by women to subvert  gender-based exclusions , such as the use of an oral canon, instead of relying on the written word.

Identifying the most creative edges in an emerging post-cold war and post-apartheid paradigm of African theology, this article proposes that theology retains a unique role in acknowledging, valorising, interpreting and enhancing the agency of African Christians in their daily struggles against the cultural, religious and economic forces. Around the central rediscovery of the agency of Africans, African theologians are attempting to construct a less embittered and less schizophrenic relationship between Africa and Christianity on the one hand, and between Africans and their painful Christian past on the other. Although many of the basic assumptions of the past continue to be influential, there is a search for theoretical tools and perspectives that will enable to understand and account for the mythical, the socio-cultural and the popular in religion and society, highlighting the socio-political importance of popular religious movements and the need to develop adequate and relevant theoretical tools for understanding them. This search is related to the criticism of the fraudulent project of the postcolonial nationalist bourgeoisie and the grand narratives of Africa, African culture and the political liberation projects with its worn-out metaphors. While African women's theology has been by far the most prolific and challenging in the past decade and half, Mosala's and Petersen's work is discussed in more detail.

This essay studies the moral values and practical relevance of the South African concept of Ubuntu in the process of rethinking Black African theological ethics and Black African theological anthropology. Toward this goal, we examine the works of three prominent African theologians: LaurentiMagesa, a diocesan priest from Tanzania, John S. Mbiti, an Anglican priest from Kenya, and BénézetBujo, a Catholic priest from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.1 The aim of this comparative analysis is to highlight the importance and implications of Black theological anthropology and ethics to the social and moral life of the individual and the community.

This study also aims at articulating a model that is theologically sound, human- sensitive and enriching, and emancipatory. We shall investigate in their ethico-theological writings the intersection of theism, personhood, community, and Ubuntu as an African humanism. The selected African thinkers give the impression that the African perspective on humanity, the social life, and the moral life is more promising, liberating, and dignifying than the Western vision on these issues. The theological anthropology and ethics of Magesa, Mbiti, and Bujostrongly promote interconnected human relations and interactional social dynamics that are based on the Ubuntu moral ethics.This essay suggests that Black African theological anthropology and theological ethics have a strong foundation on the Ubuntu moral virtues and ethical principles that promotes human flourishing and a life in solidarity within the framework of the community and a symbiotic relationship between God, the community, and the individual.

Keywords: African theological anthropology, African theological ethics, Ubuntu ethics, Black theology, African traditional religion.

This paper will present some interpretations of Batswana women readers of Matt. 15:21-28. In keeping with the theme of this volume, the aim of presenting their readings is to take seriously the subjectivity and agency of their own interpretations. I shall first give the historical background of these readers and then briefly touch on the methods used to acquire these readings and their framework. Thirdly, I shall present the findings of a questionnaire and the tape-recorded sermons. In conclusion, I shall employ a post-colonial feminist perspective to ask what are the useful models of reading to be drawn from their interpretations.

Christian theology will be poised to play a constructive role in the current social transition in South Africa only insofar as it is capable of patiently listening to and being shaped by people's anger. The article aims at mapping a renewed prophetic theology in South Africa focusing on the significance of anger, and based on the theological framework inherent in the Kairos Document (1985). I refer to the three-tier distinction between state, church and prophetic theology to describe the economically-based alliance of politics and ecclesia in today's South Africa. This is followed by a reflection on the significance of anger in the emerging of people's (incipient) theologies which are then articulated as prophetic theology.

The Kifaayat'l-Muhtadeen is a treatise on tawheed composed by Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye` during the early period of his reform movement (circa 1776-1780). The SIIASI has combined the Arabic and English with the Spanish translation by Alymah Ramos and the French translation by Dylia Camara.

