African Gospel

"Jesus of Africa: Voices of Contemporary African Christology" (2004) is a book by Diane B Stinton, a Canadian scholar and theologian. She resided and taught in Kenya at the time her book was published. "Jesus of Africa" combines theology and anthropology. It´s not as interesting as I first imagined, and feels somewhat "in-house", but it´s not a complete waste of time either. People extremely interested in Christian missionary activity (and the theological conundrums surrounding it) will probably find it worthwhile. 

Stinton has carried out field work in Kenya, Uganda and Ghana, and also quotes authors from Cameroon and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. She has mostly excluded southern Africa from consideration, however. The book comments on some theological developments within African Christian Churches since the abolition of European colonial rule. Both Protestants and Catholics are included. There are also "African Independent Churches", Christian denominations started by Black Africans outside the structures of the missionary Churches (which are ultimately controlled from Europe or the United States). Stinton describes various strategies used by African Christians to make Jesus and the Biblical message more relevant to African concerns, both traditional and modern. 

The author refers to these strategies as "inculturation" and "liberation". There is an obvious tension between them, not always explored in the book, since the former tries to adapt Christianity to traditional African cultures (including traditional African religions), while the latter is more modern and might therefore clash with tradition. For instance, feminist theology will come into conflict with patriarchal structures, while a more general liberation theology will clash with those of a less radical political bent. There are also attempts to bridge the gap between inculturation and liberation, however, for instance by claiming that traditional culture is really matriarchal, or by recasting traditional kings ("tribal chiefs" in Western parlance) as liberation fighters.

Much of the inculturation will strike more doctrinally purist Christians as syncretist and heretical. While Stinton paints African religion as monotheist, I think more traditional theologians will easily define it as pantheist and polytheist. The "life force" from "God" is mediated through spirit-beings, of which the ancestors of the tribe, clan and/or family are the most important. This makes ancestral cults central to many African cultures. Jesus is incorporated into this structure as the Ancestor par excellence, sometimes referred to as the Proto-Ancestor, who mediates between God and man. He can also be seen as the foremost manifestation of the vitalistic life force which permeats the entire cosmos and ultimately comes from God. Traditional African terms for the Divine are used when describing "God the Father" of the Bible, and likewise Jesus can be given names or titles associated with the Divine or some important divine figure in the traditional religion. Jesus can further be cast as a traditional African king, who is seen not only as an earthly ruler and mediator with the Divine, but also as a powerful warrior and "liberator" or "savior" of his people. The author once visited a Church compound where the chapel (i.e. the "house" of Jesus) was surrounded in circular fashion by the other buildings, in the same way as the house of a king is surrounded by the domiciles of his plural wives! 

Other inculturation attempts include seeing Jesus as a family member, obviously because the extended family is the central social unit in many African societies. Jesus can be seen as father, brother, husband, or even as "mother". While nobody interviewed in the book regards Jesus as literally feminine, many women did see Jesus as a motherly figure. He is said to give life (like a woman) and care for his flock in motherly fashion. Sometimes his suffering is interpreted as a motherly act. In one Kenyan culture, women have traditionally worked as shepherds, so obviously "the good shepherd" sounds like feminine symbolism there. However, women just as often see Jesus as a manly figure. For instance, widows might interpret him as a "husband". 

The author is "pro-African", which a critical reader might find mildly annoying. For instance, the already mentioned attempt to cast African paganism as "monotheist", obviously intended as praise, since monotheism is "good" in a Christian context. A more neutral observer might argue that it shouldn´t matter whether or not non-Christian religion is mono-, pan- or polytheist. Both the author and the African theologians she quote constantly use the terms "holistic" and "wholistic" when describing traditional African culture. But surely this term can´t be African? It smacks more of American New Age! It´s also obvious that the holistic "community" described by Stinton is really a tribal or clan society, something very problematic from a "liberation" perspective. 

An ironic side effect of the inculturation efforts is that belief in magic, witches and traditional medicine has remained strong even in a Christian context, often supplemented by faith healing. Jesus can be seen as a powerful healer or medicine man. It struck me that the success of the prosperity gospel in Africa (mentioned in passing by the author as an anti-traditional reaction) can actually have a "traditional" explanation: maybe the Faith movement preachers are seen as powerful magicians? 

Some topics are not covered in the book at all, or only mentioned in passing, yet seems relevant to the context. Thus, Stinton mentions that African Christians often prefer the Old Testament to the Gospels. Why? This is never explained. Is it the tribal aspect? Or something more disturbing? In Rwanda, the Hutu extremists used OT imagery to rally the Hutu against the Tutsi. It seems Black Jesus can also be a genocidaire! I also noted that White Europeans get all the blame for the slave trade, when in reality the Muslim slave trade was just as extensive and older than the Christian. Kenya and Uganda would have been mostly hit by the Muslim slave trade, while Ghana was presumably hit by both. Is "liberation" only directed against Whites, or is there an anti-Muslim aspect we are not told about?

From a non-Christian perspective, "Jesus of Africa" also raises other questions. For instance, how far can Christianity be stretched without becoming something else entirely? *Is* Christianity relevant to Africa (or anyone really) if it has to be de-Judaized, de-Biblicized or de-NT-ized to fit the new cultural context? How would Christianity look like if it had used the same inculturation strategy during, say, the Early Middle Ages when it spread to northern Europe? And what exactly is the infallible divine revelation in all this?

Those are my reflections on the contemporary African Christologies.