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2006 / 4
Introduction
Éloi Messo Metogo
Christianity has been present in Africa since apostolic times. In sub-Saharan Africa, where it was first introduced in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and again in the nineteenth, it is no longer an imported religion but an inescapable component of contemporary African culture. The historical churches (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox) already bear the mark of this culture in their liturgies and their approach to people and to things. To a greater extent, Christianity shows other faces in the independent or African-Christian churches and in the new Pentecostal-inspired churches.
These African faces of Christianity raise a fair number of questions concerning the gospel message and the present state of African societies. How do they relate to the sources of Christianity and to the Bible in particular? How do African Christianities deal with the multiple crises afflicting the continent, such as epidemics, corruption, poverty, struggles for economic and political power, and the violation of human rights? What concept of salvation do they hold?
Communication problems and the multi-occupation of some colleagues have prevented us from obtaining contributions on important points such as the political role of the churches, both the long established and the new, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, base church communities, feminist theologies, and the Coptic Churches of Egypt and Ethiopia . . . However, I believe that the texts included in this volume tackle essential questions that command our attention.
The first part is devoted to new churches. After recalling the history of African messianisms and prophetisms, Dieudonné Espoir Atangana remarks that messianisms combat the colonial and missionary order by taking their inspiration from the revolutionary ferment of the Jewish-Christian revelation, whereas prophetisms battle against sickness and sorcery by means of ritual. Even if there are no watertight bulkheads between the two tendencies, we are principally concerned here with movements of healing and struggle against sorcery. The messiahs and prophets who have founded independent [8] churches are called 'black Christs' by some sociologists. They tend to put themselves in the place of Jesus of Nazareth even as they make reference to him. Atangana questions the relevance of the Christology resulting from this.
Ludovic Lado addresses the proliferation of neo-Pentecostal or charismatic churches and asks how African Catholicism, still in search of its own identity, can cohabit with the charismatic movement it has welcomed. It is interesting to note that most of the independent African churches are inspired by Pentecostalism. The neo-Pentecostal theology of material prosperity is disturbing: unscrupulous 'religious entrepreneurs' enrich themselves on the backs of populations prey to famine and epidemics. Economic and political questions are never addressed here, while Pentecostalists are to be found among the liberation theologians of Latin America. As for the Catholic charismatic movement, it does stress personal experience of the gifts of the Spirit in Christian witness, not glossolalia or the healing charisms. The future of charismatic renewal in Africa will depend on the education of lay people and on a proper balance between institutional control and the freedom of the Spirit. Catholics and Pentecostals will therefore have to engage in a theological debate on rebirth in the Spirit, Inculturation and salvation.
Modeste Malu Nyimi examines church base communities in their context, which is not only ecclesial but secular, political: 'the reduction in dignity of human persons and the perversion of the political history of their community'. This situation can be countered only in community, and the 'Church-family' has a prophetic role to play. African theology is therefore both 'anamnesis of the Christian mystery' and 'prophetic declaration of its eschatological power'. The life of communities lies at the heart of contextual theologies: 'Theological reflection begins with the life of the people and ends in the life of the people.' This requires theologians to root themselves in a life community, whose experience and questions they take up; they must come out of libraries and air-conditioned offices and do theology 'under a tree': commitment is the first act in third-world theologies. Oppression in Africa today is primarily cultural, and so African theology is defining its task in terms such as 'liberative Inculturation'. The image of community that most resonates with African people is that of the family. So if the Church is to be faithful to the history of Africa, it must 'build its existence in and as a "family event'". This requires smaller units than the parish and is increasingly being found in the 'living church base communities', leading the Church's response to a situation of 'political over-determination' - oppression [9] by a power-based State that in itself constitutes 'an idolatry, a great rejection of God'. 'In the Church-family, these communities are inseparably both gospel fellowship and socio-political initiatives, sacrament of a Church that denounces, announces, and renounces.'
The second part raises questions relating to the Bible, to dogma, to the liturgy and to ecclesial institutions.
