E-Seminar : African Theology
(E-Seminar in French)
What Church for an Authentically African Christianity?
Unity in Diversity. A Reinterpretation of Bénézet Bujo
Abstract
During the Eucharistic celebration marking the conclusion of the symposium of African bishops held on Thursday, July 31, 1969, in Kampala, His Holiness Pope Paul VI expressed two sentiments: on one hand, he affirmed his closeness and communion of shared faith and charity with the Christian Churches of Africa and Madagascar, which form a single family within the mystical body of Christ, His Church. "We are one body and one Spirit, called to one hope. (...) One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all..." (Eph 4:4-6). On the other hand, Pope Paul VI expressed his respect and admiration for the African land and its cultures with these words: "We are full of admiration and devotion for your Martyrs, whom we have come to honor and invoke. We have no other desire than to promote who you are: Christians and Africans. We want our presence among you to be a sign that we recognize your maturity and wish to show you how the communion that unites us does not stifle, but rather nourishes the originality of your individual, ecclesial, and even civil personality. We ask the Lord for the grace to be useful to your progress, by awakening good seeds and stimulating the human and Christian energies that are part of the genius of your vocation to spiritual and temporal fullness. It is not our interests but yours that are the object of our apostolic ministry. (...) You, Africans, are now your own missionaries. The Church of Christ is truly rooted in this blessed land (cf. Decr. Ad gentes, 6)."
By the expression "Be your own missionaries," Paul VI invited Africans to continue building the Church on the African continent. This pastoral work raises two major challenges: the formation of Christians and the adaptation of the Gospel and the Church to African culture. This marks the starting point of African theology.
In this seminar, we will analyze the concept of the Church as Family in Africa according to Bénézet Bujo, emeritus professor at the Catholic University of Congo and the University of Fribourg, where he primarily taught courses in social ethics and African theology. Bénézet Bujo is one of the leading proponents of African theology. He builds his theology on the image of the Church understood as a family in its triple dimension of communion of the living, the dead, and the not-yet-born. Family members generate and give birth to one another. For Bénézet Bujo, according to the African conception of the family, the Church, in its current structure and its proclamation of the Holy Scriptures, cannot fully embody this vision of mutual generation and birth. After extensive discussions with Bénézet Bujo, I propose to construct this seminar on African theology around the theme: "What Church for an Authentically African Christianity? Unity in Diversity."
STEPS
Step 1: African Christianity and the African Church.
Step 2: Ecclesiological and hierarchical development of Christianity in the African context.
Step 3: What theology for particular African Churches? Concrete consequences of African Christianity for baptismal and priestly life.
Step 4: Basic Ecclesial Communities.