African theology is Christian theology from the perspective of the African cultural context. It should be distinguished from black theology, which originated from the American and South African context and is more closely aligned with liberation theology. Although there are ancient Christian traditions on the African continent, during the modern period Christianity in Africa was significantly influenced by western forms of Christianity brought about by European colonization. [1]
Many of the most influential church fathers were native Africans. Egypt proved to be especially fertile ground for theological thought, producing theologians of the caliber of Origen of Alexandria, whose influence on subsequent theology can hardly be overstated. Despite the official condemnation of certain of his ideas, his influence was ubiquitous in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, [2] the Reformation, and beyond. Clement of Alexandria, Origen's teacher, was a prolific early Christian thinker. Athanasius of Alexandria led the struggle against Arianism, and defined orthodox Trinitarian theology in his many doctrinal works. [3] Didymus of Alexandria, in addition to being a voluminous biblical commentator and doctrinal writer, was the teacher of such luminaries as Gregory of Nazianzus, Evagrius Ponticus, Jerome, and Rufinus. Cyril of Alexandria's writings on the unity of Christ defined the basic contours of what was to become orthodox Christology in subsequent centuries. [4] Carthage also produced several eminent theologians, including Tertullian and Cyprian of Carthage. But without a doubt the greatest African theologian in antiquity, who indeed has often been seen as the most important theologian in the history of the Christian church, was Augustine of Hippo. It has long been recognized by modern scholars that Augustine’s theology determined the course of medieval and Reformation debates about grace and free will, in addition to providing a sophisticated model for Trinitarian thought (in the De Trinitate ), [5] creating what was in many ways a new approach to the genre of autobiography (in the Confessions ), [6] and laying the groundwork for later Western ecclesiologies (in the City of God and the anti-Donatist writings).
Thus, while the influence of European colonizers on African religion cannot be ignored, indigenous traditions of African theology have also exerted a profound and defining influence on European Christianity from antiquity to the present. [7] The whole medieval tradition of biblical exegesis is dependent above all on Origen. The libraries of the medieval West were stocked with translations of his exegetical writings, and he is often quoted by name and with high praise. [8] Thomas Aquinas alone cites him by name over one thousand times. [9] And, of course, medieval theology would have been inconceivable apart from Augustine, who is quoted more than any other patristic author, and Jerome, the eminent student of Didymus the Blind and translator of the Latin Vulgate. Augustine's influence continued unabated from the Middle Ages to modernity. [10] Indeed, colonial ideologies themselves often drew explicitly on Augustine. Cornell scholar Toni Alimi has shown that slavery formed an important part of Augustine's ethics, and was cited directly by European enslavers in the early modern period. [11] Thus, the relationship between colonial European and indigenous African theologies is much more complex than it is sometimes made out to be.
Moreover, many African churches that flourished in antiquity have continued to exist up to the present time, with theological and liturgical traditions of their own. After the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Church of the East (also known as the Nestorians) and the Miaphysites broke away from the Chalcedonians. Many Miaphysites were Copts (an indigenous Egyptian ethnic group) and went on to found the Coptic Orthodox Church, which endures to this day, with rich liturgical and theological traditions. [12] [13]
Black theology and African theology emerged in different social contexts with different aims. Black theology developed in the United States and South Africa, where the main concern was opposition to racism and liberation from apartheid, while African theology developed in the wider continent where the main concern was indigenization of the Christian message. [14]
In the mid-20th century, African theology as a theological field came into being. [15] This movement began to protest against negative colonial and missionary interpretations of the religion and culture in Africa. Realizing that theology is a contextual phenomenon, African Christians began to read the Bible using their own cultural lens, which of course resulted in some interpretations that did not always agree with how Western theology interpreted things. As such, African theology stands on the shoulders of the early African independent churches that broke away from missionary churches in the late 19th century or early 20th century. African theology is engaged to shape Christianity in an African way by adapting and using African concepts and ideas. [16]
African theologians such as Charles Nyamiti, Bolaji Idowu, John Mbiti, and Kwesi Dickson have given an analysis and interpretation of the African traditional religion and point to its relation to the Christian faith. Lamin Sanneh and Kwame Bediako have argued for the importance of vernacularization of the Bible and theology. Kwame Bediako and John Pobee have developed an African Christology in terms of the ancestors.
There is also a movement of African female theologians, organized in Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, inaugurated in 1989 [17] by the Ghanaian Mercy Amba Oduyoye. Nowadays this is a movement of hundreds of women theologians from several African countries and with different religious backgrounds. The general coordinators of the circle have been Oduyoye, Musimbi Kanyoro, Isabel Apawo Phiri, Malawian Fulata Moyo, and currently Musa Dube. [18]
African theology's leveraging of traditional culture and religion is concerning for some conservative Christians. Evangelicals such as Byang Kato have argued that such engagement results in religious syncretism. [19] African Pentecostals have also seen traditional culture as custodians to idolatry and the occult. [20] However, recent evangelicals have begun to wrestle with the quest of developing a Christian theology which has African context in mind. In this direction, African evangelicals have taken initiative to develop an African biblical commentary. [21] Even though this is not a critical commentary, it shows a quest by African evangelicals to engage traditional and contemporary issues in Africa from an evangelical perspective. Secondly, African evangelicals have also taken initiative in the development of Christian ethics and texts on systematic theology which engage the various issues facing most African Christians. For example, Samuel Kunhiyop has engaged Christian ethics and systematic theology from an African evangelical perspective. [22] Similarly, Matthew Michael has engaged systematic theology from the vantage point of African traditions. [23]
Furthermore, the focus on tradition has been seen to restrict African theology. It does not allow theology to respond to the changing nature of culture, especially in light of the growing usage of digital technology. [24] [25]
Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, a schism in the Western Church. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental, Presbyterian, and Congregational traditions, as well as parts of the Anglican and Baptist traditions.
