African Theology as a Theology of Liberation

7/27/2019 African Theology as a Theology of Liberation

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ZABLON NTHAMBURl

AFRICAN THEOLOGY AS A THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION

In this paper it is my intention to explicate how African Theologyis a theology of liberation and how it takes its point of departure fromthe existential situation of the African peoples. To do this, I shall endeavour to show what African Theology is, its origin, its point of departure and its criteria of adequacy. I shall also discuss relationship orkinship between African Theology and other theologies of liberation,especially Black theology in the United States and Southern Africa.

What is African Theology?

African Theology is born out of the African experience, Africanvision of the world and metaphysics, and takes seriously the cultures ofthe peoples of Africa. The ultimate purpose of this theology is to makeGospel and Christianity incarnate in the life and thought of Africa,hence African Theology is christian theology, moulded and expressedthrough African thought-forms and milieu. This is the recognitionthat theology must articulate and reflect on the concrete situations in

which religious experience is perpetuated. It is the recognition of thepeople.

The situation in Africa today is that of confusion. The majority ofAfrican peoples have entered a period of independent nationhood onlysince 1960. They are, therefore, struggling to make sense of this newera. In most of these countries, christians have been in the fore-frontin the fighting for independence, at times, through violent struggle. It isclear, then, that their chief concerns are liberation and emancipation.Against foreign domination, Africans are searching for personality andauthenticity. They want to determine their own destiny. Most of thecountries in Africa are poor. Many people live under inhuman conditions. Because of this, ethnicism, nepotism, corruption, racism, exploitation are among the many evils that beset the society. What is the relevance of theology in such situations? It is against this background thatAfrican Theology has emerged as a theology of liberation making anattempt to address itself to this concrete and existential situation.

Rev. Zablon Nthamburi is a Methodist Minister from Kenya. His present address :


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With other third world liberation theologies, particularly LatinAmerica liberation theology, African theology uses the exploited condition of the third world as a point of departure, and seriously entersthe search for 'Logos' in the myths that surround the world of the

poor, the oppressed, the underprivileged in their historical situation. Insuch a context, theology ceases to be a theory or a set of rules. Itbecomes a source of liberating power that addresses itself to the oppressed in their state of despair. Theology in this sense is a critical reflectionon the conditions that have been imposed upon the oppressed by theoppressor: in our case, the western imperialistic systems that exploitand maim the poor. As Gutierrezrightlyobserves, "Theology as criticalreflection fulfils a liberating function for man." The struggle of thedeveloping nations of Africa to escape the economic, political, social,cultural and technological exploitation of the great powers are seen asan attempt by the oppressed to build a new, just and humane society,a brotherhood among men.

This kind of theology takes praxis as its point of departure.Gutierrez makes this point clear when he says:-

"It is for all these reasons that the theology of liberation offers us a

new way to do theology. Theology as critical reflection on historical praxis is a liberating theology, a theology of the liberatingtransformation of the history of mankind... which openly confesses Christ.... It is a theology which is open in the struggleagainst the plunder of the vast majority of people, in liberatinglove, and in the building of a new, just, and fraternal society tothe gift of the Kingdom of God" (2).

African Theology, furthermore, seeks liberation from the domination and imperialism of western .theology. For a long time westerntheology has been imposed on the Africans whose situation-in-life is sodifferent from that of the western person. Although African theology,like western theology, is based on the biblical faith, the former speaksto the African soul in the way that the latter cannot. African Theologyis expressed in categories of thought which arise out of the philosophyof African peoples. Not only is there a sociological difference betweenthe two, there also exists cultural and philosophical differences as well.

By ignoring the African existential reality and impudently claiminguniversalisai, western theology, as presently applied in Africa, becomes


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"The Greek-Roman thought-forms and modes of expression ofwestern theology are the "swaddling clothes" that we need to tearopen in order to get to Christ. We are smothered to death bywestern theologies which to us are human fabrications, changing

fashon daily.... So if we find that we cannot use the tools ofwestern theology, we have consciously to seek others" (3).