To date the world is a host of 40million people living with HIV&AIDS and it has lost at least 24 million people. The world is also raising about 15 million orphans and taking care of many critically ill people due to HIV&AIDS. The epidemic is noted for its social face—it is an epidemic within other social epidemics of poverty, gender inequalities, violence, the abuse of children's rights, racism, ethnic and sexual discrimination (UNDP Bots 2000:26-37). Subjugated and marginalized individuals, groups, communities or nations, living under conditions where their human dignity is denied are more vulnerable to HIV&AIDS. Further, HIV&AIDS does not only attack those who are already on the margins of social structures— it further marginalizes the marginalized. The poor become poorer, as HIV&AIDS arrests their physical capacity to work and raises their medical bills. It lowers economic performances of nations when it reduces productivity in the market due to HIV deaths, funeral attendance, absentees from work due to ill health and as many others who are well stay away from work to nurse the sick and feed the orphans. Other vulnerable groups include women, children, grandparents, survivors of war, displaced populations, the disabled and the racially, ethnically and sexually discriminated groups. HIV&AIDS also goes with stigma and discrimination—those who are HIV+ are isolated, rejected, judged, condemned and feared-in fact, they are often sentenced to social death long before the physical death claims them. Given HIV&AIDS' link with social injustice and its wide impact, ―a broad social movement needs to be mobilized to tackle the links between inequality, poverty, gender discrimination.

This article addresses a methodological question: How to develop African queer theology? That is, a theology that interrogates and counter-balances popular representations of queer sexuality as being “un-African” and “un-Christian”. Answering this question, the article specifically engages with African feminist theological work on storytelling as politically empowering and theologically significant. Where African feminist theologians have used her-stories to develop her-theologies, this article suggests that similarly, queer autobiographical storytelling can be a basis for developing queer theologies. It applies this methodology to the Kenyan queer anthology Stories of Our Lives (2015), which is a collection of autobiographical stories narrated by people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (lgbti) or otherwise queer in Kenya. The article concludes with an intertextual reading of Stories of Our Lives and Mercy Oduyoye’s autobiographical essay about childlessness, pointing towards an African narrative queer theology of fruitfulness.

The answer to the question “who am I?” is of fundamental importance to being human.  Answers to this question are sought from various disciplines and sources, these include empirical sources such as biology and sociology, and phenomenological sources such as psychology and religion.  However, with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, and the possibility of effective consciousness emulating technologies, the answer “I am…” is no longer that easy to construct.  This chapter discusses the impasse that this technological development presents with regard to the study of individual consciousness and identity.  It then goes on to present an integrative framework for individual consciousness that is based on the groundbreaking work of Ken Wilber and Eugene de Quincey.  The African philosophy of ubuntu is applied to this integral framework to show how the ethics of this indigenous knowledge system can contribute towards overcoming the impasse of validating individual identity and consciousness.

This article is a contribution towards the development of queer theologies in contemporary African contexts. Based on fieldwork in the gay community in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, the article explores the significance of the theological notion of the Imago Dei, the Image of God, in the self-understanding of Zambian gay men as being gay and Christian. Bringing this incipient grassroots theology into conversation with broader theological discourses, in particular African theology (including African women's theology) and queer theology, we interrogate current understandings of the Imago Dei that either ignore sexuality or exclude same-sex loving people (in African theology) or that conceptualize queerness from white Western privileged perspectives (in queer theology). Hence we develop the notion of the Imago Dei as a stepping stone towards an African queer theology.

Boundaries and Bridges: Journeys of a Postcolonial Feminist in Biblical Studies As a young girl, one of the derisive comments I frequently heard at our family retail shop was: " Dilo ke lona le tsile le tlola melolwane le melolwane; dinoka le dinokana, le tsile go bapala kwano. " That is, " you came crossing one boundary after another, one river after another to trade in our country. " The subtext in the statement was that we were foreigners who did not deserve, or had merely been favored to access economic resources in Botswana. My parents and five of my eldest siblings were born in Zimbabwe, and the last five of us were born in Botswana. Before we migrated to Botswana, it had happened that the village where my parents lived was declared a white man's ranch. Indigenous people in the area were given two choices: to remain in their homes and assume the status of servants to the owner of the ranch, or to move to the reserves. The reserves were arid and crowded places, where black indigenous people of Zimbabwe were moved from their villages and resettled. My parents chose to remain. And so their status was redefined to servanthood. After a while they were restricted to ploughing only an acre and to owning a maximum of five cows. That was when my parents decided to move to Botswana, a semi-desert country that did not attract white colonial settlers due to its harsh temperatures. I was thus born in Botswana due to this colonial experience. Yet even those of us who were born in Botswana bore Zimbabwean names and spoke Ndebele in our family, which immediately marked us as those who do not have roots among the indigenous ethnic groups of Botswana. As many diaspora narratives attest, 1 people living in diaspora contexts often permanently bear the stamp of 1 See Psalm 137:1-6, which reads, " By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and there we wept, when we remembered Zion, On the willows there we hung our harps […] How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither! ". This text does not only express the exiled and diasporic Jewish communities' yearning for home, but has also provided a popular language for many other contemporary diaspora

