James C. Okoye, CSSP

African theology, or what some call African Christian theology, is that theology which reflects on the gospel, the Christian tradition, and the total African reality in an African manner and from the perspectives of the African worldview. The total African reality, of course, includes the ongoing changes in the culture. Some prefer to speak of theologies because they see much diversity in African culture and religion; others see a fundamental similarity in the religious experience and in the nature of the emergent issues. Discussion of African theology usually considers the scene in Sub-Saharan Africa, leaving aside the Coptic tradition in Egypt and Ethiopia. Until recently, it was usual to distinguish three currents of this theology: African theology, black theology in South Africa, and liberation theology. African theology was seen as based on culture and as seeking to give African expression to the Christian faith. Black theology, influenced by a similar current in the United States, was viewed as focusing on politics and the issues of race and color. Liberation theology, influenced by the Latin American model, was described as focusing on poverty. In recent times, however, there has been much merging of perspectives owing to the dialogical role of continental interchurch conferences and international symposia. Inculturation and liberation now tend to be tensions within the various camps themselves as theologians increasingly focus on the total reality of today's Africa. Besides, now that freedom has been gained in South Africa, new metaphors similar to those used in the rest of Africa are emerging, namely, reconciliation and liberation for full living and from the forces of death.

Theological writing in Africa has been circumstantial, focused on particular pastoral or moral problems. Very few of the writings are systematic treatises written with a view to developing a comprehensive theology. On the one hand, some voices, particularly C. Nyamiti, have been calling for a systematic treatment. On the other hand, theology need not always be systematic, and some are calling for an African narrative theology (e.g., J. Healey and D. Sybertz). There is little agreement as to how to characterize African reality theologically. Some, like B. Idowu, see the principal dialogue partner as African traditional religion, particularly the tradition of the living God. Others speak of a theology of life (T. Tshibangu) or a theology of fraternity (J. Agoussou). Still others argue that the fundamental element is the unitary vision of the universe and of life, or what J. Penoukou calls "cosmotheandric relation," in which being is shared between God, human beings, and the world. The 1986 meeting of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) in Mexico suggested "anthropological poverty" as the theological locus for Africa. The recently concluded synod for Africa (1994) offered "the church as family of God" as a particularly apt model for African ecclesiology.

1. Historical Overview

Since the fourth century, Christianity has existed in a fairly unbroken man- ner in the Coptic churches of Egypt and Ethiopia. In the rest of Africa, after a brief spell of mission on the coast of Ghana and in Angola in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, evangelization returned in earnest in the nineteenth century in the wake of the "scramble for Mrica." The new wave of mission coincided with the ongoing Westernization of the continent and the social changes associated with it, mission itself being one of the agents of change. The period of mission was not a theological vacuum; implicit and inchoate African theology can surely be discerned in the lived experience of African Christians and the pastoral decisions of the church leaders. However, it is usual to begin the history of African theology around 1956, when many African voices began to call for what was variously termed "African theology," "Christian theology in Africa," and "African Christian theology." This was the period when many African nations were achieving independence from the colonial masters and African culture and self-determination were in the air. One of the voices was a group of French-speaking Catholic priests who published their open questions on what an African profile of Christianity might look like, thus giving religious expression to a century-old cultural movement associated with such names as E. W. Blyden (1832-1912) and W. E. B, Du Bois (1868-1963). It was not accidental that 1956 also saw the first Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris. On the Protestant side, the impetus came from the First Assembly of the All Africa Church Conference (AACC) in Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1958.

Vatican II (1962-65) and its theology of the local church proved a catalyst, as was the first meeting (in Uganda in 1963) of the AACC under its new name - the All Africa Conference of Churches. Both the change of name and the topic ("Theology of Nationalism") showed recognition of an emerging local church with its own theological agenda.

