Definitions
The expression of African Theology, which has found increased acceptance among African scholars is strictly speaking, predicated on the theology of African traditional religion (ATR). It would mean that this is theology that comes from the traditional reflection on existence of African peoples and their beliefs. Assuming those engaged in reflection are African Christians, then the projected understanding is this kind of theology is African as well as Christian. However, although ATR could be one source of such theology its departure is basically found in the Christian concept. Earlier on there was an attempt by scholars to baptize or Christianize African theology by using the term African Christian Theology or the Latin form Theologia Africana as a romantic attachment to early African theologians of Northern Africa during the early Christian era.
Still on the idea of African Theology, John Mbiti identifies three areas:
1. Written Theology,
2. Oral Theology,
3. Symbolic Theology.
According to Mbiti the first, category touches on the highly educated African elites, who are able to theologize by articulating their ideas in foreign languages. The second category is a practice by masses through songs, sermons, prayers, conversations, and proverbs etc. The third category is that which is expressed in art, drama, symbols, rituals, dance etc. On the whole Mbiti sees African theology as theological reflections and expression by African Christians.
Z. Kurewa, has defined African theology as: the study that seeks to reflect upon and express the Christian faith in African thought-form and idioms as it is experienced in African communities and always in dialogue with the rest of Christendom.
Since the subject of discussion is mainly African Christian theology, I would define it as, theology produced after a realistic theologizing that encompasses African thought-patterns, life experiences, sound biblical hermeneutics and consideration of other meaningful external theological writings or inputs.
How does Desmond Mpito Tutu, who is a proponent of black and liberation theology see or define theology? Tutu does not make a sharp separation between African theology and black theology. Coming from South Africa, black theology speaks more appropriately to him than African theology per se. He argues that African theology and biblical theology must take theological incarnation seriously. For “Christianity to be truly African, it must be incarnated in Africa. It must speak in tones that strike a responsive chord in the African breast and must convict the African of his peculiar African sinfulness.” Of course, the conviction of sin is not an end it itself, it must lead to the transformation of the heart and life as a whole.
About the call by westerners for an ecumenical universal theology, which is more of their brand of theology. Tutu argues, western theology is no more universal than other brands of theology can ever hope to be. For theology can never properly claim a universality which rightly belongs only to the eternal gospel of Jesus Christ. To him theology is a human activity possessing the varying cultural contextual limitations and the particularities of those who are theologizing. It can speak relevantly only when it speaks to a particular historically and Spatio-temporally (theology that relates to a particular time and place to be relevant) conditioned community; and must have the humility to accept the scandal of its particularity (that it changes from situation to situation depending on the need) as well as its transience (passing away). Theology is not eternal nor can it ever hope to be perfect. There is no final theology. But of course, the true insights of each theology must have universal relevance or implications. Theology will get distorted if it sets out from the beginning to speak or attempt to speak universally. Christ is the only universal Man because he is first and foremost a real and therefore a particular man.[4]
A. C. T: African Historical and Cultural Setting
North Africa Christianity in Antiquity (Ancient) and Modern Times
It has to be understood from the onset that Christianity and theology are much older in Africa than many scholars have conceived. In fact, on theology, John Parratt, indicates, “Christian theology is not a new-comer to African Continent,”[5] The good news is still, Christianity in most parts of Africa has been growing by leaps and bounds. This growth has not come overnight. On the other hand, it can be said with some justification that Christianity is a “traditional” African religion.[6] If that be the case, it can also be said Christianity found home in Africa way before reaching the western world. Of course, this is contrary to the picture painted by western theologians and historians and other religious practitioners, who for a long time have acted as primary custodians of information on the so-called “dark continent.” The truth remains, if anything especially about Christianity in Africa, the western missionaries only re-packaged Christianity and shipped it back to Africa with a questionable different taste, which on many occasions proved to have sour taste.
In North Africa, Christianity in antiquity (old or ancient) went through epochs of growth and decline, doctrinal and theological controversies, peace and persecution, joyful harvest and seasons of unfruitfulness. The African Christianity of old was largely, but now wholly lost. The flourishing churches of North Africa and Nubia, at points in time, gave way to Islam. Christianity in Egypt survived, though as the faith minority. Ethiopia preserved its national adherence to Christianity, in a highly distinctive form, through many centuries of peril and threat, though the Christian kingdom was much smaller than the modern state of the same name.
In the first Christian centuries, North Africa provided some of the keenest intellects and most influential apologists in Christendom who largely provided foundations for African Christian Theology. Origen was an Egyptian from Alexandria, whom through his writings developed a more philosophical type of theology. Tertellian (c. 160-240) the Latin-speaking elite of Carthage was a puritan and probably a lawyer. Augustine (354-430), who became the bishop of Hippo at around 386, had played a large role in formulating the statements of the Christian doctrine in the Nicene Creed. He is well known for his “Confessions.” He came from the Maghrib. Egypt’s Gnostics and North Africa Donatists grappled with the fundamental problems that still perplex the Christian. How do we explain evil and suffering? Is the Church a gathered remnant of the just, or are the wheat and tares separable only in eternity? At the end of the 3rd Century AD, the eastern Maghrib was perhaps on of the three places in the world where Christians were in a majority; the others were Armenia and modern Turkey.
Roman Rule
The growth of North African Christianity can only be understood against the background of the Roman rule, which began with the sack of Carthage in 146 BC, and was completed with the conquest of Mauritania (northern Morocco) in AD 40. Egypt became part of the Roman Empire in 30 BC when Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemis and the only one who spoke Egyptian committed suicide. The Maghrib underwent a process of Romanization that had no parallel in Egypt. Roman cities and provinces were founded in Northern Africa. Many former Roman soldiers became landowners and colonizers. Local notables and whole townships were given Roman citizenships. Many North Africans also took the path of social mobility
In Egypt, Christians formed a majority until the 10th Century. They declined to their minority position as a result of successive waves of Arab immigration, and persecution under the Mamluks, from the mid 13th Century to the early 16th Century.
The Christian Churches of North Africa were founded about the end of the 1st Century; for 600 years they played an important role, at times the most important part, in the development of Western Christianity, and were then crushed almost completely by the overwhelming force of the Mohammedan invasion, although a remnant still survived for 9 Centuries.