Modern scholars of Christianity such as Andrew Walls, Philip Jenkins, Patrick Johnstone, Lamin Sanneh, Joel Carpenter, Kwame Bediako and others, have convincingly argued that the Christian center of gravity has shifted from the global West and North (Europe and North America) to the global South and East (Africa, Latin America, and Asia). This shift has resulted from the explosion of Christianity in the global south and the recession of Christianity in the West. Thus Christianity is currently post-Western and the West is post-Christian. However, millions of people from the vibrant churches of the global South and East (the Majority World)  who migrate to the West every year provide fresh opportunities for the rejuvenation of the Christian faith in the West. However, since immigrants to the West do not abandon their particular religious, cultural, and ethnic identities when they move to the West, it is paramount for Western theologians to reorient their theology to incorporate questions from immigrants. If indeed the Western society has been transformed from being culturally homogenous to multi-ethnic, multilingual, and multi-religious, Western theology must take this current reality seriously. Thus using African immigrants as a case in point, this paper will address the relevance of African Christianity to the West. It proceeds forward in four sections. The first section gives a brief overview of the recent growth of Christianity in the Majority World. The second section deals with the immigration factor stressing the current demographic transformation of the North American religious landscape. The third section examines the religious presuppositions (worldview) that African immigrants bring with them to the West. The fourth section suggests four proposals on how Western Christianity can draw from the African worldview.

This essay argues that an important task of theology is the construction of piety. It draws from a few critical moments in the development of Christianity, such as the development of the doctrine of God and Christology in the early church and the rejection of materialistic Christianity in early modern Europe, to argue that these moments reflect the theological struggle to shape Christian piety. The idea that theology is concerned with the shaping of piety is then used to evaluate African theology of inculturation, which has now flowered in the Pentecostalization of African Christianity. It argues that although the theology of incul-turation may be helpful in constructing a viable African theology, uncritically embracing the spiritualized cosmology of African traditional societies in salvific discourses promotes a form of piety that is ill-equipped to overcome the marginalization of the continent in the modern world.

The paper explores translation  power dynamics in a colonial context.  In biblical translation, tradition has long persisted that the so-called source text should have the lion’s share, an approach that served to suppress and colonise indigenous cultures.  From modern colonial times to the contemporary global era, biblical translation theories and agenda have remained largely steeped in the colonial ideology of muted recipient communities. The Tiv translation of Hamlet models a different approach. In Robert Moffat’s translation of Setswana Bible in 1840-1857, it is clear that the indigenous people had not even asked for the translation nor were their voices valued in the process. Almost three decades later, Batswana began responding to a completed translation, demonstrating that a written document does not surpass the power of the oral canon, which is held in the memory of the indigenous community.

Qui organise aujourd'hui des funérailles catholiques à Abomey, dans le sud du Bénin? Comment, pourquoi, et dans quelles conditions? Voici quelques-unes des questions auxquelles ce texte s'efforce de répondre, en replaçant ce cas dans la problématique plus générale de l'articulation entre identités religieuses et divisions sociales dans l'Afrique contemporaine.

This article offers an extended review of some recent publications in the field of African theology and HIV and AIDS. Hence it critically examines the progress that is made in the engagement with and the reflection on issues related to the HIV epidemic by African theologians. The article notices the emergence of a new strand of Africa theology, a (liberation) theology of HIV and AIDS, which builds on and employs the classic strands of African liberation, inculturation, reconstruction and women’s theology. Moreover, some challenging issues for the further African theological engagement with HIV and AIDS are identified.