In Christianity, Christology is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would be in the freeing of the Jewish people from foreign rulers or in the prophesied Kingdom of God, and in the salvation from what would otherwise be the consequences of sin.
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian. Barth is best known for his commentary The Epistle to the Romans, his involvement in the Confessing Church, including his authorship of the Barmen Declaration, and especially his unfinished multi-volume theological summa the Church Dogmatics. Barth's influence expanded well beyond the academic realm to mainstream culture, leading him to be featured on the cover of Time on 20 April 1962.
Pneumatology refers to a particular discipline within Christian theology that focuses on the study of the Holy Spirit. The term is derived from the Greek word Pneuma, which designates "breath" or "spirit" and metaphorically describes a non-material being or influence. The English term pneumatology comes from two Greek words: πνεῦμα and λόγος. Pneumatology includes study of the person of the Holy Spirit, and the works of the Holy Spirit. This latter category also includes Christian teachings on new birth, spiritual gifts (charismata), Spirit-baptism, sanctification, the inspiration of prophets, and the indwelling of the Holy Trinity. Different Christian denominations have different theological approaches on various pneumatological questions.
Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth before the Millennium, heralding a literal thousand-year messianic age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1–6 in the New Testament, which describes Jesus's reign in a period of a thousand years.
Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topics or what is true about God and his universe. It also builds on biblical disciplines, church history, as well as biblical and historical theology. Systematic theology shares its systematic tasks with other disciplines such as constructive theology, dogmatics, ethics, apologetics, and philosophy of religion.
Semi-Pelagianism is a historical Christian theological and soteriological school of thought about the role of free will in salvation. In semipelagian thought, a distinction is made between the beginning of faith and the increase of faith. Semi-Pelagian thought teaches that the latter half – growing in faith – is the work of God, while the beginning of faith is an act of free will, with grace supervening only later.
The Catechetical School of Antioch was one of the two major Christian centers of the study of biblical exegesis and theology during Late Antiquity; the other was the School of Alexandria. This group was known by this name because the advocates of this tradition were based in the city of Antioch in Syria, one of the major cities of the ancient Roman Empire. Although there were early interpreters from Antioch, like Theophilus of Antioch, the proper school of exegesis at Antioch belongs to the period of the late fourth and the fifth centuries.
Postliberal theology is a Christian theological movement that focuses on a narrative presentation of the Christian faith as regulative for the development of a coherent systematic theology. Thus, Christianity is an overarching story, with its own embedded culture, grammar, and practices, which can be understood only with reference to Christianity's own internal logic.
Stanley James Grenz (1950–2005) was an American Protestant Christian theologian and ethicist in the Baptist tradition.
Robert Horton Gundry is an American scholar and retired professor of New Testament studies and Koine Greek.
James Douglas Grant Dunn, also known as Jimmy Dunn, was a British New Testament scholar, who was for many years the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at the University of Durham. He is best known for his work on the New Perspective on Paul, which is also the title of a book he published in 2007.
Kevin Jon Vanhoozer is an American theologian and current research professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Illinois. Much of Vanhoozer's work focuses on systematic theology, hermeneutics, and postmodernism.
Subordinationism is a Trinitarian doctrine wherein the Son is subordinate to the Father, not only in submission and role, but with actual ontological subordination to varying degrees. It posits a hierarchical ranking of the persons of the Social Trinity, implying ontological subordination of the persons of the Son and the Holy Spirit. It was condemned as heretical in the Second Council of Constantinople.
Gabriel Joseph Fackre (1926–2018) was an American theologian and Abbot Professor of Christian Theology Emeritus at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, Massachusetts. He was on the school's faculty for 25 years before retiring in 1996. Previous to that he was Professor of Theology and Culture at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, teaching there from 1961 through 1970. Fackre has also served as visiting professor or held lectureships at 40 universities, colleges, and seminaries. His papers are housed in Special Collections at Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries, Princeton, New Jersey.
Brian Edward Daley, S.J. is an American Catholic priest, Jesuit, and theologian. He is currently the Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology (Emeritus) at the University of Notre Dame and was the recipient of a Ratzinger Prize for Theology in 2012.
John W. de Gruchy is a Christian theologian known for his work resisting apartheid. He is presently Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town and Extraordinary Professor at the University of Stellenbosch.
The Centre for the Study of World Christianity (CSWC) is a research centre based in New College, the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. It was founded in the University of Aberdeen by Andrew F. Walls as the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World in 1982, but later moved by Walls to the University of Edinburgh in 1986. Its current name was adopted in 2009. The centre is currently directed by Alexander Chow and Emma Wild-Wood.
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen is a Finnish theologian. He is Professor of Systematic Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is an ordained Lutheran minister and an expert on Pentecostal-Charismatic theologies.
Political theology in sub-Saharan Africa deals with the relationship of theology and politics born from and/or specific to the circumstances of the region. Arising from the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and nationalist campaigns of the mid- to late twentieth century elsewhere, the increasing numbers of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa has led to an increased interest in Christian responses to the region's continuing issues of poverty, violence, and war. According to the Cameroonian theologian and sociologist Jean-Marc Éla, African Christianity "has to be formulated from the struggles of our people, from their joys, from their pains, from their hopes and from their frustrations today." African theology is heavily influenced by liberation theology, global black theology, and postcolonial theology.