The first sketches of a would-be African theology appeared in 1965. They were written by B. Idowu and v: Mulago. The former based himself on traditional religion, and the latter adopted the philosophical background of "vital participation" as developed by P. Tempels. The following year the first consultation of African theologians met at Ibadan; the theme was "The Bible and Mrica." The scholars compared and contrasted African beliefs and biblical concepts. Similar consultations at the Lutheran Missiological Institute, Natal, were published in 1974. The black consciousness movement in South Africa had in 1970 launched the Black Theology Project under the influence of J. Cone and his Black Theology and Black Power; which had been published in 1969. The first fruits of theologizing in the South African context were the work edited by M. Motlhabi in 1972, a work which was quickly banned by the apartheid government, and A. Boesak's widely read Farewell to Innocence.

Some of the works on African religiosity which proved fundamental to the reflection of theologians were those,by J. v: Taylor, J. S. Mbiti, and D. Zahan. These had been preceded by G. Parrinder's classic African traditional Religion. Since African religion is not a static reality, it is necessary to study it in its historical development. The beginnings of such study have been made in a work edited by T. O. Ranger and I. N. Kimamboand in another edited by K. Olupona.

Theological reflection in Africa received a powerful stimulus at the 1974 general synod of the Catholic Church on evangelization, and particularly from the statement of the African bishops present at that synod which called for mission based on African priorities and the African experience of God and Christ and which declared that "the bishops of Africa and Madagascar, considering as totally bypassed a certain theology of adaptation, opt for a theology of incarnation." The bishops viewed such a theology as emerging from the communities of faith as they reflect on the demands of faith in the context of culture and modern social changes. In the Catholic fold, this became the charter for efforts at African theology. Another step forward was taken at the 1977 Accra meeting of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT), which founded the Ecumenical Association of African Theologians (EAAT) and which reached consensus on the five elements of a contextualized theology for Africa: the Bible and Christian heritage, African anthropology, African traditional religions, African independent churches, and other African realities.

Two parts of the African reality which need greater attention are the "oral theology" buried in sermons, songs, stories, and popular literature and the "practical theology" of the people as they strive to live the faith in context. Partly as a result of the international dialogues, the perspectives of the diverse approaches of inculturation, focused on culture, and liberation, focused on politics, began to merge. The African report at the 1986 EATWOT meeting at Oaxtepec, Mexico, presented jointly by theologians from South Africa and elsewhere in Africa, sought to further close the gap between the two approaches by suggesting "anthropological poverty" as the theological reality in which both culture and politics find a common ground. Such a poverty is both economic and cultural: it deprives one of history, personality, and self-determination. The year before, the "Kairos Document" had blazed the trail of what would be known as Kairos theology, which would find repercussions in various parts of the so-called Third World. Some significant works on African theology are those by J. Pobee, K. Dickson, T. Tshibangu, J. M. Ela, A. Ngindu Mushete, E. Martey, and the work edited by J. de Gruchy and C. Villa- Vicencio. The work by G. Setiloane considers certain concepts in African religion and thought, which might form the basis for an African theology.

2. Use of the Bible

African independent churches generally use far more of the Old Testament than the "mission" churches and often interpret the New Testament from the perspective of the Old. That is because the worldview underlying the Old Testament is particularly similar to that of traditional Africa. A question is raised concerning the role of the Old Testament in Christian living and in the construction of an African theology. In much of African theology a sustained and internal encounter between the Bible, interpreted within its own context, and African culture is rare. There is need to examine the theology implicit in the popularity of certain texts and parts of the Bible. Since theology is, in a sense, a function of interpretation, an African hermeneutics of the Bible and Christian tradition has become an imperative. Generally speaking, theology in South Africa has paid closer attention to its basis in hermeneutics, although the perspective of social struggle as a heuristic tool offers little that is specifically African. The need to establish an interface between "trained" and "ordinary" readers and between the various interpretive approaches for liberation and the worldview of the "base" is shown especially in the work of G. O. West and the Institute for the Study of the Bible in South Africa.

3. Christology

Christology is the most developed area of African theology, and the various approaches to christology illustrate those in theology. There are at least four: the comparative, systematic, liberationist, and community-based approaches.

