A Prefabricated Theology
“Christianity has “a prefabricated theology, a book theology . . . what she reads in books written by European theologians. . .” and “what she is told by Europeans is accepted uncritically and given out undigested in preaching or teaching.”Similarly, the theological discourse of those times is characterized by unhealthy reactionary to Western misrepresentations of African cultures and traditions, which normally failed to engage positively the African traditions in creative theological reconstructions to the biblical or classical Christian teachings.”[1]
It has been common practice in the Christian faith to identify with western traditions and worship practices. For hundreds of years, we believed a “prefabricated theology” that rewrote the history of Christianity to tell a new story one that attempted to eradicate the traditions and culture of our faiths true African orgin. This term we read Thomas Oden’s book How Africa Shaped The Christian Mind. His book told an “Epic Story” of our Christian heritage and challenged all of us to be accountable to tell the truth. The dominance of the western influence on Christianity has shaped the culture, traditions and worship practices that currently exist within our worldview of Christianity. Because of this, Christians from western culture i.e. Americans, Europeans, etc. have a false sense of spiritual elitism in our world view and role in shaping Christianity. It is no secret that many of us grew up with an understanding that the missionaries were seen as heroes who evangilized the gospel to those who were lost and unable to find God without Christianity being brought to them particularly the people in the continent of Africa. Even though we knew that some scriptural accounts took place in Africa, our understanding of the roots of our history still rest heavily on a westernized construct of Christian theology. In his book Christian Theology and African Traditions, Matthew Michael also affirms the truths of our Christian origin “Christianity in Africa is so old that it can rightly be described as an indigenous, traditional and African religion.”[2] Like Oden, he provides a solid basis for his arguement as to why this prefabriacted theology has permeated throughout Christianity and the implications of it on our Christian Faith today. As such, Michael in his introduction wrote what I felt was an open rebuke to the church today :
The modern church has been so concerned to extol the virtue of love that it has ignored the claims of truth, and conservatives too have fallen into this trap. Our churches can proclaim a gospel which often is grounded in personal experience and is only vaguely related to theological principle. . . . Conservative Christians cannot escape from the charge that they have replaced instruction in the things of God with religious entertainment, and that the doctrinal backbone to their preaching is decidedly weak. Many have no idea that creeds and confessions are an essential aid to Christian growth, and that the quality of our spiritual life is directly dependent on our understanding of spiritual truth.[3]
The current state of affairs in the Church is daunting (but yet exciting/thriving in some regard). In reading this, I asked myself the a series of questions: What does this mean for how we learn and understand our African Origin? What are the implications for the church as a whole? What are the implications specifically as it relates to the African church? Michael asserts that “[t]he formidable task before the African church is the task to Christianize the African people. This Christianizing agenda has unfortunately taken place without adequate understanding of the African worldview. The church has merely taken interest in the external issues surrounding the African people, however, it has not adequately engaged the African worldview in terms of close dialogue.”[4] How do we engage the African worldview in close dialogue?
Michael in his thesis speaks to the human context within Christian theology and argues for the proper positioning of African traditions and Biblical Scripture. He asserts that a theology that does not speak to humanity and particularly the problems and issues of the human context displaces God and “only fit for “angelsand not human beings.”[5] He discusses what needs to take place in our understanding of how we engage in Christian theology. He writes ” first and foremost, Christian theology must seek to understand the defining issues on the pages of the Bible and the attending conflicts and tensions in the practice and description of these issues. Secondly, it must also relate these theological issues to contemporary life, hence it must never remain as a mere theological reflection on the pages of the Bible, but it must be able to transport itself to contemporary life.”[6] Within each chapter of his book he dives deeper in to discussing African tradition, practices and culture as it relates to Scripture, Angels, Demons, Revelation, God, Christ, The Holy Spirit and The Church. While the western influence is very present in African culture today, he warns that Christianinity will need to shift and engage in this close dialogue to include African traditions or it will be seen as just another religion or cult that is practiced within the continent. The people will not choose their faith over their traditions because who their are is ingrained in the fabric of their culture and heritage. He concludes by admonishing all of us towards the reshaping of Christian theology to include African tradition when he states “[t]he contention of this work is that Christian theology should encourage taking on the positive elements of the African traditions and positioning these elements in dialogue with the teaching of the scriptures. Through such dialogue between the traditions of the Bible and the African traditions it will result in a new identity for the African Christian that is biblically founded, but distinctively African.” [7]
[1] Matthew Michael, Christian theology and African traditions (Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2013), 2.
[2] Ibid.,4.
[3] Ibid.,6.
[4] Ibid.,13.
[5] Ibid.,105.
[6] Ibid.,110.
[7] Ibid.,224.
About the Author
Christal Jenkins Tanks
6 responses to “A Prefabricated Theology”
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This is a great summary and interpretation of our reading, Christal combining Oden with Michael. I am so happy to have been enlightened about our Christian heritage. Truth is very important to me and I have always been willing to change my mind when I can be convinced from the Scriptures (or in this case historical facts).
If Christians could just major in the basics, like the Apostle’s Creed, and then enjoy our differences – this would be a more peaceful world. I wonder if it would be a more just world, too?
Great question Christal – “How do we engage the African worldview in close dialogue?” I found myself asking that many times throughout my readings. I want to have more open discussions on this and learn how to close the gap between African Christianity and Western Christianity within God’s church. I see our world hungry for unity and compassionate living with one another. I would love to see the church lead the way in this.
Great post Christal!
“It is no secret that many of us grew up with an understanding that the missionaries were seen as heroes who evangilized the gospel to those who were lost and unable to find God without Christianity being brought to them particularly the people in the continent of Africa.”
OUCH!
I agree. If we do not take a closer look at the roots of Christianity in Africa, and if Africa is not included in the larger discussions the Church will have missed a greater part of the whole of the Church.
“The people will not choose their faith over their traditions because who their are is ingrained in the fabric of their culture and heritage.”
I feel like Western Christianity just can’t grasp this concept. While Michael is talking about Africa, we have seen this pretty much everywhere Westerners have landed with the intent to “bring” the gospel to people – as if the gospel was discovered by white Europeans and the way you could tell someone was saved was by how Western they appeared and behaved. My research into the Indian Boarding Schools in the U.S. and Canada almost destroyed my ability to call myself a Christian as I read about children who were beaten and emotionally abused so that they would no longer speak their own languages, wear their hair or clothing like Native Americans, or take part in even the simplest of traditional activities.
Hi Christal,
You mentioned “we need to shift and engage in this close dialogue to include African traditions or it will be seen as just another religion or cult that is practiced within the continent.”
As apart of the western Christian community, we need to stop going over to Africa as if we are the disciples who walked and sat at Jesus’ feet, and go humble and appreciate that God allowed us the great opportunity to share his Gospel. He did not charge us to go and rearrange people’s beliefs to fit our own but to share the gospel like Jesus did.
Our Prefabriated authority is why our American Christian community is separated rather than unified.
Thanks for sharing your post
Great blog, Christal,
I really appreciated your highlighting Michael’s two step process for engaging in theology. It is very similar to the process that I often use for working with a text in developing a sermon. I ask, ‘what is the problem in the text?’ Then I look first, what the text says about that problem or issue in it’s context – and then I ask what it means in our context.
A neat point of resonance for me and, I think an important way of processing the bible. theology and culture