African Theology

[its_brad]

Which aspect of African theology differs most from your own, and which one has most enlightened you? Why?

[CAMTX]

The thing that is most different deals with differences in eschatology as a consequence of John Mbiti's seminal work on the African concepts of time. Though Dr. Tienou said that there is much scholarly dissent regarding Mbiti's views, it does mean that some people agree with Mbiti's ideas that time goes backward, that there is no real concept of future, and that eternity exists, but in the past. It would be REALLY HARD to explain the Lord's second coming to folks who held that view of time!

I was most enlightened by the African concepts of the role of God as Creator Who created and then rested and left all other affairs to the lesser divinities. The thing that strikes me about this concept is how people could arrive at a theory like this. I'm not being pejorative at all, it's just that I certainly would have never come up with this explanation of God's role; it speaks positively of the creativity of Africans in their theological conceptualizing. I can see in this instance how Scriptural interpretation can be brought into play to help provide boundaries to the theory.

[Saahhali]

This is particularly an interesting question for me because I was born in Liberia, West Africa, where I gained knowledge about Christ. I say this because my elementary years of the construct of my Christian theology were in West Africa. The one aspect that presented great clarity for me is the structure of the deities for most Traditional African Religions. There is a belief in a supreme God who is at the top, and then under the Supreme God are the lesser deities, followed by the ancestors. This hierarchical structure gave me understanding as to why respect for the Elders were emphasized greatly.

The aspect that enlightened me, which has currently led to me serving in an all Korean Church (Emmaus Mission Church), is the praying ways of Africans. The Africans focus on communal prayers, which I do not believe is the focus of most churches in the United States. I was especially attracted to the Korean Church because they developed an early Morning Prayer devotion service weekly.