What African theology attempts to do is not to reject thetheological heritage which has accumulated in western Christianity, butseeks for freedom to search for new meanings which are relevant to ournew concerns. African theology must be freed from the inhibitionshanded down from past generations. For "the African theologian who

has experienced the agonies of havinga

burning appetite but nothing toeat will surely theologize differently on the theme of food from theAmerican theologian who knows the discomforts of having a plate fulof steak but no appetite" (4). We would not be far from the truth toclaim that the development of theological reflection in the west hadsomething to do with the colonial expansion of the west. Since valuesand concepts are assumed or re-interpreted to ft in with the ideologyof the powerful class, this gives them an added power of dominationThis is certainly, a fair assessment of the Southern Africa situation

where the Dutch Reformed Church theologically justifies and condonesapartheid as legitimate and as God-ordained.

In short, we can claim that Theology cannot be faithful to the Wordof God in Jesus Christ unless it participates in the existential context ofthe community in which it is born, seeking its norm in the acts of Godin history. Speaking on this context Jose Miguez Bonino asserts that:-

"In the Western tradition to which I belong, theology begetstheology, theology engenders theology. It is a process aimed atdetermining, explicating and possibly vindicating the correctdoctrine, on the basis ofa study of the scriptures and the Traditionand sometimes with the use of philosophical categories. We gothrough this process in order to derive from it correct christianaction in all realms of the life of the christian community. Now ifwe see theology in this way, and if we follow this procedure, a factthat should make us pause is that in the Scriptures we find very few

instances, if any, ofsuch a process of theologizing.... If I may put itin a simplistic way, the Bible is the collection ofsuch visitations of


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What is here stated precisely is that theology must be contextua-lized in order to have meaning. This contextualization takes the concrete locaTsituation seriously. In this sense, then, African Theology isrooted in a concrete, particular situation. It does this because it rea

lises that, "Theology is the community's continued attempt to definein every generation its reason for being in the world" (6).

Rosemary Ruether discovers the impotence of Western Christianityas imported to other countries when she notes that the integration ofChristianity with imperial ideology and society made non-Europeanpeoples identify Christianity with Greco-Roman and European imperialism (7). For her, this is the basic apostacy ofthis type of Christianitywhich she calls "Constantinianism" and which she interprets as the"suppression of the messianic symbols of the Gospel to baptize theempire. Because of this, the "third world" countries accurately perceived the true character of this Christianity as a wolf in sheep's

clothing and as the ideology of European colonialism" (8). (Italicsmine). African theology must protest against the prevalent ideologi-zation of faith by the western theology. By obstinately persisting inreflecting on the African cultures and histories from the vantage pointof their own history and culture (or from western Christendom) they

lose its intrinsic meaning. This is explicitly stated by professor JohnMbiti when he describes African Christianity as "developed in thecontext ofa false cultural inferiority" (9).

The liberating of theology in the African context presupposes theliberation of the Gospel from cultural and historical impotence whichin effect means the liberation pf the church from its captivity. Africantheology maintains that theology can have no real impact on the livesof people unless, in faithfulness to God, through Jesus Christ, it isliberated from all that has manipulated and dominated it through theages. Gustavo Gutierrez says that the church's activity should be"addressed effectively and primarily to those who are oppressed in thenations and not as is presently the case to the beneficiaries of asystem designed for their own benefit. Or still better, the oppressedthemselves should be the agents of their own pastoral activity. Themarginated and the dispossessed still do not have their own voice in thechurch ofhim who came to the world especially for them" (10).