In 1583 the Turks came, as new conquerors of North Africa they were fanatical haters of Christianity, and all those who refused to embrace Mohammedanism were in deadly peril from them. Their violence was chiefly directed against the native Christians, and while the foreigners were too useful or too protected to be persecuted to death, the poor remnant of the African Church was forced to apostatize or die.[7]
According to Holme, the last blow had fallen and by the end of the 16th Century the church great of Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine had at length passed from the face of the earth. It was not extinguished without struggle, and the vitality it had displayed for nearly a 1000 years of oppression was worthy of the noble names with which it is inseparable associated. But now at long last its long history was over and the fertile fields of North Africa were given up to the yoke of Islam, under which for the most part they remain to this day.[8]
The paradox is that, to all appearance the churches of North Africa were now almost totally destroyed, but in spite of everything Christianity showed a marvelous and unparalleled tenacity in its hold on the northern Africa. For 900 years the faith in Christ was handed down from father to son, and the apostolic succession was kept up with only occasional help from the favored communions, in the heart of one of the most fanatically Mohammedan communions of the world.
The Roots Of Egyptian Christianity and Its Uniqueness
The early Egyptian Christianity can best be understood by locating it in its wider social context of the then existing social groupings. The pronounced social stratification helps to understand more specifically how early Egyptian Christianity adjusted to the commanding ethos of its contemporary world.sociologically, the roots of the Egyptian Christianity could be viewed from the perspective that: Firstly, it was as sectarian movement within Judaism that appealed to the socially unintegrated and provided normative values and behavioral patterns that competed for dominance in the Roman world. Secondly, it was a response to fluctuations in a political economy in which social groupings had lost status and were seeking holistic experiences to compensate for their anomie.
The Greeks have lived in Egypt from the 7th Century BC and their history there had a great influence on the development of Christianity. In 331 BC, Alexander the Great founded the city that bears his name, and when, after his death, his three generals divided his empire, Egypt fell to Ptolemy, who turned Alexandria into one of the great cities of the ancient world. The defeat of the Ptolemis, the descendants of Alexander the Great General, forced the Romans to face the identical problem that had confronted the Ptolemis: how to control socially a foreign race and culture whose language and social formation were incongruent with their own. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans wished to be assimilated into the culture they had conquered, nor did they advocate opening their ranks and providing for mobility to the native Egyptians.[9]
The polarization of the population into the Romans/Greeks and Egyptians lay at the root of social and psychological dislocation in the 1st Century. The educated minority groups had previously shared high status. The social degradation carried by this fiscal reform contributed significantly to the development of salvation religious such as Gnosticism and Christianity.
Evidently, the socio-economic development of the Roman Egypt from the 2nd to the 4th Century, can therefore be presumed to have directly influenced the growth and the speed of the development of Christianity. Normative values were transformed with the changing political and economic situation.
Roman behavioral patterns promoting ethnic segregation, kinship systems, and legal prescriptions for social interaction dissolved. Thus, the spread of Christianity from social class, and from urban areas to rural environment is tied also to the socio-economic development of Roman Egypt. The fragmentation of Roman ideology and economy in Egypt and the institutionalization of Christian belief and social organization were highly correlated
From a religious perspective, Egyptian (Coptic) Christianity did not begin as a national religious movement, nor was the motive of separation from Catholicism and the founding of a national Church behind the actions of the Egyptian participants at the council of Chalcedom in451 AD. The separation and other factors led to the emergence of the Egyptian Coptic Church.
City of Alexandria in 3rd Century
The span of time from Demetrius to Dionysius in Egyptian Christianity can be characterized as the period when Alexandria begins to emerge as an important center of the church in the Mediterranean world and when the Alexandrian bishop acquired an authoritative position equaling and sometimes rivaling that of other bishops in the major cities such as Rome, Antioch and Jerusalem. The primary reason for this development occurring in Alexandria was the imposition into Egypt of an ecclesiastically and doctrinally well-defined Christianity in the person of and bishopric of Demetrius near the end of the 2nd Century. The ecclesiastical organization had grown from a very few bishops in the 1st Century to nearly 100 by the first quarter of the fourth, and had apparently remained somewhat stable over the next two decades to near the middle of the century.
The evidence for the existence of church buildings in Alexandria before the 4th Century is very slim. Such church buildings existed in Egypt before the 4th Century is indicated in reports of the massive destruction of churches during the Diolectianic persecutions. The most important of the early Christian holy place in Alexandria was undoubtedly Boukolou, where according to the Acts of Mark, the earliest Christian had their place of worship and where the saint met his death and was buried. Here was erected the martyrium of Saint Mark, attested 4th Century and on
The Catechetical School of Alexandria
During this time Demetrius offered the greatest competition to the office of the bishop. The school had at first been directed by Pantaenus. He was probably a Sicilian. He was a converted stoic, who later left school to go to India as a missionary sent by Bishop Demetrius. His successors were Clement, Origen, Heraclas, Dydnus the Blind (313-98) and Dionysius. Under these men the school was relatively independent in its operations and activities from ecclesiastical bureaucracy.
Clement: He took over from Pantaenus. He had come to Alexandria to study and stayed to teach. He was immensely learned and one of his works cites 360 classic texts, many of which did not survive in any other form. Influenced by Philo, he attempted to make Chrisitianity acceptable to those educated in Greek Philosophy. Clement was born in Greece (Athenian) and came to Alexandria in 180. In 202 he fled due to persecution and never returned.
Origen: Succeeded Clement and was a teenage genius, born of mixed Egyptian Alexandria Greek parentage. He was immensely learned, a great scholar of the scriptures and the classics, prolific writer, apologist, and the first major thinker of the early church to seriously tackle the intractable problems of Christology. Origen was later excommunicated and exiled from Alexandria because of his improper ordination. He died in Tyre, at the age of 69 yrs. His doctrinal writings (although condemned) continued to influence many, especially the Coptic ascetic monks (like Hieracas) in the late 3rd Century and the early 4th Century.
The Presence of the Coptic Church in the Northern Africa
The story of the flight into Egypt has never ceased to glow in the Coptic imagination. In the words of the Coptic liturgy, “be glad and rejoice, O Egypt, and her sons and all her borders, for there hath come to thee the Lord of man…”[10]The Copts have never ceased to believe an ancient tradition that St. Mark was the first apostle of Egypt and was martyred in Alexandria.
