Africanising Christianity and African Culture

We are interpreting what Christianity ought to be – that is, moving away from Christianised Africa to Africanising Christianity.

It means the de-Westernisation of the church in Africa.

Europeanised Christianity becomes clear when some Namibian church leaders express their religious views on African religion, including the five religious/cultural rituals and rites of passage: Birth, adulthood, marriage, eldership, and the veneration of ancestors.

Some church leaders regard African rites of passage as “pagan” and “shameful”. Namibian churches and organisations must “not support such practices and distance themselves” from such religious and cultural activities”.

Where a Namibian Christian participates in such a rite of passage he/she has “sinned” and has to undergo “confession sessions-ekuthilo.”

The time has passed when Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific sat at the feet of Europe and North America to study and do theology.

The time is at hand for an African reformation because ecclesia semper reformanda (the church is always reforming itself).

Thus, when the Bible is transmitted, interpreted and contextualised it becomes doubly part of faith itself.

BROAD APPROACH

Not only the Bible, but the world in which a Christian finds her/himself has to be decolonised and reformed.

In the words of Lamin Sanneh, such reforming or hermeneutic methodology is known as the translatability of the gospel.

The Bible has to be translated into indigenous languages so that local cultures may own the Bible and in the process Christianity is Africanised.

This is in line with the resolution of the All Africa Conference of Churches that took place in Abidjan, Nigeria.

It was resolved that African theology is based on the Biblical faith of Africans and the Gospel of Christ must be made relevant to the African context.

These theologians believe the gospel must be Africanised so that Christianity ceases to be a foreign religion in Africa.

It was not God but missionaries who were against African religion and culture. They thought, for example, that African religion and initiation rituals, anthropology, philosophy, languages, proverbs, songs, poetry, and stories are not capable as the loci of insights into matters of faith.

But when Christianity is Africanised, it is an instrument for forgiveness and release from sin, enlightenment of the mystery of life that could enrich the universal church’s understanding of the fundamental mysteries of faith.

In terms of realities on the ground, we must face questions asked by Namibian lay Christians who assert that African cultural practices and rituals are not harmful, but can be used as life skills education.

Such life skills education pertains to empowering the youth, for example, to abstain from sex until they are married.

Sadly, some Namibian churches are opposed to such life skills education or the teaching of human sexuality in class rooms or even in their own churches.

PLURALITY OF BELIEFS

Namibia has a young population with two thirds below the age of 35 years. The national teenage pregnancy rate is 19%, which means about every fifth woman aged 15 to 19 has begun childbearing.

African rituals and rites of passage may help prevent early and unintended pregnancies and empower adolescents to build life skills through comprehensive sex education.

For Africans, the time has come to start self-theologising from their own perspectives or, put another way, reforming Christianity through Africanisation.

We are living in a century of a plurality of cultures that presupposes a plurality of theologies.

However, we must not divide Christians into two groups – those who seem to represent “old, dark and immoral” African religious practices and those who represent “the light, right and moral” practices of Christianity.

As a case study, take the example of the Christian rite of confirmation. Is there any significant difference between confirmation and the African religious rite of initiation?

Both have the same meaning: The transition phase into adulthood!

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