Tinyiko Sam Maluleke is a prolific South African theologian whose work mounts a thoroughgoing critique 6 of the status of Christianity in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. Situating his work within its archival 7 context, this article argues that the work of Maluleke emphasizes the vocation of the theologian as critic. 8 The essay looks at some key themes in his work and suggests that Maluleke’s critique of African 9 Christianity is soteriological in nature, that is, he questions the role the Christian faith may play in the sal- 10 vation of (South) Africa.

The very first Small Christian Communities (SCCs)/Basic Christian Communities (BCCs) in Africa started in DRC in 1961.The very beginning of SCCs in Eastern Africa can be traced back to the parishes of the Luo-speaking Deanery (especially Nyarombo, Ingri and Masonga Parishes) in North Mara in Musoma Diocese in northwestern Tanzania in 1966. The AMECEA Study Conference on “Planning for the Church in Eastern Africa in the 1980s” in Nairobi, Kenya in December, 1973 stated: “We have to insist on building church life and work on Basic Christian Communities in both rural and urban areas. Church life must be based on the communities in which everyday life and work take place: those basic and manageable social groups whose members can experience real inter-personal relationships and feel a sense of communal belonging, both in living and working.”  This pastoral policy was in the context of the statement: “We are convinced that in these countries of Eastern Africa it is time for the Church to become truly local, that is, self-ministering, self-propagating and self-supporting.” This is rooted in the theology that SCCs are not optional, but are the basic unit/basic cell/basic building block/basic foundation/most local expression of the Catholic Church.

      The AMECEA Study Conference on “Building Small Christian Communities” took place in Nairobi, Kenya in 1976.  The key statement was: "Systematic formation of Small Christian Communities should be the key pastoral priority in the years to come in Eastern Africa.” This is the single most important statement made about SCCs. The meeting went on to affirm the essential ecclesial character and characteristics of Small Christian Communities by stating: “The [Small] Christian Communities we are trying to build are simply the most local incarnations of the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
A major step was the First African Synod in Rome in April, 1994 on the theme "The Church in Africa and Her Evangelizing Mission to the Year 2000” with five main topics: "Proclamation of the Good News of Salvation", "Inculturation," "Dialogue", "Justice and Peace" and the "Means of Social Communications."  Of the 211 interventions during the first two weeks of the First African Synod, there were 29 interventions on SCCs (the fourth highest number after the topics of justice, inculturation and laity). 

      The last 10 years has seen the increasing involvement of SCCs in promoting forgiveness, healing, reconciliation, justice and peace in Africa.  There is considerable documentation on how some of the 20,000 base communities (another name for SCCs) were involved in the reconciliation and healing ministry in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. Research in Kenya, Rwanda and Sudan indicates that women are better in peacemaking than men. Men tend to emphasize power and control while women emphasize personal relationships. The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) in Lusaka, Zambia produced guided reflection pamphlets on justice and peace topics for SCCs to generate faith-based action.  The various reflection methods in the Lumko Program especially related to social justice are used throughout Africa.

      Today there are over 180,000 Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in the Catholic Church in the nine AMECEA countries. Tanzania has over 60,000 SCCs and Kenya has over 45,000 SCCs. Since 1973 they have been a key pastoral priority in Eastern Africa as a “New Way of Being (Becoming) Church” and a “New Pastoral Model of Church.”  The rich experience of the church in Eastern Africa especially pastoral, parish-based SCCs is contributing to the other parts of Africa and to the World Church. SCCs is a pastoral model of church integrally connected to the structures, ministries and activities of the parish. This helps local Catholics feel that “they are the church” and more responsible (“ownership”) for church life and decision making. SCCs are becoming more involved in justice and peace issues.

      What is the future? Many African SCCs have emerged from reading the contemporary signs of the times in Africa and responding to today’s reality. Cardinal Polycarp Pengo of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the former President of SECAM, calls SCCs “a special or privileged instrument of evangelization.” Tanzanian theologian Laurenti Magesa emphasizes:  “For the future of Christian mission, specifically in Africa, we can say without hesitation that the development of small faith communities is an indispensable requirement.” They can play a major role in the New Evangelization. Already as a new way of being church and a new model of church (closely related to the Church as Family and the Communion of Communities Models of Church) African SCCs are influencing the World Church. SCCs in Africa will continue to develop in the spirit of the Spanish proverb popular with the Base or Basic Christian Communities in Latin America: "We create the path by walking."