The word Coptic can refer to people, a language or a church. Both “copt” and “Egypt” come from a Greek word, Aigyptos. Which in turn, come from the ancient Egyptian name Memphis, ”the house of ptah.” The Coptic Christianity was forged in persecution and its most distinctive expression was in the lives of the desert people. In Egypt, as in other parts of North Africa, a mass turning away from the old religion toward Christianity seems to have begun in middle of the 3rd century and to have been virtually complete by 400 AD, with the exception of a few neo-pagan aristocrats. It is not easy to know why Egyptian people accepted Christianity with such enthusiasm. The move has been associated with the suffering of the Egyptian peasantry and with relative deprivation of the Jewish and Egyptian elites. Tax collection from the temples and the alienation from the synthetic Greco-Roman cults (e.g. Serapis) could have contributed to the mass turning to Christianity. The courage of the martyrs led many to conversion. Women also played a key role in the conversion of households to Christianity. Christianity was also an empowering religion to the disinherited. Perhaps the most distinctive contribution of the Coptic Church to the world Christianity lay in its virtual invention of both the emeriti cal and the monastic way. Scholars write conventionally of the desert fathers.
Copt, originally meaning “Egyptian” came to mean ‘Christian’. At the end of the 10th century, most Egyptian Christians spoke Coptic, by the end of 12th century, most spoke Arabic, and Christian literature was translated into it. the 13th century was the golden age of the Coptic literature in Arabic. Coptic remained the language of liturgy, like Latin in the West. The Coptic church supplied the head of the Ethiopian church, the Abunan, until 1951, which constituted an ecclesiastical record for dilatory indigenization. There were around the 1960s roughly 4million Copts in Ethiopia in a population of 48 million.
The successive attacks by the Arabs and persecution under the Mamluks fr4om mid 13th century to early 16th century led to the decline of Christianity in Egypt. The worsening of the Copts’ position was in part, due to the aggression of the crusaders. The Christian wives had played an important role in spreading Christianity. But the Coptic women were then cited as married to Arabs whose childr3en became Muslims.
The cop tics have spoken Arabic from the 12th century as their first language, but the Coptic identity, like Jewish ness, is in a sense, an ethnic quality, and independent of religious affiliation. The agnostics remain Copts and members of the ‘Coptic nation’, and conscious heirs of ancient Egypt. The middle decades of the 12th century saw both a decline, and revived in the Coptic Church. The former was very apparent in the state of Monasticism, traditionally the very heart of Coptic spirituality.
Egyptian Christians, living as they do at the intellectual center of the Sunni Islam, have struggled through out the centuries to maintain their identity as people while at the same time making significant contributions to the wider environment. The modern story of Arab nationalism and Egypt’s emergence from colonial dominations is crowned with important figures from the Coptic Orthodox community in particular. In the early years after Egyptian independence, the number of Christians holding government positions was quite out of proportion to their numerical strength in the country. That is no longer the case, to sure, yet predominantly Muslim government even today acknowledges the Coptic contributions to the Arab renaissance and defends these people against occasional outbursts of oppositions from extremist Muslim groups.
The Copts tend to be more prosperous, and better-educated than their Muslim compatriots: according to the 1960 census, 41.4% of Christians and 23.8% of Muslims were literate. However, the Copts complain of discrimination in employment, and perhaps 5000 of them become Muslims every year for this reason, or to facilitate divorce. Only 13 of the 400 members of the National Assembly were Copts. The Copts still continue to regard themselves as the true heirs of pharaonic Egypt.
Since 1954, the Coptic church has been a member of the world council of churches (wcc). The Copts are the largest Christian community in the Arab world: it is widely believed that they number 4 million in a population of 24 million.
The influence of Monasticism in the Northern Africa Christianity
Monasticism is closely associated with the desert people of North Africa. The Desert people invented a way of life in which the world was totally given up in pursuit of God. The word monasticism is derived from the Greek monos, alone. As we use it, the term is applied to all those who live apart from the world, whether as solitaries or in communities. The origin of the custom is not wholly Christian. There were Egyptian monks of serapis, and there were members of Orphic societies who led ascetic life, and there was a highly developed monasticism in Buddhist circles. Among the Jews, there were some, like the Essenes and Therapeutae, who followed the same ideals. The Christian monastic movement began in Alexandria.
The Egyptian monastic establishments can be divided into three classes. First, the organized coenobitic communities were what we should call corporations with legal personality. For business purposes the community was represented by its head, or might have acted like a bishop through a steward. The originator of this monastery proper was pachomius (c.290-345), who according to Weingarten, had learned monastic practices as a monk of Serapis. The peculiarity of pachomius’ system was that the ascetics live under a common roof and were under a common authority.
Second, the monasterion, the single monk in his cell. The stage of ‘solitary’ proper (emeritical). The earliest Christian hermit of whom we have any knowledge is Paul of Thebes. He is said to have retired to a grotto on the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea dring the Decian persecution.
Third, was the sem-emeritical type. Those who belonged to it live together in a laura or open street. This custom arose out of the fact that a famous hermit would fined himself surrounded by a group of devotees who settled bear him and endeavored t imitate his method of live. The method was practices by great numbers in the lower Egypt. It seems to have been started by Anthony, who his followers wished to copy his asceticism.
Saint Anthony and Monasticism
Anthony was a native Egyptian and was born in c. 251 in the village of Coma near Thebaid, and was reared amid considerable wealthy by his Christian parents. While still a young man, he was orphaned. In a church service he heard a text that changed his life; “if thou wouldst be perfect, sell all that thou hast, give to the poor and follow me.” He sold his land , gave the proceeds to the poor, making provision for his sister, and went to live on the desert’s edge. Many followed his example.
Anthony6 is credited with the gift and powers of exorcism, healing and virtually all the prophetic functions traditionally associated with the church, but he was not ordained to any clerical office. His death occurred in 356, and just before his death he asked a sheepskin garment given to him by Athanasius be returned. The individualism and independence from the world which epitomized his life were also thus in evidence at his death.
The introduction of monasticism into the West followed upon the visit of Athanasius to Rome in 339, which he was accompanied by two Egyptian monks. These examples of a new type of piety aroused great interest, which was further stimulated by the translation of Athanasius’ life of Anthony into Latin. On the whole, it may be said that Egyptian influence remained str4ong in the Western monasticism until the time of Benedict.
The rapid growth and wide extent of monasticism show that it met a felt need in the life of the church. The fact that at its inception it was largely a lay movement gave it a certain independence from the bishops who were solely troubled by inroads of heresy or persecution. At other times the monks were a very insurbodinate element in the life of the church, and during the prolonged theological controversies they were occasionally a terror to the churches near which they abode. In 451, at the council of Chalcedon, in order to insure their behavior, placed all communities of monks under the rule of the bishops.
