Abstract
During the early church’s initial expansion phase where congregations were established in Syria, Asia Minor, Achaia, Italy and Africa there were strong leadership structures in Alexandria, Carthage, Hippo Regius and Ethiopia. Over a period of two millennia the Christian church with a westernised character has spread all over Africa. Today there is a strong African consciousness and critical approach to Africanise Christianity, to decolonise it and to de-Westernise it. This research endeavours to contribute to the dialectic and critical debate and reasoning surrounding the Africanising of Christianity. There is the attempt, from a holistic perspective, to set some hermeneutical principles in place within this approach. This article approaches this topic from three perspectives. Firstly, it gives a brief overview of the spread and growth of Christianity into Africa with reference to six epochs to contextualise the reasoning in the following sections. Secondly, it points out some difficulties that were experienced during the rapid growth of Christianity and changes in its theology. During the past few decades Africa has not only endeavoured to regain its political and cultural identity, but also to claim an own Christian identity by Africanising Christianity. Thirdly, the article discusses some proposed hermeneutical principles that should be considered during the formation of a new Christian identity.
Highlights
In a review of the book How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind (Oden 2007) in Christianity Today, David Neff (2008) stated: “Many of the shapers of Christian orthodoxy were African”
The main objective of this research is to connect, from a holistic perspective, some hermeneutical principles to Africanise Christianity to be employed interactively. These “principles” already received attention in the past, in this research some will be approached from different perspectives to constitute a more holistic and coherent picture which relate to the latest comprehensive hermeneutical approach in biblical hermeneutics
Christianity were greatly influenced by Westerners; Africans have contextualized all of this to suit their purposes in such a way that it is no longer foreign
Summary
In a review of the book How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind (Oden 2007) in Christianity Today, David Neff (2008) stated: “Many of the shapers of Christian orthodoxy were African”. He would have had in mind Augustine, Van der Merwe STJ 2016, Vol 2, No 2, 559–587. The main objective of this research is to connect, from a holistic perspective, some hermeneutical principles to Africanise Christianity to be employed interactively These “principles” already received attention in the past, in this research some will be approached from different perspectives to constitute a more holistic and coherent picture which relate to the latest comprehensive hermeneutical approach in biblical hermeneutics.. These “principles” already received attention in the past, in this research some will be approached from different perspectives to constitute a more holistic and coherent picture which relate to the latest comprehensive hermeneutical approach in biblical hermeneutics. The three constituents in dialogue
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