Abstract
The emergence of ecclesiology scholarship in recent theological discourse has exposed the various approaches that ecclesiology has been studied as a distinctive discipline. The traditional ecclesiological approach has prioritized the scholarship of ecclesiology from the perspective of specific denominational orders. There has also been an approach of ecclesiology that revolves around the perspective of some renowned theologians on the basis of their affiliation to their respective church organizations. The most recent approach has been the global ecclesiology that prioritizes the concept of contextualization while looking at ecclesiological discourse from distinct sociocultural-geographical contexts. Three geographical regions hold a wealth of significance by virtue of the global trajectory of Christianity towards the global South: Asia, Africa and Latin America. African ecclesiology plays a critical role in this arrangement and is a major contributor to global ecclesiology. In this understanding, it is imperative for the pursuit of an African ecclesiology to appreciate the concept of Ubuntu as a definitive expression of the African identity. The problem is the methodology of ecclesiological scholarship in Africa that ignores the significance Ubuntu has and resultantly births a foreign ecclesiology to the indigenous African population. It is important to acknowledge that the approach of ecclesiology that will thrive in Africa is nothing less than an Ubuntu ecclesiology that prioritizes community and relationships reminiscent of our traditional African portrait as foundational pillars for her establishment. The formulation and establishment of an African friendly ecclesiology of Ubuntu can only be facilitated by the usage of the inculturation method of theology. This methodology accords due consideration to the African heritage with regard to their culture, spirituality and religious background emphasizing the values from traditional Africa that are helpful to Christian life and condemning those practices that are non-Christian in nature.
Highlights
An increasing interest in ecclesiology has emerged in the recent past that was triggered by the amazing shift of Christianity towards the global South, which saw areas that previously did not have a massive witness of Christian presence becoming a phenomenon by the explosion of Christianity making these regions as the current centres of Christianity in present-day Christendom
It springs from the understanding that there is some worth that the universal church can draw from the African narrative of culture and religious worldview. It came as a protest in the strongest terms against the perceived westernization of the Christian gospel that saw the packaging of the gospel in the European culture. This thought is clearly caught in the sentiments of the Pan African Conference of Third World Theologians that African theology must come to a place that it is understood in the context of African life and culture and the creative attempt of African people to shape a new future that is different from the colonial past and the neo-colonial present, it must as well be on the forefront of rejecting the prefabricate ideas of North Atlantic theology by defining itself according to the struggles of the people in their resistance against the structures of domination
Our interest was to capture the understanding of Ubuntu and study how the usage of the inculturation method would midwife an African ecclesiology of Ubuntu
Summary
East African Journal of Traditions, Culture and Religion eajtcr.eanso.org Volume 3, Issue 2, 2021. The formulation and establishment of an African friendly ecclesiology of Ubuntu can only be facilitated by the usage of the inculturation method of theology This methodology accords due consideration to the African heritage with regard to their culture, spirituality and religious background emphasizing the values from traditional Africa that are helpful to Christian life and condemning those practices that are non-Christian in nature. Inculturation Methodology as the Medium towards the Formulation and Establishment of an African Ecclesiology of Ubuntu. (2021) “Inculturation Methodology as the Medium towards the Formulation and Establishment of an African Ecclesiology of Ubuntu.”, East African Journal of Traditions, Culture and Religion, 3(2), pp. “Inculturation Methodology as the Medium towards the Formulation and Establishment of an African Ecclesiology of Ubuntu.”, EAJTCR, vol 3, no. “Inculturation Methodology as the Medium towards the Formulation and Establishment of an African Ecclesiology of Ubuntu.” East African Journal of Traditions, Culture and Religion, Vol 3, no. 2, Jul. 2021, pp. 19-29, doi:10.37284/eajtcr.3.2.369
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