The comparative approach moves from the Bible to African culture or vice versa. It examines christological points with strong interest in Africa or how the person and work of Christ fit into the African conception of the universe. The Jesus of these comparisons is the historical Jesus of the Gospels. The concepts of messiah, Christ, Son of Man, and Son of David are said to have little significance for Africa, whereas servant of God, Lord, savior, and Son of God are very relevant. The title "savior" has almost become a personal name for Jesus. As savior, Jesus acts with almighty power in the present to deliver the Christian who has committed himself or herself to him. While the West sees Jesus as savior on the cross, African Christians tend to focus on the present. The blood of the cross is a force that shields the Christian in the present against malevolent spirits and other evils.

The comparative method may also start from images or roles in African culture, investigating their value for christology. A book published in 1986 by some French-speaking African theologians (edited in English by R. J. Schreiter and entitled Faces of Jesus in Africa) did just this. The roles investigated were those of chief, ancestor, elder brother, master of initiation, and healer.

A Bantu chief is mukalenge, that is, one who has power. He is the protector and defender of his people in the battle against seen and unseen forces. He is "strong" in that he participates in the "vital force" of creation, hence guaranteeing abundance of life for his group. He is mwene-muzi, the very self of the village, since his person is the sum and substance of the whole community. In this sense he can easily symbolize the mediatorship of Jesus. This line of reasoning receives liturgical affirmation in some parts of Africa where the leopard skin, the symbol of the chief, is used to decorate the tabernacle or is laid out before people who area being ordained or who are making a profession.

In many African communities life is a process of continual initiation. Even death is an invitation into the form of life of ancestors. Such communities read the life of Christ from the vantage point of Heb 2:10, which presents him as the guide toward human perfection and salvation. His birth, growth, suffering, burial, and resurrection are seen as initiation moments that perfect him as a master of initiation able to lead us through life and death. A christology patterned on African initiation also views the church as the community of the initiated and the sacraments as instruments of initiation.

In Africa health is more a social and cultural concept than a biological one: a person's sickness is viewed as the result of her or his maladjustment to the social and cultural context. Healing in the traditional sense is a return to social harmony, physical health, and well-being under the eyes of God. To be healed is to recover lost harmony and to calm fear and anguish. In the African Christian view, healing in this sense is very much a function of Christ and the church. Many independent churches are almost uniquely dedicated to healing, and even the mainline churches are experiencing a resurgence of this ministry. In the christology of Christ the healer, he becomes the "medicine of life" in the Eucharist and in the sacraments.

The systematic approach is illustrated in the work of theologians such as V. Mulago, C. Nyamiti, and J. Penoukou, who generally speak of Christ as ancestor or elder brother. They have in common the search for a systematic and possibly scientific elaboration which would take account of the connection between the various mysteries of Christ and the church. Nyamiti explains his approach as an effort to elaborate and present the "deposit of faith" in an African manner by letting African themes enter internally into the elaboration of the revealed troths. He would first seek to bring African cultural elements to a scientific plane, something like an African metaphysics. It would seem that most of the theologians of this type function with some variation of the theory of "vital participation" (Penoukou refers to this as "cosmotheandric relation"). God, who has power and force in Godself, has the fullness of life; ancestors represent the concentration of life and vital energy necessary for the birth of all members of the lineage. To have life in abundance is to be properly related with the current of life emanating from God through the ancestors. In this view the life and death of Christ are seen as the process of accomplishment through which he became the "organic medium" of a family as joto (ancestor) in whom life and vital energy are concentrated. In such a christology the resurrection is constitutive of the work of redemption insofar as Jesus, who was "designated Son of God in power by resurrection from the dead" (Rom 1:4), "was handed over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification" (Rom 4:25). In the phrasing of Nyamiti, the resurrection brought about the accomplishment of Jesus' ancestral qualities. Such a christology seeks a systematic link with the doctrine of the Trinity and of the church.