Donatism and Gnosticism Vs. North African Christianity.
In 1945 an Egyptian peasant made a remarkable discovery at a place called Nag Hammadi. He discovered a library of forty eight books that had been translated from Greek in Coptic.
Gnosticism: Alexandria was probably the largest Gnostic center in the 2nd century. Although gnosticism was condemned as heresy, many Gnostics live, taught and died peacefully within the catholic church. Gnosis mans intuitive knowledge, the knowledge, of the heart. Gnostics gave emphasis to individual religious experiences and quest, and importance of feminine in both theology and praxis. Gnosticism had developed out philosophic Platonism and ptolemic astronomy.
Basilides (125-155): we the earliest Alexandrian Gnostic known. He was a prolific writer. He believed that he was the heir to a secret tradition the went back to either Peter or Matthias. His starting point was the utter transcendence of God. He thought that God is so utterly other that we cannot, even by analogy say anything about him at all.
Valentine: was the shining star of Gnosticism in Alexandria. Valentine, was the greatest of the Gnostics. He taught in Rome during the reign of Antoninus Pius, that is to say somewhere about the time of the writing of shepherd of hermas. He was a poet of gnosticism, using his “endless genealogies of angels” as personifications of the divine attributes. The aim of the teachers of gnosticism was threefold: 1) to attain to a superior science (gnosis) of the invisible world; 2) to accomplish a return to God which should not only be individual but cosmic; 3) and to assert the freedom of the soul in denying the power of the flesh.
Donatism: donatus came from the southern Numidia, the desert’s edge. He was a charismatic figure; men swore by his “white hairs,” like some Jewish high priest, he celebrated the mysteries alone. The great church historian, frend, interpreted donatism as a vehicle for Berber patriotism and for socio-economic protest, the protest of the urban poor and the rural peasants against a church increasingly closely identified with landowning classes and imperial authority. Many Donatists were converted from paganism. Their church affiliation was determined by accident. What distinguished the Donatists above all was an ideology, a concept of the church as a small body of the chosen.
Donatism was not confined to Africa. Donatus’ gifted successor was Spaniard or Gaul, and there was for a time, a Donatist pope in Rome. Donatists and African Catholics had much in common. They shared a fundamental austerity, separateness from the world, to which Christians elsewhere were increasingly accommodated. Donatism was at its full prosperity at the end of 4th century. With all its illogicality and all its excesses, there was something which appealed especially to the moors.
Donatism had attracted those whom the purer and more regulated teachings of Catholicism could not reach; it spread the Gospel of Christ amongst tribes beyond the den of (Western) civilization, and it was the first teacher of those who were to preserve their faith through the centuries of Mohammedan persecution. Viewed in this way donatism would seem not the weakening of African Christianity, but the very means under which the guiding hand of God spread and then strengthened for the years of trials the kingdom of Christ.
The Conquest of Mohammedanism in North Africa.
We are told that Mohammed regarded Africa with peculiar interest and affection. At one time., when his followers were solely persecuted in Arabiz, he devised an asylum in Africa: “yonder lieth a country wherin no man is wronged ---a land of righteousness.” Depart thither, and remain until it pleaseth the Lord to open your way before you. This dream for his followers to settle in Africa was never realized, but was later met in the conquest to Mohammedanism and the spread of Islam in Africa.
Christianity ruled North Africa before the advent of Islam, but very much weakened by heresies and schisms. Mighty fathers of the church had found a home, had done work, throughout that region-Tertullian, Or4igen, Cyprian, Augustine and many others. At the time of the conquest, it is said there were in North Africa about 400 to 500 bishops which speaks of the presence of many churches and priests. But the early purity of the Christian faith had been, during those six centuries, largely lost through strife and division. The decadence of Rome ecclesiastical and civil authority was sadly evident; there was little or no solidarity in the communities of North Africa. The social structure was like the card house which children build, - when Islam touched Egypt, the whole edifice fell. It is claimed by a some-what enthusiastic admirer on Mohammedanism that the form of Christianity which it supplanted in North Africa was infinitely inferior to Mohammedanism itself. Of course this is not true.
The progress of Islam over Northern Africa was like that of the prairie fire-rapid, scorching and desolating. And yet Christianity struggled desperately. We are told that 14times it was driven by the sword into apostasy, and 14times it returned to its ancient faith. In spite of the banishment to the deserts of Arabia of multitudes of men of all ranks, in spite of solicitations, seductions, caresses, the Catholic-church remained steadfast at its post at Ca5rthage and in Tunis proper for more than 6 centuries after the Musselman’s conquest.
For sixty years North Africa Christianity wrestled with the Mohammedan warriors. The Christians and the pagan moors united in opposition. But though they could hinder they could not stop the victorious advance of Abdullah and Zobeir, and particularly of Akbah, justly called the “conqueror of Africa,” who spurred his horse into the waves and, raising his eyes to heaven, exclaimed with the cry of a true fanatic:
Gradually the Christian population was overwhelmed; slowly the Moors, or Berbers, were converted to Mohammedanism faith and allegiance. The Arabs that had come from Asia through Egypt into the northern desert were gradually merged with the Berber race that was closely akin; the remnants of other races there present were slowly absorbed; until all coalesced under the banner of Islam, unitedly turning their faces towards Mecca.
Ancient Egypt
The Egyptians welcomed the Arabs in AD 639 as signifying change of masters from the yoke of Byzantium. Naturally they did not connect an Arab invasion with a cultural transformation, since Islam culture had not yet been formed and the Arabs showed a tolerant policy towards the people of the Book. But the conquest meant Egypt entered a new complex. Already separated Christianity from the main stream of Christianity it entered the sphere of the naissant culture of Islam.
In 640-641, Egypt was conquered by the Arabs and a very early the process of arabization was initiated. In the beginning the Muslim administration was always bilingual, either Greek and Arabic, or Coptic and Arabic. But Arabic soon became the main language of the administration. In 780 C.E. it became the only recognized language. By 9th century, most educated Copts spoke and wrote in Arabic. Coptic was progressively disappearing, at least in cities. A confirmation of this Arabization of the Copts is given by the fact that we have no original Coptic production after the 9th century.
