African Theology Research Articles

Theopoetics from Below: A South African Black Christological Encounter with Radical Theology

ABSTRACT Given the evidence of Black suffering more than two and half decades after apartheid, this paper proceeds on the premise that theology cannot continue as business per usual. It attempts to stage a critical and creative encounter between the radical theology of the philosopher, John D. Caputo and the liberation Christology of the South African theologian, Takatso Mofokeng. It demonstrates both the commonalities and limits of their respective accounts and suggests that radical theology and liberation Christology supplement each other in critically-constructive ways. Liberation Christology’s criticism of power, institution, and Western modes of theological discourse, which it shares with radical theology, supplements the latter’s somewhat abstract account of “the event” with the particularity of Black experience. Radical theology, on the other hand, offers Black Christology a way to be critical of its own metaphysical claims, as well as its tendency to mimic the oppressor in its categories of positive identification.

History, Eschatology, and the Development of the Six Ages of the World

The sex aetates mundi was the central framework of Early Christian, Late Antique, and early medieval Christian eschatology and historiography. This article is the second part of a study of the development and history of this motif. Part I (published in Augustinianum 61, 1 [2021]) summarised the emergence of this framework in biblical and patristic writings up to the late fourth-century, concluding with the work of the North African theologian, Tyconius. The second part of this study investigates the treatment of this subject in the writings of Augustine of Hippo, Dionysius Exiguus, Isidore of Seville, and the Venerable Bede. The majority of the examination is devoted to tracing Augustine’s understanding of the six ages – which was strongly influenced by Tyconius – since Augustine is frequently credited with being the main proponent of this conceptualisation of sacred history. This investigation of Augustine’s writings is mostly focused on De civitate Dei, the work that addresses the six ages framework most thoroughly, but analyses references to this historiography throughout his corpus. The conclusion of this examination argues that Augustine engaged with this commonplace view of history, but only insofar as it points mankind towards reflection of the world to come. This study argues that Isidore is the scholar who should be credited with popularising this notion in the early medieval Latin West. How the developments in calendrical reckoning put forward by Dionysius Exiguus and Bede intersect with and influence the six ages model is also charted. Overall, this study provides an in-depth examination of the six ages of history model in the thought of the fathers of Late Antique and early medieval Latin exegesis, pinpointing key moments in the evolution of the sex aetates model.

La metáfora de la 'ecclesia mater' en la literatura antidonatista

The modern scholars have studied the maternity of the Church independently from the anti-Donatist literature. But a careful study of the anti-Donatist documents reveals many interesting elements. According to Optatus and Augustine the notion of mother was abscribed to all believers, because the body of Christ was formed of all those the Church bore as children through the baptism. According to both African bishops also the donatists gave a valid baptism, but only Augustine demonstrated how the salvation could be found outside of the viscera Ecclesiae. Then this article deals with the image of the Ecclesia mater as illustrated in the Adversus Donatistas of Optatus published in answer to the donatist bishop Parmenianus and in all that Augustine penned against the schismatics (Tractatus, Sermones, Epistulae). By doing so, it presents a picture of the African theology of the fourth century.

The african theology as practical theology

The purpose of this article is to show that African theology is both a practical theology as well as a speculative theology. It is a theology which was born from the perspective of finding a proper method of evangelization on the African continent. To do this, this theology went through different stages which led it to its scientific maturity. Thanks to the efforts made, this theology has provided a way to a deeper evangelization in the african cultural context. Inculturation, as one of the ways of doing theology in Africa, has become a key word in African theology. Inculturation has the advantage of frank and uncompromising dialogue between the Gospel and cultures. This dialogue subsequently allows an appropriation of the Gospel message in various african cultural backgrounds.

Gender Issues in the Patriarchy of the Igbo Culture of Southeastern Nigeria

The main thesis of this work is that women’s rights and dignity are still respected in the cultural setting despite the fact that Igbo is a patriarchal society. Through the organization of women groups in different Igbo localities, women mobilize themselves and gain political power in solidarity to protect and uphold their rights and dignity as human beings. This work suggests that African women theologians, particularly those from Igbo origins, may join hands together and trace the action of Igbo women in the past in protecting their rights and dignity. This implies that they must study the recorded history of the land in Igbo culture and connect it to the present for the good of the current generation.