Dissenting voices have been raised, however. Does seeing Christ as ancestor limit his divinity? It would seem also that the African relation to the ancestors is more of a mutual entanglement than a living communion. A celibate, as Christ was, could hardly become an ancestor in the tradition; besides, the manner of Christ's death would not qualify him as an African ancestor. There may be issues of translation. It is not clear whether the people's faith associates Christ with the muzimu, the spirits of the dead toward whom the people entertain some ambivalent feelings. More seriously, one of the leading African theologians, J. S. Mbiti, has declared that the theory of "vital force" cannot be applied to other African peoples with whose life and ideas he is familiar. Is this a case where some African peoples have certain fundamental values not shared with others? Questions have also been posed concerning the method of dialoguing with "Catholic doctrine" instead of shaping a fresh perspective beginning with the Bible.

The liberationist approach is not as interested in a Christ for worship and spirituality as in a Christ who enables change and transformation. The focus is on the earthly Jesus and his commitment to the cause of the oppressed as the cause of God. Social struggle is adopted as a heuristic tool in interpreting both the gospel and the social situation. When Christianity transformed Jesus into the Christ, his social praxis became overwritten with a spiritual agenda. But for theology in South Africa, faith is concerned not with victorious struggle against doubts but with victorious struggle against conflicts in real-life existence. The powerful Christ is rejected because the people have risen against the powerful; the dead Christ of the processions of Holy Week is equally rejected because passivity defeats the struggle. Christ is black, where "black" symbolizes Africans and coloreds, that is, all nonwhites, hence all peoples under oppression. Christ suffers with them in the shanty towns, and as the Black Messiah he stands with them against oppression. With the advent of freedom, the perspective is shifting to Jesus as the reconciler whose inclusive meals symbolized universal reconciliation and Jesus as liberator for a full human life.

The community-based approach reflects on the community's actual experience of Christ. It seeks to discern portraits of Jesus which inform the people's actual Christian living and the parts of the Bible which speak more intimately to them. In other words, it seeks to discover the practical christology of the people. Research on the African independent churches shows their practical christology to be that of Christus Victor (the risen Lord of miracle power). It is a christology uniquely focused on the resurrection, the cross being only the symbol of completion whereby Jesus is invested with power on our behalf, a power which shields the believer from the mystical forces that people the African's world and is available in the fight to increase life in every sense. In many places, especially in eastern and central Africa, witchcraft is the evil from which deliverance is sought by the power of Christus Victor.

One thing remarkable about these christological elaborations is that they do not presume the Anselmian schema of "objective redemption" which continues to be the official doctrine in the mainline churches; the death of Jesus is not viewed as the sacrifice which brought our salvation but is rather linked with the resurrection in a dynamic process of initiation or perfecting of the risen Lord.

4. Salvation

Both Christianity and African traditional religion are religions of salvation, but whereas missionaries presented salvation as in the future, as individual, and as spiritual, Africans wish to experience it as present, as communal, and as holistic. Salvation is well-being and the possession of life in its fullest potency. But as nature, persons, ancestors, and the unseen are bound together in cosmic oneness, there can be no well-being unless one is in harmony with the cosmic totality. Life is physical: it is health, sufficient food, adequate housing, fertility, and offspring. Life is social and political. It is good neighborly relations, a good name, social justice, sharing, and solidarity with all in building the earthly city: "I am because we are; and since we are, I am." Life is mystical: "ontological balance" must be maintained between God and human beings, spirits and human beings, the departed and the living. When this balance is upset, people experience misfortunes and sufferings. Hence in many African independent churches "healing" is an integral part of church ministry, the priest being sacrificer, presider at prayer, healer, and psychiatrist.

Africa had no myths of the end-time, no concept of history moving forward to a future climax. Rather than myths of the fall of humanity, Africa had myths of the withdrawn God and no single myth suggesting a solution to or reversal of this loss. Encounter with the gospel has given Africa a concrete eschatological hope and a goal for human life that transcends this order of things.