R l i hi i h h Bl k Th l i U S A


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clear that there is Black theology in Southern Africa which has beendeveloped through the influence of Black theology in U.S.A. Blacktheology has entered southern Africa through the influence of JamesCone. The Southern Africa situation is different from that of the rest

of the continent. A black South African under the rule of force, policebrutality, apartheid and a hundred and one unjust laws, feels that hishumanity is thus denied. He has no future hence he tries to findmeaning in his existence. He compares his situation to that of a blackAmerican under the state of powerlessness and poverty. In such a situation black theology as explicated by James Cone makes a lot of sense,because far from being mere intellectualism or sophistry, it is a theology that is bom out of human experience, and is rooted in a concrete situation,

Let me try to draw attention to James Cone's important conceptsto which African Theology would easily subsrcibe. Cone lays greatemphasis on Exodus and identifies black people with Israel, and assuch, God's chosen people. In connection with Israel's liberation fromEgypt he writes, "Yahweh is the God of the oppressed and downtrodden and his revelation is made known only through the liberation of theoppressed" (11). He goes on to say, "To know God is to know his

activity of liberation, an emancipation from the political, economic andsocial structures of the society.... His revelation is only for the oppressed of the land" (12). Cone identifies the blacks with the oppressed ofthe land. In so far as God liberates them and no other, God must beblack. This leads to his contention that God is against white. Thus hewrites, "Black Theology cannot accept a view of God which does notrepresent him as being for blacks and thus against the rich, for the weakand against the strong (16).

According to Cone sin is attributed to the white community only.To the black community, sin means the desire to be white or behave aswhite. It is the refusal to be what they are. "To be in sin is to becontented with white solutions for the 'black problem' and not rebelling against every infringement of white being on black being" (17).God's love for white people means wrath, which in effect means thedestruction of their whiteness in order to create blackness (18). SinceJesus was on the side of the oppressed over-against the oppressor, for

the weak against the strong, "He must be where men are enslaved. Tospeak of him is to speak of the liberation of the oppressed" (19).


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whites who had attempted to write on Black Power; "Who do theythink they are, pontificating about their brutality against us as if theyhave a relevant word about black community?" (20).

In giving my critique to Black theology as explicated by Cone, I am

aware that not all black theologians would subscribe to his views.DeOtis Roberts, Major James and Joseph Washington are quitemoderate in their exposition of Black theology. But since black theology, as presently known in Africa has come mainly through Cone as itsmajor exponent, I would wish to concentrate on his views in thisregard.

African Theology has the same point of departure with Black Theology in that, both are born out of similar concrete situations. In boththe situation is that of suffering, of being dispossessed and essentiallydenied the very livelihood that human beings strive for.

They are both theologies that are born out of frustration and bothtry to make christian truths comprehensible to the oppressed.

As Dr. Gabriel Setiloane puts it:-

The difference between American Black Theology enthusiasts andthe Africans is that the Americans do their theologising in the dustand heat of political warfare, hence their militancy and impatience;whereas we can claim to work in an atmosphere of physical freedom and comparative calm. We feel the encroachment of the westor white man more in the cultural, theoretical-philosophical orideological area of life than in the socio-political. Therefore, theAfricans appear to come at it in a more relaxed way.

It is the contention of African Theology that it sheds lights onGod's truth, and is, therefore, a universal truth which would be applicable to all people who are willing to share the African experience.Unlike Cone, African Theology is not meant exclusively, for the Africanpeoples. Its uniqueness only lies in the fact that it is born out of a concrete situation of the black man in Africa, taking into account Africanphilosophy and culture.

African Theology tries to discover the selfhood of the African person as he participates in the task of reconciling the World of God. My

i i i f A i i i


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Although this is a good starting point for a theology of liberation,suffering is not the whole of black experience. African Theology doesnot romanticise the African peoples today. It appeals to the Africanpeople to overcome their servant mentality. It recognizes that the mostpotent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppres

sed. The African is enslaved by his own thinking and mental attitudesmore than any outside power.

African theology recognizes that in seeking liberation from oppression and degradation, it must also show a concern for the oppressor.The oppressor also needs to be liberated from his role of being anoppressor to a life of reconciliation in love. Just as Cone rejects 'whiteGod', 'white Church', 'White Jesus', Africans for the same reason rejecta colonial mentality which is coupled with economic and political

structures that are designed and intended to impoverish developingnations and create conditions of conflict and unrest. This is the reasonwhy many Africans see western Christianity as a collaborator withcolonial and neo-colonial power structures that have enslaved them intheir own world.