Aspects of the concept of theo-logy in the Old Testament: A discussion on J. Gericke

In this contribution, an aspect of the research of one of the more distinct voices in South African theology, Jaco Gericke, is contextualised and outlined. Although Old Testament Theology is an oft-enough reflected on topic by South African Bible scholars, such a theology is never written by South African scholars. However, Gericke’s work tends in this direction. His work on God-talk, theo-logy, is the more important for our time, because it often relates to the kind of ideas popularly related to for instance God as creator in the Genesis texts. Gericke’s work is however also attractive to intellectuals who work from the precepts of modernism or who are engaged in interdisciplinary research or who for purposes of decoloniality explore alternatives to Western scholarship. However, it is initially not easy for many readers to understand Gericke’s contribution in combining philosophy and Old Testament studies, both practised on high levels. To this end, three instances of Gericke’s argumentation are related as examples, with explanatory and interpretative comments made to demonstrate the high heuristic value of his contributions. Contribution: Jaco Gericke’s work can be characterised as theo-logy, in that he takes seriously the implications of modernism for ‘God-talk’. He combines Philosophy and Old Testament Exegesis as academic enterprises, the intellectual productivity of which is demonstrable by means of examples.

The questions for post-apartheid South African missiology in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

South African missiology has seen a shift in its praxis since the late 20th century. David J. Bosch made a crucial contribution in this regard. The shift includes mission as a contextualised praxis and agency. In mission studies, agency has become necessary in postcolonial mission, primarily because of the loss of identity of the oppressed in colonised countries. Through contextual theologies of liberation, African theology, Black Theology of Liberation and postcolonial studies, theologians were able to reflect on the human dignity of the colonised. However, there are still significant efforts needed in this quest, and therefore, the praxis cycle used in missiology is useful to also assess effects on the oppressed and marginalised through the emerging context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). In the task of doing mission in the world differently, the questions that missiologists ask are important. The emergence of the 4IR aims to merge the biological with the technological and will bring more challenges to mission work in Africa. This will bring upon us the responsibility to reflect on the notion of human agency, the theologies espoused in such a time and missiologists’ contextual lenses and strategies employed. These should have to be carefully considered especially in a post-apartheid context. The researcher will, therefore, use the commonly used praxis cycle in missiological research to explore through a Socratic (questioning) approach what the implications will be for missiologists and mission agents in the quest of transforming church and the post-apartheid society.Contribution: Though there has emerged a few theological contributions from missiology, there has not been a missiological contribution on the 4IR. The author therefore uses one of the theological methods in the discipline to put on the table the imperative questions that those doing missiological research should pose in the context of the 4IR.

Theology amidst Wickedness: Is African Theology Equipped to Address Intractable Societal Issues?

Abstract In light of scholarly debates on the wicked problems framework, this contribution offers an appraisal of the role of theology in an African context characterized by myriad wicked problems. I argue that within the (South) African context, the decolonization of theology is indispensable for doing theology that is self-consciously contextual and therefore responsive to societal issues. This is crucial not least because of the widely recognized public role of religion in Africa. Drawing on the analytical framework of decoloniality and the theoretical concept of wicked problems, I will argue that although the category of wicked problems emerged within the framework of the intellectual world of the Northern Hemisphere, its analytical capacity is no less significant for contemporary African theological discourse on decoloniality.

Teologia europeia na contemporaneidade. Categoria, transformações e perspetivas

The normalization of contextual‑geographical theological categories (such as Latin‑American, Asian or African theologies) raises the question of a European Theology. This article seeks to question the existence of a category like European Theology. This category does not seem to arise in the theological setting as such, which is why an underdevelopment of such a category is recognized. This underdevelopment is closely associated with a set of contemporary transformations at both the ecclesial‑theological and world‑cultural levels, which ultimately refer to the loss of Europe’s cultural and Christian hegemony. Finally, we present a brief description of the European theological scenario, pointing out three major perspectives: critical (which assumes methods and analyzes from other epistemologies for the composition of its own theological discourse), hermeneutical (which starts from the facticity of the Belief‑Christian experience and seeks above all its meaning) and mystagogical (which starts from an assumption in favor of faith and wants to lead to it).

Church Land Reform through a Combination of Examples and Theology of Spatial Justice

Land was one of the ways the colonialist venture as well as the apartheid regime used to divide people, as well as being a catalyst for superiority. Over hundreds of years, from the beginning of colonial rule until the end of apartheid in 1994, the indigenous people of South Africa were dispossessed from the land. With the end of the Truth and Reconciliation proceedings, it was clear from suggested actions that there should be restitution in South Africa to begin to correct the spatial and resultant economic imbalances. Churches in South Africa embarked on setting declarations on land reform ecumenically and within their own walls. However, little information is available on final reform measures that churches have taken after several ecumenical meetings in the 1990s. Additionally, there is little development in South African theology circles on a theology of land justice. Moreover, a praxis on land justice for churches has not been openly developed or discussed post-1994. This study aims to look at the history of the land issue in South Africa, particularly from 1948–1994, and will include the history of land ownership in the Roman Catholic tradition. In addition, it will look at examples of land reform in the Roman Catholic Church from 1999 until the present in the Diocese of Mariannhill. Furthermore, the article will consider the emerging praxis of spatial justice based on a hermeneutic view taken from black liberation and contextual theology. The article concludes with a look at how these examples and new praxis can develop the ecumenical church’s quest for a prophetic voice and actions in land South African land reform.