Inculturation is usually discussed in terms of liturgy, catechesis, pastoral approaches. What about inculturation of the proclamations of faith? Léonard Santedi Kinkupu recalls the three theological pillars of inculturation: these are the three mysteries of the incarnation, the resurrection, and Pentecost. The gospel, which needs to become incarnate in all cultures, purifies them, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, they give birth to different and previously unknown forms of Christianity, with the result that 'the universality of the church is expressed in terms of communion of churches [...] rather than in terms of uniformity and conformity to a single model'. Doctrinal inculturation is a creative reception of the proclamations of faith, a hermeneutical operation careful to preserve the sense of mystery and to try to find new ways of expressing it in relation to cultural contexts. But it is important not to separate this hermeneutical task from the ethical dimension of the gospel or from inculturation.
Vatican II promoted return to the Bible over against an all too notional concept of revelation and reaffirmed the central place of Scripture in all aspects of the life of the Church. The Bible has been translated into many African languages, and this great work of translation is continuing. In accordance with the teaching of the Council, the 'Zaïrean Mass' and other liturgical innovations have enabled us to rediscover the place and importance of the word of God in our eucharistic celebration. The Council also stressed the link between liturgy and life. But there are some shadows hanging over the scene. For Éloi Messi Metogo, even Dei Verbum still gives the impression of subordinating Scripture to tradition and the magisterium. Bible translations are rarely made from the original texts or furnished with explanations. The lack of education, the fundamentalism of the new churches, and the evils of the times are transforming the Bible into a collection of magical formulae and distorting the meaning of prayer. The overemphasis on the person of the priest in the latest encyclical on the Eucharist (and in the 'Zairean Mass') does not favour active participation by lay people in the Mass. And this must regain the place belonging to it in Christian liturgy and prayer. Finally, rivalries and struggles for influence are preventing the liturgy from being the place where Christian fellowship is [10] first experienced, a foretaste of the Kingdom of God and a starting point for mission.
The African bishops and theologians are convinced that the Africanization of Christianity has to pass through the Africanization of the structures of the Church. Silvia Recchi shows that the ecclesiology of Vatican II has prepared an important area for the creation of a special legal code and asks whether the diocesan bishops and bishops' conferences have taken note of this. Of course the relationship between local and universal in the Church lies beyond the centralization/decentralization debate, and pluralism will always be limited by the need for communion. But the 'weight' of universal legislation is still considerable, and the problem of inculturation goes on being a challenge to church law.
Although much of Africa was evangelized by religious orders, for many people the religious life remains an enigma, not to say an aberration. After having stressed the pertinence of religious life in Africa through the diaconate of charity, of faith and of hope, Sidbe Sempore points out the major challenges to the work under way. A particular theology of religious life, the weight of traditions, and the economic and social context all work against the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. African religious life is still economically dependent on the outside world, just as it is marked by a history and tradition foreign to Africa. Will the continent's monks, friars, nuns and sisters be bold enough to 'take for themselves the salt and leaven of the founding charism of the Spirit in order to re-define and reconfigure religious life'? Will they be bold enough to 'take more risks in their commitment to the side of the unfortunates so as to help them and incite them to take their fate into their own hands and work for the emergence of a new, more just and responsible African society'? This supposes that the institutes will turn their back on 'chapel spirit' and tribalization in order to plan together and work on projects in common.
The article in Part III deals with family and sexual morality in the historical churches. In his Christmas 2005 homily, the Archbishop of Yaoundé (Cameroon) denounced the practice of homosexuality as a forced condition for entry into higher education, finding a job, or obtaining promotion. With regard to AIDS, many Christians wonder whether the Catholic Church's ban on condoms is realistic in the face of ever-increasing numbers of infections and deaths, while the Protestant churches adopt a more flexible stance. For Jean-Bertrand Salla, beyond or on this side of the debate over condoms and African aversion to homosexuality, there is an urgent need to renew 'pastoral methods of considering and evangelizing families' and to promote [11] a 'development pastoral model' implying 'denunciation of violation of human rights by corrupt political regimes'.
The fourth and final part of this volume also comprises a single entry. Éric de Rosny writes on the ministry of healing. The Catholic Church has always concerned itself with the ministry of healing through medical establishments and through spiritual help to the sick. What is new is the broadening of the idea of health, which now involves body and soul and thus rejoins the old African idea of health. What follows from this is a therapeutic advancement of activities called 'spiritual'. This is what is happening in the charismatic renewal and in the actions of priests whom the faithful ask for healing. But how do we link this demand for healing with the salvation brought by Christ?
I have already indicated the limitations of this volume. But I hope it will give an idea of the faces of African Christianity and of the evangelization of the continent, and that it may lead to deeper research and reflection.
Translated by Paul Burns
