African Political Theology and Post-Nationalist Nationalism: The Case of the Cameroon Anglophone Conflict

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is a Christian theological interrogation of the war in the Anglophone region of Cameroon between Cameroon’s army and Anglophone separatists who seek separation from Francophone Cameroon. It problematizes a facile understanding of Anglophone identity that places Anglophones on the one side and Francophones on the other, arguing that these identities are complex. It critiques theologies that appear to defend Anglophone separation arguing that these theologies are rooted in an inadequate understanding of liberation theology and a limited doctrine of providence. It proposes an African political theology that calls into question the theological legitimacy of the nation-state and seeks to transcend the binaries that often otherize and separate. This political theology, it is suggested, should have a pan-African and cosmopolitan vision.