For long it seemed to be a Christian enclave under Arab Muslim domination, but in fact it quickly became a country of dual religious cultures. Whilst Egyptian society and civilization continued unchanged and sociologically the loves of Christian and Muslim fellahin could hardly be distinguished, the country became divided in religion. While Christianity declined in numbers of adherents, Islam rapidly expanded and brought a new kind of life to Egypt.
On the Muslim side, Egypt has remained to this day a powerhouse of Islam. This is particularly true to the Egypt’s place in Africa black Africans going on pilgrimage or trading or traveling or studying have come to Egypt and learned the best in slam there. The great mosque al-azhar university in Cairo, started in the 10th century, is considered to be in a way the mother university of the western would. In every generation al-azhar has produced other Islamic sciences.
Modern Egypt: according to statistics by World Operation- 1995, the modern Egypt occupies an area of 1,001,000sq.km. 96% desert and only 3% arable land along the banks of the Nile and around the western desert oases. It has a population of 60,470,000,with 86.4% speaking Arabic. Islam is the state religion (85.4%Muslim), and 14.2% Christian (Orthodox 13%). Islamic fundamentalism has become a severe threat to the stability of Egypt.
Islamic extremists in the recent years have targeted and killed government leaders, Christians and tourists in efforts to bring down the ruling government. To this day, there is intensified persecution of Christians, inprisonment, destruction of churh buildings, bribery and persuasion for Christians to become Moslems. But the church in Egypt is still strong roday especially the Coptic church with amembership of 4,050,00 and 1,266 congregation.
Causes of the decline of the Early North African Christianity
What were the causes of the decline of the churches in North Africa?
1. They fell because they were the churches of a party and not of people; they appealed to the civilized Romans only, and not the barbarian Moors.
2. The disintegration of the Roman imperial power and the dispersion of its community, led to the decline of the ecclesiastical system and the dispersion of the church.
3. The small percentage of the Christians that remained after the Roman Christians left, was not strong enough to encounter the invading forces of the Turks in 1583.
4. Powerful conquest of Mohammedan forces reduced Christianity to a minority group.
5. Possibly, the failure of the catholic church to adopt the way and methods of Donatism.
6. Failure of the church to reach and transform the hearts of the native people.
7. Failure of the Roman church to contextualize, and indigenize its teachings, and also to train and transfer leadership to the Native people.
Missiological implications
First, the North African Christianity lacked evangelistic zeal and motivation for effective Christian mission. After enjoying more than 10 centuries of Christian prosperity, Christianity in North Africa declined because it failed to reproduce itself. However, paradoxically, the faith of Christ in essence inextinguishable, and this is evident in the struggle between the forces of Mohammedanism and the Christian faith in Egypt and other parts of north Africa for many years.
Second, the marriage between Christianity and imperial power/s undermines the very foundation of the Christian faith and does in many ways have disastrous effects and consequences to Christian mission. On the same token, the compromising of the Christian faith for socio-economic reasons weakens the credibility of the Christian faith, witness and the possibility for authentic Christian mission.
Third, embracing Christianity as a substitute or compensation for lost social status, or even as mobility to a higher level of the same, does not necessarily result t o a solution to social degradation and dislocation.
Fourth, persecution is sometimes part and parcel of one’s faith commitment and obedience to Go. The witness of the blood martyrs, and the perseverance of the north Africa Christians under persecution, served as refining process for spiritual growth, preservation of the faith of Christ, and as a separation of wheat and tares.
Fifth, monasticism: the heart of the Coptic spirituality was an outstanding model for pursuing personal and collective piety, which served as reinforcement for the Christian dynamic of the early church in north Africa.
Sixth, cultural assimilation: the Roman Christians and other foreigners in north Africa refused to be assimilated to the local culture, thus removing the possibility of a needed meaningful interactive environment between them and the locals, conducive for faith accommodation and mission.
Seventh, the role of women in Christian mission is and has always been crucial in the continuity, preservation and the stability of the Christian church, the family and the missionary enterprise.
Eighth, the institutionalization of the Christian faith does sometimes rob Christianity of its dynamic as a movement of God’s people. It could also lead to spiritual bankruptcy, which is a hindrance of effective Christian mission.
Ninth, I believe, successful Christian mission involves not only the institutionally recognized clergy, but also the acknowledgment and use of the gifted lay people.
Tenth, the endeavor to preserve status quo by ecclesiastical structures and personalities, doe hinder mission and lead to ingrowth tendencies.
Early Christianity in the South of Sahara
It was the Catholic Portuguese traders and their chaplains who brought the Christian faith to the East Coast of Africa from of end of the 15th Century. Their mission did not have much success and founded no lasting church. This short-lived Catholic mission work could only be traced mainly along the coastal trading zones. This mission, however never impacted the interior of the continent.
The beginning of the great thrust of Protestant missions into Africa came in 19th Century. The coming of missionaries like Ludwig Kraft in 1844 and others who followed set the protestant mission wheels rolling.
The colonialists came about the time as the missionaries. The early missionary activity went concurrently with the expansion and domination of the European hegemony (rule) in Africa, supplemented the colonial detrimental policy. The colonial administrators and the missionaries were on many occasions inextricably one. The missionary sought protection from the colonialists and in return he became an ardent supporter on\f the oppressive colonial policy at the expense of their Christian mission among the African communities. So they lost the trust of the native people, thus diminishing the success of their work.
The colonial history of Africa begins with the Berlin conference and Act in 1884 when the continent was partitioned by several European powers as their spheres of influence. This is the period when Europe was scrambling fro control of Africa for its own commercial interests. By this time the slave trade had officially been abolished although there were still some pockets of slave trade, particularly on the East coast of Africa. After the partitioning of the Africa continent, the European power brokers sought to put in place administrative and legal mechanisms. The Europeans developed artificial and community divisive geographical boundaries. The speedy grabbing of African natural resources to Europe for industrial development and expansion, and for increased profit, prosperity and comfort in Europe, added injury to insult on the African people and their communities.
Some ethnic groups/tribes were split along territorial lines, e.g. Maasai of Kenya, Uganda and Sudan. These divisions affected the identity of these people groups in many ways. The colonialists created an environment for an annihilation of the rich African cultural heritage. The quick imposition European imperialistic culture was meant to erode and at best render the African culture/s useless.
Prior to the intrusion by the foreign powers, the African communities were ordered by simple and viable social networks. Common values and norms held people together in cohesive communal living. Ethnic bonds glued communities together in oneness and strong ties. The intrusion by foreigners disrupted the existing communal structures which led to chaos, disorientation and dis-identification. The foreigners were here to stay and the damage by them was not to go unnoticed.
