Historical and Social Dimensions in African Christian Theology

African Christian theology has been developing for the last four decades. The trend has been to focus on traditional African religions as a foundation for Christian theology. While acknowledging the importance of African traditional religions to Christian theology in Africa, this study argues that African history progressively changes, and it is these changed and changing circumstances that theology is to address. This work analyzes issues affecting Africa today and shows the social and political role that Christianity has to play in an African context. This study views enculturation as a dialogue among African Christians, their history and culture, and Christian teachings. Theological approaches such as anthropological, liberation, and historical are analyzed from the perspective of Small Christian Communities (SCCs), which are a recent development in African Christianity. SCCs are presented as a concrete hermeneutical tool in theological analyses. Further, this work acknowledges the indispensable need for an authentic African Christology in an African Christian theology. While critical of contemporary African Christology, the study also suggests issues to be considered in the development of African Christology.

Additional ISBNs: 1606081241, 1498252117, 9781606081242, 9781498252119

Historical and Social Dimensions in African Christian Theology: A Contemporary Approach is written by Wilson Muoha Maina and published by Wipf & Stock Publishers. The Digital and eTextbook ISBNs for Historical and Social Dimensions in African Christian Theology are 9781498275538, 1498275532 and the print ISBNs are 9781606081242, 1606081241