Theology as Construction of Piety

This essay argues that an important task of theology is the construction of piety. It draws from a few critical moments in the development of Christianity, such as the development of the doctrine of God and Christology in the early church and the rejection of materialistic Christianity in early modern Europe, to argue that these moments reflect the theological struggle to shape Christian piety. The idea that theology is concerned with the shaping of piety is then used to evaluate African theology of inculturation, which has now flowered in the Pentecostalization of African Christianity. It argues that although the theology of incul-turation may be helpful in constructing a viable African theology, uncritically embracing the spiritualized cosmology of African traditional societies in salvific discourses promotes a form of piety that is ill-equipped to overcome the marginalization of the continent in the modern world.

While many African theologians have appropriated the thought of Stanley Hauerwas in their work, this article focuses on two theologians whose work demonstrates the influence of post-Enlightenment or postliberal ethics in general and Hauerwasian influence in particular. The article argues that elements of Hauerwasian Christian ethics, such as its insistence on virtue or character development in the context of a community (the church) and the embodied nature of Christian ethics made manifest through witness, provide a significant reminder to what African Christian ethics should be about. It also argues, however, that Hauerwasian ethics, if not critically engaged, has the potential to replicate some of the unsalutary moves that Western missionary Christianity made, and some contemporary forms of African Christianity still make, against African thought, such as the attempt to erase African cultural memory. In order to overcome this tendency to divorce African Christians from their cultural contexts, the complex nature of their moral formation, that is, their being morally formed by both the village and the church, needs to be taken seriously.

Conspectus Special Issue, 2018

It is argued in this paper that the Holy Spirit is an agent of an inaugurated eschatology, the tight tension of the kingdom today and the kingdom to come. The Holy Spirit comes offering much more than the charismata, he comes as the eschatological Spirit bringing gifts of change and renewal for an eschatological reality (of which the charismata are a part). Such a reality finds its home primarily in the eschatological community, the church. Pentecostalisation has enjoyed considerable influence in Africa, a continent that is traditionally enchanted. Consequently, Africa is giving way to the emergence of an enchanted Christian society where traditional worldviews and a new form of Christianity synthesise. The effects are significant, sometimes laudable and encouraging, but at times troubling, especially when we consider pentecostalism’s elevation of capitalism, the growing theology of prosperity, and syncretism with African Traditional Religion (ATR). This article explores a theology of the coming Spirit of the resurrected Christ as an agent of inaugurated eschatology whose function is to shape and sanctify the ethos of such a Christian society. The renewal of the Spirit’s work in this re-envisioned enchanted community is to work in and through his people in the spirit of koinonia and social transformation, freeing Africans from misplaced desires and religious demands, bringing peace, working with them in nurturing the disenfranchised, and caring for his creation. It is argued that through the coming of the Holy Spirit, the enchanting of Africa will flourish.

Tinyiko Sam Maluleke is a prolific South African theologian whose work mounts a thoroughgoing critique 6 of the status of Christianity in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. Situating his work within its archival 7 context, this article argues that the work of Maluleke emphasizes the vocation of the theologian as critic. 8 The essay looks at some key themes in his work and suggests that Maluleke’s critique of African 9 Christianity is soteriological in nature, that is, he questions the role the Christian faith may play in the sal- 10 vation of (South) Africa.

The book gives a comprehensive and systematic presentation of Catholic social ethics on human rights, ecology, globalisation, international co-operation and aid, human and cultural development, business ethics, social justice, and the challenges of poverty eradication, and the need for solidarity to the poor, minorities, and those on the margins of life. The book shows how the social questions of the day impact the African continent. It further engages the principles and practice of Christian charity, aid and development and their implications for the challenging African social context. This work is a refreshing attempt at a transformative Christian theological praxis, and takes Catholic social ethics from the confines of rectories, chanceries, lecture halls and conferences to the living life situation of millions of Africans in their challenging social context. It proposes an integral theology of development, and creatively lays the groundwork for Christian humanitarian and social ministry in Africa. This work is a ground breaking attempt at vulnerable missional praxis through a social analysis informed by the Gospel, and a Gospel analysis which is capable of radically altering the ways and means Catholic and Christian charities carry out their humanitarian work, aid and development initiatives in developing countries of Africa, and among the poor in our world. This is a Christian manifesto for a better world.

This is paper was taken from a chapter in my Honours dissertation. It deals with how other strands of African Theology have sought to critique Inculturation Theology, with African Women's and Liberation theologies being more dominant in their critique. It also allows space for Inculturation theology to respond to such critiques. The aim of this work is to unveil such critiques so as to allow space for Inculturation theology to grow in the ever changing culture of contemporary Africans.

This paper describes inculturation biblical reading in a narrow way to include mainly that reading of the Bible that takes for granted what is believed to be a peculiarly African spiritualistic cosmology. A central element of this method includes pitting a supposedly African spiritualized cosmology against a supposedly Western rationalistic and disenchanted cosmology. Proponents of this method claim that a relevant biblical interpretation in the African context should enable Africans to deal with issues arising from their belief in an enchanted world. This essay problematizes the focus on this enchanted cosmology and argues that the African condition can be effectively addressed through interpreting the Bible in ways that encourage the development of the scientific imagination, which could lead to the development of science and technology and an improved standard of living for the people. Keywords Bible – inculturation hermeneutics – scientific imagination – Pentecostalization – well-being – spiritualized/enchanted cosmology

Verbum et Ecclesia supplementum, 2017

An overview of the history of the Department Science of Religion and Missiology at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Pretoria