The African people realized the only way to stop the colonialists or rid themselves from the imposed untold sufferings was to fight back for life. The natives mobilized themselves and with great determination fought for freedom, which costed many lives and resources. Freedom indeed came; by 1950s many African countries shook off the yoke of colonialism. Then followed a period of de-colonization.
The African countries though independent, were left weakened and vulnerable to outside forces of influence. The industrialized countries of the North have in neo-colonialism continued to exploit the economies of the developing nations, and for our African countries, they devised new ways of extracting the rich mineral resources and other raw materials in the name of foreign investments. They have gone to the extent of planting multi-national companies in Africa, with their blood sucking tentacles spreading deep and wide to the poor struggling countries. These multi-national organizations have sought ot have monopoly over the local products and the profits gained are repatriated to the home countries.
The situation worsens when the “so-called” foreign investors collaborate with corrupt local political elites in business endeavors as development partners. The local agents and their crones ensure that the outside agencies accrue lucrative business profits and interests within a protected environment. Of course, the local agents have their share of the pie, which is small compared to what the investors take home. These local looters and suckers are known for their poor track record in the public office and in the private sector. The greater sufferers and victims of exploitation within the well-coordinated chain are the producer farmers and lowly paid industrial workers. For the poor peasant farmers, the prices of their coffee, sugar, rubber, tea, etc are determined by the buyer. The farmers get meager income; their bought products are sod locally or abroad at exorbitant profits.
Sources for African Christian Theology
African Traditional Religion and African Culture
The followers of African traditional religion are not marked by going to worship certain days of the week or even observing a set of religious rules. Religion in Africa is a way o life, a culture that permeates all spheres and levels of living. That is why it is difficult to distinguish between religion and culture in traditional African society. Religiosity interweaves with all aspects of traditional life. There is no sharp dichotomy between the secular and the religious, sacred and profane. There is an indissoluble integration of the aspects upon the life of the individual and that of all community.
Study by African scholars on the tradition al religion demonstrates that traditional religion touches on “some soft spots” in an African way that no other religion is able to do. That is why African Christians have engaged or must engage in the study of African religion in order to ensure that the gospel is communicated effectively using African thought-forms, metaphors, symbols and practices.
Gwinyai Muszorewa, cities the following five ways in which ATRs are important in the development of African theology.
1. In reconciling general and special revelation, African theology can develop concepts that combine the particularity and the generality of the presence of God.
2. It gives the believers some light beyond the physical existence. Ancestology illuminates the mystery of life-after-death. In redefining eschatology to mean a spiritual reality in the her and now, traditional religion enables African theology to affirm spiritual beings in the present life, and not just in the afterlife.
3. It has relatively a healthy approach to, and understanding theodicy (dealing with evil).
4. It defines humanity in such a way that only humanizing principles must be adopted in African life.
5. Although ATR and Christianity are not the same, and need not be, they share major religious concerns such as the knowledge of God, spiritual existence, good-and –evil and humanity. Thus, African theology is capable of dealing with present African realities. It will express the presence of God as well as absolute human dependence on God, and will acknowledge the susceptibility of humanity to both good and evil.
Muszorewa argues, in reference to ATR as a source of ACT, there should be a theological continuity between Christian faith and ATR. A Christian theology can develop from the aspects of the African worldview that express traditional feelings, provided they are consistent with the gospel. Alyward Shorter adds, in order to be Africanized, Christina theology must draw its nuances and concepts from the systems and beliefs of the religion-bases cultures of Africa. Yet, simply to rehearse Christian tenets does not create African theology. What is needed are those insights which are precious and original in developing authentic African Christian theology.
In studying ATR as source of ACT Pobee in Parratt, recommends the phenomenological approach for collecting data. This analytical description originally was pioneered by E. Husserl, which applied to theology. It is a known fact that ATR has no scriptures. Pobee says, the urgent task is the collection of myths, proverbs, invocations, prayers, incantations, rituals, songs, dreams etc. the collection made of far he argues are rather haphazard and are part of sociological and anthropological studies.
Two weaknesses of phenomenological approach are first, difficulty in knowing what is empirical (scientific study of religions through history). Second, lacks criterion to govern choice when confronted by contradictory revelations i.e. lacks validity of data. On the other hand there are three advantages that accrue from using this method. First, begins with the phenomena themselves (begins at the right place taking into account individual’s presuppositions). Second, Conductive to clarity. One knows what they are talking about e.g. what is man? What is God? Third, Proceeds by description rather than by deduction. It does not start by priori principle (presumption, prefabricated theology).
Most African scholars seem to prefer the use of African traditional religion (ATR) to refer to African beliefs and practices before the advent of other religions in Africa, sucn as Islam and Christianity. It has to be remembered that ATR can be seen as an aythentic and unique religion of the African people which meets their spiritual needs and helps them encounter with certainty life realities.
We have to be reminded that religion and culture can both be open and closed. This means ATR is capable of integrating with other cultural systems and religions as well as staying aloof from them. It has independent engagement with other cultural systems. In modern African societies there is interplay between the forces and values of Islam, Christianity and traditional religion. To believe that traditional religion is losing its grip or cracking up in the midst of Christianizing and Islamizing might not necessary be true. The possibility is that TR cuts across Christianity and Islam with admirers in both camps. African Christians and Muslims alike cannot hide their profound admiration of their heritage within the ATR even when they have to pay a price of exco9mmunication from their found faith.
Spencer Trimingham in Nthamburi argues that it is misleading to predict the death of ATR. It is also a mistake to think that ATR as lacking the dimension of universality as such it is local and ethnic. TR is universal insofar as it embraces the common African belief or faith that unites all African people or for that matter all humanity. That is belief in the Supreme God as the primary connecting principle. ATR is accommodative in its nature towards other religions. This should not be viewed as a pitfall and incoherence. On the contrary its strength lies in the very nature of its non-polemical (controversial) co-existence with other religions.
In Nthamburi’s opinion, ATR to the surprise of many is a growing religion. His contention is that if ATR was propagated in the West it would find many converts (like the exportation of eastern religions to the West has found) who are already looking for a credible spirituality in the midst of materialism and disillusionment.