<i>Igwebuike</i> theology of <i>Omenani </i>and the missionary bifurcation of horizons

African theology points to the fact that every particular situation or context calls for a particular theological reflection, that is, if the theological reflection is to make meaning within that unique circumstance. It is within this context that Igwebuike theology of Omenani emerges in relation to the understanding of culture as the Seed of the Word of God, which already pre-existed in Africa even before the emergence of the Western missionaries. The purpose of adopting this idea of culture as the Seed of the Word of God is to enhance the reconciliation between the African and Christian/Western ’worldhoods’. This piece presented the African culture as an important element in evangelization in Africa, as it is the spirit that animates the African people. It, therefore, located the Seed of the Word of God in the Omenani (the law of the land) of the African people through which they were able to achieve holiness even before the advent of the gospel. It observed that the failures of the missionary enterprise were majorly because of their lack of openness to the African religion and culture. The purpose of this study is to bridge the bifurcation created by the missionaries between the Christian and African ‘worldhoods’. The theoretical framework employed in this research is the Igwebuike sympathetic and non-derogatory framework, which emphasizes evangelization with a sense of understanding.
 Keywords: Omenani, Logos Spermatikos, Culture, African, Igbo, Evangelization, Igwebuike

The Need for “A Fighting God”: Biko, Black Theology and the Essence of Revolutionary Authenticity

ABSTRACT There is an upsurge of renewed interest in South Africa in Black Consciousness, Black theology and consequently in the work of Steven Bantu Biko who remains a central figure for a movement that now seems to inspire a new generation, especially pertaining to the raging debates on Africanity, decolonisation, and Africanisation. This author believes that this resurgence presents an historic moment that calls for a serious re-examination of Biko’s thought. Even though Biko’s reflections on Black theology per se were sparse, they are extremely important in my view, and open up new avenues for Black theological reflection and praxis as regards the fundamental questions of integrity and authenticity in global struggles for freedom, equity and dignity. It is my view that in these struggles Black liberation theology is not only relevant but necessary. This article discusses the contexts within which modern South African Black theology came into being, explores Biko’s definitions of Black theology, and the ways in which Biko’s understanding of Black theology searching for “a fighting God” and Black theology as “not a theology of absolutes” opens up the possibilities for enriching the meaning and relevance of Black theology today.

Early African Christianity–A Thematic Analysis

This article is devoted to a thematic analysis of early or ancient African Christianity and its influence on ecclesial practices and thinking in contemporary Africa. Drawing on literature in the history of the church in antiquity this paper re-tells the story of how Africa and Africans in the first millennium developed and shaped World Christianity. Specifically, it discusses the contributions made to the early Church by the African Fathers of the faith, Origen and Augustine. The paper contest sentiments and perceptions that Christianity is a “white mans” religion and to reclaim African Christianity’s identity as a global religious culture which has existed since antiquity. Moreover, it argues that a lot is lost, with its attendant misinterpretations, when Christianity in Africa is only viewed as a result of the fruits of the nineteenth-century missionary activities. The paper contributes to the study of African Church history, the contextualisation/inculturation of the gospel, and African theology.

A Foray into (Study of?) Christian African Political Theology

ABSTRACT This article is a theoretical exploration of the concept of African Political Theology (APT). Consequently, part of what I do in this article is to illuminate the particular ways in which APT negotiates the tension between the secular political theology received from the western traditions and the materialist political spirituality that animates much of the African religio-political context. Specifically, I argue that APT decenters the state in African politics and, in its stead, re-centers the everyday particularity of African historical reality with specific reference to justice. To that end, I posit that African Political Theology positions itself as a specific notion of African histories and religions rather than simply an extension or expansion of the western notion of Political Theology.

Pushing the Naked Envelop Further: A Missiological Deconstruction of the Empire and Christianity in Africa

In re-visiting issues of empire and African Christianity, this article sought to provide a missiological deconstruction of empire and Christianity in Africa, and to draw some missiological lessons that can help shape the agenda of Christianity in Africa moving to the future. Using a liberating praxis of engagement with available literature, this article concluded that the relationship between empire and Christianity is not only historical, but a present reality – it can be traced back from early Christianity, Roman Empire, colonial and imperial era, to post-colonial and independent/democratic Africa. The article discovered that while the empire dominates and enslaves, Christianity in Africa could be liberated to liberate the rest of the world from the stronghold of the empire. Optics – in the form of various hermeneutic lenses – should be used to unmask the empire for what/who it is. The theology of ubuntu and other life-affirming African theologies should be used as liberating tools, not only from the empire but also from the myth that Christianity is a Western religion.

