African Theology: Key Personalities, Methodology, and Sources Methodology Their focus and Recommendation 1.

Introduction Theology is a discourse about God his being, nature and dealings with the created order. It is talk-about God. Although theology has such a foundation, it by nature is constructi!e one. It is like constructing a building upon solid foundation. And whenever the way it is constructed seems inconvenient or unfit to the living conditions of its inhabitants the building may be demolished and re-constructed, yet u"on the same foundation. Theology is nothing but e pressing the foundation in an intelligible manner using contemporary language and philosophical e pressions. Its foundation is solid but its forms and tools of e pression are sub!ect to change. After the "econd #orld #ar, when many African countries gained independence from #estern colonial power, African $hristianity also faced a %uestion of self-identity. $esmond Tutu stated, &African theology is the result of reaction against cultural and ecclesiastical colonialism.'( African theology, therefore, took a path of &reactionary theology', which was the result of attempts made to gain selfhood in $hristian thought by remodelling the theology of missionaries in the colonial period. )
$efinition* The term &African theology' for the first time emerged in African soil in (+,- on the conference of the All African $onference of $hurches .AA$$/ in reaction to such #estern ideologies.0 there e ists no theology which is conte t free, 1aul Tillick, in that &theology is the statement of the truth of $hristian message and interpretation of this truth for e!ery generation'. M%iti* $hristianity is a universal and cosmic faith. It was universali2ed on $alvary, and cosmici2ed on the first 3aster 4ay. 5ur duty now is to locali2e this universality and cosmicity. 3urope and America have westerni2ed it, the 5rthodo $hurches have easterni2ed it6 here in Africa we must africani2e it. It belongs to the very nature of $hristianity to be sub!ect to locali2ation, otherwise its universality and cosmicity become meaningless.7
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Gehman, 4oing African $hristian Theology, 0,. Gehman, Doing African Christian Theology, 0,, 8ower, &African Theology. Its 9istory, 4ynamics, "cope and :uture,' ((7.
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;uke ;ungile 1ato, &African Theologies' <biti, =$hristianity and Traditional >eligions in Africa?, International Review of Mission -+*)0, .5ctober (+@A/ 70(.

Any given theology is defined within the framework of its socio-cultural, sociopolitical, and socio-economic conte t. Therefore African theology is o &There is some degree of fluidity with the phrase itself. "ome read it to mean African $hristian theology, whereas others tend to understand it in more general or generic sense as to include African Traditional religious thought, including African Islamic thought.' o It is about &the discourse which is being conducted by Africans, in order to relate their own cultural and religious heritage to $hristianity.' - In African religious heritage the e perience of God is more practical, rather than being a theoretical fad. In a way, Africans live their God-talk .theology/ instead of theori2ing or verbali2ing it., o Theological Reflection and &'"ression %y Africans o A (i%lical )aith of Africans S"ea*ing to African Soil o $escri%ing +hrist as a (lac* Man,-od o k

In this presentation, I will briefly present origins, key personalities, sources, issues, and methodologies in African theologyBies.

.. /rigin Cuestion of self-identity, colonialism, a. (lac* Theology 0struggle for the social and "olitical transformation in South Africa,, born out of "outh African?s struggle with Apartide1 %. 2i%eration Theology c. (ac* to our +ulture 0Indigenous culture of African "eo"le1 i. +ultural o""ression 0anthro"ological o""ression , )a%ella and Torres, 13431 ii. In "chreiter?s own words* :or too long, embracing $hrist and his message meant re!ection of African cultural values, Africans were taught that their ancient ways were deficient or evil and had to be set aside if they hoped to be $hristians.@ iii. i!. d. Post,+olonial African Theology 5. Prominent )igures a. 6ohn Mi%it 0African Religion and Philoso"hy, The Concept of God in Africa1 %. K7ame (edia*o 8. Sources for African Theology
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D. E. F. <ugambi, African Christian Theology: An Introduction .Eairobi* 3ast African 3ducational 1ublishers, (+G+/ +. , Ibid. @ >. D. "chreiter. .ed./ Faces of Jesus in Africa, p. viii

a. African Traditional Religions 0Africa9s Religious "ast, "re +hristian and "re Islam1 %. +ulture 0early e'isting e'"eriences1 i. Songs ii. :arrati!es c. (i%le ;. Methodologies<Methods of Theology In the Patristic and medie!al theologies, the starting point was God6 hence, theology was =a word from God, a story about God, a testimony concerning God, a prayer to God?G Theology was from =a%o!e9. 9owever, with dawn of &nlightenment whereby reason became the governing epistemological principle of perceiving reality, theology came to be regarded as from =%elo79. .human beings the starting point of theology/ The +onte'tuality<2ocality of Theology: Together with method they constitute the preliminaries of the modus operandi of theology. As it was noted earlier, while method has to do with keeping the coherence of theology, conte'tuali=ation works towards making theology relevant. In the conte t of theori2ing the word =conte'tuali=ation9 denotes =taking a critical look at the local conte t .with its historical, socioeconomic, political, cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious dimensions/ as well as the impact of outside forces .such as the imposition of global market and a homogeni2ed culture/ on the people?.+ a. The $ontinuity-4iscontinuity 4ebate i. +ontinuity* &$ontinuity has to do with an understanding that there is a common ground between =historic? religions such as $hristianity and Islam, and primal or traditional religions of native people in different parts of the southern hemisphere.' ii. $iscontinuity* &According to the asseveration of this view?s supporters, with one?s being converted into $hristianity there comes a distinct break with her or his traditional, in this case, African, religio-cultural heritage.(A' iii. (oth +ontinuity and $iscontinuity: &There is a middle position, as it were, which recogni2es the presence of both continuity and
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Geoffrey #ainwright, =<ethod in Theology?, in Alister 3. <cGrath .ed./, The Blac well !ncyclo"edia of Modern Christian Thought .5 ford, HF.* 8lackwell 1ublishers, (++0/ 0,+. + Iirginia :abella, =$onte tuali2ation?, in Iirginia :abella and >. ". "ugirthara!ah .eds./, Dictionary of Third #orld Theologies .<aryknoll, EJ.* 5rbis 8ooks, )AAA/ -G. (A Taken from the =Abstract? in <atthew 3ngelko, =4iscontinuity and the 4iscourse of $onversion?, Journal of Religion in Africa 07 .)AA7/ G). The issue of separation and continuity was the headache of the foreign evangelical missionaries in the southern part of 3thiopia, when mass conversions into evangelical $hristianity began to occur. :or a detailed understanding of the situation see 8rian ;. :argher, The $rigins of the %ew Churches Move&ent in 'outhern !thio"ia, ()*+,()--, "tudies of >eligion in Africa, "upplements to the Dournal of >eligion in Africa KII .;eiden* 3. D. 8rill, (++,/ ()@-)A(.

discontinuity in the dialectics of African traditional religions and $hristianity.' i!. b. Fato c. (edia*o and /thers d. African Inde"endent +hurches >. Issues a. Ada"tation , Inculturation %. Social ?uestions c. &"truggle with making a $hristian dogma meaningful.'(( d. Plurality e. 4. +riti@ue on African Theology a. It lost its +hristian Identity A. Recommendation 9ow biblically grounded, theologically vibrant, intellectually engaged, and conte tually sensitive theological proposals that would address the modern theological needs and issues of 3thiopian evangelical $hristian community be formulated. &'"lore: the theological felt need Prioriti=e: Research: Scri"ture study #rite theological "ro"osal 3. l

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5duyoye, 9earing and Fnowing, +.