When it comes to the study of ATR, the scholars and researcher should not forget that the African continent is filled with people of diverse cultural experiences, although ATR can be studied as one traditional religion for convenience sake, the expression of this religion varies from one environment or setting to another. On the histrorical factors tht cold explain the diversity of the African people is that of pat migrations in Africa. Although many African people are traditionally related in many ways, they speak many different languages and often practice different customs. Religious practices may even differ from one ethnic group to another.
One the notion of a Supreme God, some scholars have used such western (platonic-philosophical) terms as omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, transcendent, immanent, Eternal and the like. Those who are not happy with such terminologies have questioned the rationale of parading African God in western garments. Olot p’Bitek castigates (criticizes severely) African theologians who strive to show to the west that they are as competent as they are in the west and that they can expound theological notions about God in afrcian using western concepts. Okot’s view is that ATR is superior to Christianity (point of departure). Thus, the African God, p’Bitek argues can stand against the Christina God without being suffocated in western garments. The question is , the the African God the same as the Christian God? If the so-called African God is not the Christian Jgod, then the authenticity of the African God is questionable. P’Bitek is not a Christian as such he negates the Christian God and elevates the African God. ATR itself could be seen as pregnant or rich with symbols and rituals. These may be manifested in sacrificial rites, rites of passage dances (e.g. recent Wahome Mutahi’s burial ceremony colored with Catholic rituals and traditional dances).
The futuristic dialectical tension contained in the some of the above rituals are between being and becoming, e.g. before in initiation the African does not exist as a human beign or a full member or the community. The individual becomes a person after the rites that admit that person to full membership of the community. All the religious rituals performed are aimed a t preparing on becoming rather that being.
Summary Observation
ATR and African culture/s may give African Christina theology useful contours which could be used as a framework for reflection, theologizing and theological development. ATR in the light of God’s revealed word could be seen as a connective possible souce for ACT construction.
1.The Bible as Primary Source of African Christian Theology
John Mbiti laments of many African liberal theologians who have ignored the use of the Bible in their theological reflections. The adds, in fact afrcian theology cannot afford to ignore the Bible. As long as African theology is Christian theology, the Bible continues to be the primary source of African theology. AT must be grounded on the Bible especially by Christina exponents.
Mbiti continues to argue, the question on the use of the Bibble in developing African thelgy is an open ended matter. That the Bible is playing a major role in this development there is no doubt. Any viable theology must have a biblical basis. African theology must develop on this foundation, for nothing can substitute the place of the Bible. As long as African theology keeps close to the scriptures, it will remain relevant to the life of the church in Africa and will make a lasting contribution to the theology of the church universal. African Christianity should have at is forefront the Bible shaping its development both openly and subconsciously. This promising development of Christianity in Africa puts great demands upon the African scholars to give more attention to the Bible. As long as we keep scriptures close too9ur minds and heart., our theology will render viable and relevant service to the church and adequately communicate the word of God to the people of our times.
The conference of African theologians held in Accra, Ghana in December 1977, in its final communiqué unequivocally stated that:
The Bible is the basic source of African theology, because it is the primary witness of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. No theology can retain its Christian identity apart from scripture. The Bible is not simply an historical book about the people of Israel; through a re-reading of this scripture in the social context of our struggle for our humanity, God speaks to us in the midst of our troublesome situation. This divine word is not an abstract proposition, but an advent in our lives, empowering us to fight for our full humanity.
John Pobee in Parratt emphasizes the fact that it is the Christian faith to be communicated in African terms; the starting point should be the source of the church’s faith. The Bible should be the foundation document of the church. African theology has to be rooted in the Bible. Pobee’s view is also that taking biblical criticism seriously the Bible should not be interpreted literally but by religionsgeschichitliche method (the history of religion approach). To him this method represents the most thorough-going application of naturalistic historicism to the study of the Bible. It assumes that biblical religion in both the Old and the New Testaments, passed through growth and evolution like all ancient religions and in this evolution was heavily influence through interactions with its religious environment. This method involves the consistent application of the principle of analogy to biblical religion: the history and development of other religions.
The point of departure with the above method is that it refuses to acknowledge the truth of the Bible or biblical revelation. The African Christian Theology would to be realistic affirm that Christianity lays claim to a finality of revelation. This method would also raise the fundamental issue of the finality of Christ.
It is quite apparent that in oral preaching in Africa the Bible is used quite freely as the source of what God’s will to the people is. In most churches in Africa preachers draw their inspiration from the Bible. In the independent churches the most favorite themes are of: deliverance, salvation, divine provision, endurance, denying oneself, love for one another, suffering, supernatural miracles, material prosperity etc.
The Bible has been translated in many languages so that it can reach many in their native tongues and for understandable interpretation. David Barrret estimates that Africa has a total of 2,100 distinct languages. The demand for the Bibles in African languages is quite big. The majority literate Africans are serious readers of the Bible and prayer worriiors. About prayer Adrian Hastings in Ngewa (ed) as quoted by Bediako says, it is in vernacular prayer, both in public and in private, both formal and informal, and in the spirituality which grows up from such experience that the true roots of an authentic African Christianity will surely be found. In some cases the Bible is used s primer reader for adult literacy classes.
Lamin Sanneh when talking about Scripture translation graphically puts it well when he says this work of translation has “imbued African cultures with eternal significance and endowed African languages with a transcendent range”; it also “presumed that the God of the Bible had preceded the missionary into the receptor-culture.” As though the very process of the Scripture translation, the “central categories of Christian theology-God, Jesus Christ, creation, history – were transposed into their local equivalents, suggesting that Christianity has been adequately anticipated,” they created in indigenous languages, resonances far beyond what the missionary transmission conceived.
Hermeneutically speaking, when the Bible is put in the African context and when its hermeneutical methodology is freed from the interests of oppressors and status quo, can be usefully be applied in proclaiming the gospel of liberation and appropriate situational interpretation. The application of hermeneutics on the Bible and the culture as an attempt to understand the word of God and how it is given to man in his cultural milieu (environment) calls exegesis of both the word and the context. Unfortunately, in some instances some people have used the Bible to justify (1) Apartheid in SA, (2) Slavery in the USA, (3) Land grabbing in Kenya, (4) Gay marriages, (5) Refusal to ordain women, (6) religious syncretism etc.
3. Church Tradition as a Source of ACT
Assuming that African theology is Christian, there is a sense in which the entire Christian tradition is the background for present theological enterprise. As argued rightly, the church fathers like Saint Augustine, Tertullian and Cyrian were actual founders of African Christian theology. Some of their (church fathers) work can provide a foundation for African theology provided that all the criteria for one who can do African theology in the present meaning of the term have been met.