‘The Ngabwe Covenant’ and the Search for an African Theology of Eco-Pneumato-Relational Way of Being in Zambia

This study explores the ways in which the born-again traditional leaders in Zambia are redefining neo-Pentecostal interaction with nonhuman creation. It demonstrates their attempts to rapture new religious imaginations in interstitial spaces between neo-Pentecostalism and Africa’s old spiritual systems. Since eco-spirituality is foundational to most African traditional institutions, some born again traditional leaders are forced to search for contextualized forms of neo-Pentecostalism to form new collective expressions of the spirituality of healing and reconciliation of all things. Grounded in the third space translation approach, this study analyzes ‘The Ngabwe Covenant’ which was made by the late neo-Pentecostal clergy and later traditional leader Ngabwe upon his inauguration as the traditional leader of Lamba-Lenje-and–Lima people of Central Province in Zambia. The study argues that Chief Ngabwe attempted to translate neo-Pentecostal spirituality through a traditional spiritual system of eco-relationality. In so doing, neo-Pentecostal spirituality and traditional religio-cultural heritages found new meaning and home within the hybridized (new) religious space. The study underlines that the resultant religious view which could be described as an African theology of eco-pneumato-relational way of being was envisioned as a new spiritual foundation for the Ngabwe kingdom. The article concludes that Rev. TL. Ngabwe’s theology of Spirit’s indwelling of the natural world is a critical contribution to neo-Pentecostal search for life-giving interactions between human and nonhuman creation.

Oral Theology: An alternative Theological Model for African Theology

Purpose: The crux of this paper is to explore the rationale and basis of doing oral theology in the African context and situation. It debunks the myth that written theology is the only viable modus operandi of doing African theology.Methodology: The study using the desktop research methodology or library research establishes the vitality and significance of oral theology in the quest for authentic African theology which adheres to Biblical fidelity and cultural relevance.Results: The challenges of Oral Theology can be mitigated by importing written form of theology to capture the Oral Theology without minimizing or obfuscating its distinctiveness of Oral Theology. It can also be stored in for posterity so that it is not lost. We can also integrate Oral Theology with narrative theology to formulate, promulgate, define, defend and document an oral Theology that has the narrative at its trust. Oral Theology cannot be a standalone Theology. It needs to be buttressed with written Theology to preserve it for posterity. It also needs to be integrated to systematic Theology to make it intelligible relevant and appropriate to the African context and situation. Oral Theology needs to be formulated in a sense that it should supplement rates than supplant Bible hermeneutics story telling should not viewed as a surrogate to Biblical exposition of the text.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study recommends an integrated theological method that synergizes oral theology with written theology for African theology to have both biblical fidelity and cultural relevance. Oral theology ought to be included in the church teaching curriculum especially in its theological education by extension which is an informal theological education targeting church ministers. This will go a long way in enhancing the quality of church ministers and will lead eventually to exponential church growth

Contribution of John S Mbiti to the study of African religions and African theology and philosophy

This paper discusses the contribution of Professor John S Mbiti to African theology and African Philosophy. It does this by highlighting several scholars in various contexts who have attempted to highlight his contribution to these fields of study. The paper highlights some important concepts and issues that Mbiti has dealt with in his theological and philosophical works. The overall argument of these authors is that Mbiti has argued that in their cultures and religions, Africans do know and experience God.

Solidarity and the incarnation

This paper will discuss how the doctrine of the incarnation informs practices of solidarity in the public and political spheres through the work of two South African activists and theologians, Rev Dr Allan Boesak and Dr Denise Ackermann. I will begin with explicating Ackermann’s task of theology, its ground in praxis and human experience, which will lead to a discussion of stories and theology. As we begin to listen to the stories of those around us, we find we need an account of human agency and the particular stories we are told of the incarnation through the Eucharist . Defining solidarity will be the next task, which will begin with Boesak’s discussion of “critical solidarity”, or solidarity between powerful parties. We will then continue to construct our definition of solidarity through Boesak’s model of black solidarity as explicated in his dissertation, Farewell to Innocence. Finally, I will synthesize a theology of solidarity in conclusion to this conversation.

A politics of forgiveness? Engaging the ontological and the structural in the dialogical theology of John de Gruchy

Forgiveness is a deeply contested theological notion in contemporary South African theology and society. The same could be said for South African theologies of reconciliation, of which forgiveness is considered to be a part. Some claim that these concepts have been weakened, abused, and corrupted. In particular, there are doubts whether forgiveness holds any theological or social value at present. John de Gruchy has devoted a great deal of time and effort to developing a theologically subtle, and politically robust, understanding of forgiveness that links justice and reconciliation. This article will consider how John de Gruchy’s dialogical theology, which takes account of both the ontological and the structural aspects of forgiveness, facilitates an understanding of political forgiveness that can address some of the critiques of this notion in contemporary South African theologies.