African Theology is in this respect, akin to liberation theology ofLatin America in that it takes the class struggle seriously. It is not only

racism we need to be liberated from: our focus of attention, in point offact, should be liberation from classism, elitism, dualism between havesand have-nots, master/servant, powerful and powerless. The emergenceof such new terminology as "Ujamaa" (pragmatic socialism), "Hara-mbee" (team work), and "Ngritude" indicate that the yearning of thepeople is to go back to the kind of socialism that characterized unity indiversity. The emphasis here is on communal development which takesinto account the extension of family life.

African communities are closely knit together by a web of relationships and other social structures. This type of structure emphasizescorporateness as against individualism. The community makes and produces the individual. The individual has no existence of his own apartfrom the community's . The individual, therefore, can only say, "I ambecause we are; and since we are, therefore lam." It is necessary tounderstand this African doctrine of man before we talk about sin. Sinin the African Theology, is losing sight of this corporate nature of life.

It is the temptation to assert one's individualism to the detriment of thecommunity. It is self-centredness over against other-centredness. It ish li li i li i d l d d


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with God and with other men, and, therefore, an interior, personalfracture" (23). Sin crdites hostility, suspicion and alienation. Sin isevident in oppressive structures, in the exploitation of man by man, inthe domination and slavery of peoples, races and social classes. It isevident, therefore, that sin is not a peculiarity or domain of one type

of people. It affects all mankind, black, white or yellow oppressor andoppressed alike. It is, nevertheless,, easily identifiable with the dominant people, the oppressors, the masters and exploiters, While recognising that all people are sinners, African theology characterises the rootcause of sin as the usurpation of power, the desire to dominate others.This is the same as the desire to be like God, to judge and rule over theworld like God. (To be continued in next issue)

FOOTNOTES

(I) Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, (Maryknoll, New York, 1973)

p.12.

(2)Ibid. ,p. l3.

(3) Quoted by David J. Bosch in Currents and Crosscurrents in South African

Black Theology, (Journal of Religion in Africa, vol vi fase, i) p.9.

(4) John Mbt, "Theological Impotence", Mission Trends No. 3: Third World

Theologies, ed. Anderson & Stransky (New York, Ramsey, Toronto: Paulist Press,

1976) p.15.

(5) Jose Miguez Bonino, The Struggle of the Poor and the Church, in "The Ecumenical Review** (Geneva; W.C.C, Jan. 1975 Vol. xvii No. 1, p.38),

(6) James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation, Philadelphia & New York: J.

Lippincott Company, 1970) p.30-31. Asman contents that, "True critical reflec

tion does not exist without reference to a given situation or praxis'* hence a

theology which does not take praxis seriously is theology in the sense of reflection

from within, " i t is theology of preambles of faith, theology of the Thought-out*

faith." (RISKVol. 9, No. 2,1973, p.26).

(7) Rosemary Ruether, Liberation Theology, (New York, Paramus, Toronto, Paulist

Press, 1972), p. 176.

(8) Ibid., p. 10.

(9) The Gospeland Frontier Peoples, Ed. R. Pierce Beaver, (S. Pasadena,Calif. Wm.

Carey Library, 1973), p. 81.

(10) Gutierrez,0p.

cit. p. 271.

(II) James Cone. Black Tbeolony on Revolution, Violence andReconciliation^(Dialog, 12, Spring 1973), p. 130. (12) Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation, 91.(13) Ibid, p. 131, (14) Ibid,p. 136.(15) Ibid,p. 132. (16) lbid,p.214 (17),p 196(18) Ibid, p.138 (19) Ibid, p. 215. (20) Ibid, p. 195.(21) Gabriel Setiloane, About Black Theology, in "A New Look at Christianityin

Africa**, WSCF Books, vol.11, no. 2,1972, p. 69.


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African Theology as a Theology of Liberation