Tradition is not identical with church history. Tradition here would mean a stream of apostolic life and witness stretching from the apostles to generations and areas, though not immediately identifiable with them. It has to be remembered that it is the Holy Spirit who gives life to the witness and the mission of the church. Whatever else we may say it is important to start with the Bible. For Christianity begins with God through Christ.
1.The Missionary Theological Heritage as a Source for ACT
The examination of the missionary theological heritage should be done evaluatively without undue finger pointing or condemnation. It has to be understood that both the missionaries and the elite African theologians have had their share of mistakes in their theological construction. With that in mind the task of theologizing should be undertaken responsibly without harbored bitterness. The way forward is to develop African Christian theology by contextualizing the Christian faith in authentic African language in the flux and turmoil of our time. Genuine dialogue should be encouraged between the Christian faith and African culture. It has to be noted, African Christina theology should never be an end in itself; it should serve the cause of clarity of faith and worship in our specific African and human context which is one manifestation of the universal human experience.
Pobee in Parratt, suggests, ideally, African theologies should be in the vernacular because language is more that syntax and morphology; it is a vehicle for assuming the weight of the culture. Therefore the attempt to construct an African theology inthe English language is the second best, even if it is convenient if it should secure as wide a circulation as possible.
4. The Missionary Theological Heritage as a source for ACT.
The examination of the missionary theological heritage should be done evaluatively without undue finger pointing or condemnation. It has to be understood that both the missionaries and the elite African theologians have had their share of mistakes in their theological construction. With that in mind, the task of theologizing should be undertaken responsibly without harbored bitterness. The way forward is to develop African Christian theology by contextualizing the Christian faith in authentic African language in the flux and turmoil of our time. Genuine dialogue should be encouraged between the Christians faith and African cultures. It has to be noted, African Christian theology should never be an end in itself; it should serve the cause of its clarity of faith and worship in our specific African and human context which is one manifestation of the universal human experience.
Pobee in Parratt, suggests, ideally, African theologies should be in the vernacular because language is more than syntax and morphology; it is a vehicle for assuming the weight of the culture. Therefore the attempt to construct an African theology in the English language is the second best, even if it is convenient if it should secure as wide a circulation as possible.
5. African Independent Churches as a Source for African Christian Theology.
Kofi Appiah-Kubi in Ngewa [ed.] as quoted by Olowola, defines African independent churches as churches formed by Africans for Africans in our special situations. They have all African membership as well as all African leadership. Some were founded by Africans in reaction to some features of the Christianity of missionary societies; most were founded among those people who had known Christianity the longest.
African scholars have on many occasions turned to the independent churches movement for raw materials for their work because the independent churches do indigenize the Christian faith. In fact, most of them were founded in order to meeception every traditional African male/female eagerly anticipated his/her initiation to manhood and womanhood with definitive future outlook. In marriage anticipation, a young man’s family had to ‘save’ up for the bride price necessary for marriage and full tribal responsibilities. The fact that children are such highly prized possessions because they secure the future continuation of the family line also indicates a future awareness. In every real sense the African must anticipate the future in order to become a meaningful part of the past.
There is a lot of eschatological events preaching in the African independent churches in preparation for the second return of Jesus Christ. The anticipation of the imminent return of Jesus gives impetus to the AICs preaching and is suggestive of futuristic inclination or orientation.
The future and the African Involvement in Evangelism.
Traditional western techniques of evangelism presuppose a strong concern for the future in their emphasis on eternal destiny. Whether the motivation is to avoid hell or to get to heaven, the focus is on some time unknown to the respondent [his or her judgment before God]. The stress is on future punishment or reward given for present acts. Then, how would this come across the traditional African?
Firstly, the African looks to the past in order to discern his way into the future. The gospel in his mindset, must link past to the future [or future to the past] to have full relevancy. A message that does not give a linkage to his past as a key to future success [at judgment] is likely to be misunderstood or ignored. To have the best possibility for effective use by the Holy Spirit our presentation must show the traditional African how it offers him or her a more solid link with the past and how it will enable him in his eternal life in the future to most effectively participate in the lives of his descendants. eg. The concept of God’s ‘plan for your life’ as related in the ‘Four Spiritual Laws’ of campus crusade ministry, may not have meaning to the traditional African if related in the purely futuristic concept of the west. The African would have to see how such a plan encompasses past, present and future, lest he/she take on a Christianity and use it to cover a heart shrouded in syncretistic thinking.
Secondly, the traditional African is generally not looking for an escape from the problems or circumstances surrounding him/her. He/she is more often vitally linked and fulfilled in his situation and the idea of a future escape may even be seen as a refusal to accept responsibility in the here and now [as well as the past traditions]. In that sense, the gospel should not be offered as a carrot on a stick that entices him to escape present circumstances and relationships, but rather as God’s plan that will enable him/her to most fully participate in his/her heritage and cultural responsibilities, and thereby maintain his/her links with the past.
Thirdly, to the traditional African the idea of a future heaven or hell based on a present decision to accept Christ may not be as motivating as it is in the west. We should not neglect the truth of heaven and hell, but neither should we use them in the same way that people do in the west. As an alternative, we might more strongly stress the relational aspects of being a child of the tribe of God [one of which is an eternal destiny with him], or the consequences of being excluded from that tribe [eternal destiny separated with him/her]. This would be more readily grasped by a mindset that is focused on relationships and which is not as concerned with future consequences as present [or past] realities. The exact methodology of evangelism would depend on the particular tribal setting, but this general concept could be seen as a starting point in discerning the most appropriate method.
Fourthly, the traditional concept of history and culture would tend to make the traditional African more able to grasp the concept of the Jewish traditions [in the O.T.] and parallels between African and Jewish traditions can provide a better understanding and applications of the Bible story in the African context. In summary, our evangelism should be less future directed, less escapist and more relationship and tradition-centered.
Church Management and the Future.
Modern church growth management in the west maintains that proper planning and future focus are integral to continued growth. Planning and organizational approaches that have been developed to date are almost entirely future directed and heavily change-oriented, both which run counter to traditional mindset.
It might be feasible in utilizing church growth and management in traditional settings to focus to get the community as whole involved regardless of the time constraints. Some of the western techniques may be useful for African business ventures, but are they right for even the ‘modern’ African church let alone the traditional setting?