5. Ecclesiology

When V. Donovan asked his Maasai converts to choose a name for themselves as a community in Christ, they quickly and instinctively settled on orporor l'engai (the age-group "brotherhood of God"). The African is a person-in-community. One of the deepest yearnings is to rediscover true community and solidarity amid the social changes of modern life. Africans see the only hope for this in the church. Hence in the submissions from the various dioceses in preparation for the 1994 African synod, most dioceses outlined their pastoral plan as that of "church as the family of God." The final document by the pope recalled that the synod took the church as family as its guiding idea for the evangelization of Africa. It was his hope that theologians would develop the theology of church as the family of God, showing its complementarity with other images of the church. In fact, considerable theological reflection has already accompanied the popular awareness of church as the family of God. There has also been considerable reflection on small Christian communities as the blocks for building this family of God, with Catholic bishops of AMECEA (Association of the Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa) adopting small Christian communities as the basis of their pastoral plan since 1976. It cannot, however, be said that an ecclesiology has emerged; what is in place is the conscious and ongoing practical articulation of church as family in the organization and administration of many dioceses.

6. Marriage and Liturgy

Marriage, family, and liturgy are areas which are heavily subject to the impact of African culture, and so they have seen much pastoral adaptation and theological reflection. The traditional form of marriage differed from both the canonical form and the statute marriage of the colonial masters. Efforts have continued to integrate all these forms in one which would still be authentically African, truly Christian, and able to respond adequately to modern social changes. The basic study of marriage in African culture was a joint effort of the International African Institute, the International Missionary Council, and the British Social Science Research Council. It had three parts: "African Marriage and Social Change"; "Marriage Laws in Africa"; and "Christian Marriage in African Society." In 1973, J. S. Mbiti published a study of love and marriage in Africa, and A. Hastings authored a report commissioned by the Anglican bishops of eastern, central, and southern Africa. A project on behalf of sixteen Christian churches on marriage in eight countries of eastern and southern Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Rhodesia, Lesotho, Malawi, and South Africa) was to follow in 1977. The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) studied African marriage and family life in its Nairobi (Kenya) meeting of 1978 and the Yaounde (Cameroon) meeting of 1981. It noted three fundamental aspects of African marriage which required integration in Christianity, namely, African marriage as at once a personal covenant and one between families; as celebrated in a process of dynamic stages; and as fundamentally oriented toward offspring. Various theologians are study- ing the challenges posed by the evolution of a truly African theology of marriage. Because of divergences in customs and practices, these studies (e.g., that of J.-B. Bigangara) tend to focus on particular groups. The African synod called on episcopal conferences, in cooperation with universities and Catholic institutes, to set up study commissions to continue the study of the cultural and theological aspects of marriage.

The Roman missal for the dioceses of Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo) and its presentation volume contain one of the best examples of pastoral and theological reflection on the liturgy in the African context. The Zairean rite nevertheless illustrates one of the handicaps of theologizing in context within the Catholic tradition: the sometimes unsympathetic control from above. What set out as an original effort when presented in December 1973 took on certain contours of the Roman rite when approved fifteen years later. The Ndzon-Melen Mass of Yaounde is based on the cultural model of the African palaver: shared word and meal in an assembly convoked by one who has a problem. The Zairean and Ndzon-Melen rites are examples of the dynamic liturgical thinking in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. Some theologians have reflected on the need to make the Eucharist from local foodstuffs so it may truly be a meal at home among people in Africa.

7. Conclusion.

Unfortunately, the African voice is scarcely being heard because of the dearth of African publishing houses and the comparatively prohibitive cost of books within the African context of weak economies. Thousands of theses and papers continue to gather dust and may never see publication. African periodicals sometimes circulate more in Europe and America than within Africa itself. The result is that researchers are often not acquainted with similar research elsewhere in Africa. Further, greater attention needs to be paid to the biblical foundations of the emerging theology as well as to its anchoring in the experience of the people. Theology in Africa should become a force for liberation tending at once toward spiritual salvation and human liberation. In this manner it will respond to the African concept of salvation, which is holistic. Increasingly, this is being verified as cultural and spiritual aspects receive greater attention in South Africa and the liberative aspect garners more notice in other parts of Africa. With such vibrant theological activity in progress a truly African theology is well on its way.

This essay first appeared in Dictionary of Mission: Theology, History, Perspectives, eds. Karl Müller, Theo Sundermeier, Stephen B. Bevans, Richard H. Bliese (Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, 1997), 9-17. Permission to post this essay was kindly granted by Orbis Press.

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