{"id":13411,"date":"2017-06-16T07:42:34","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T14:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13411"},"modified":"2017-06-16T07:42:34","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T14:42:34","slug":"tradition-worldview-and-what-it-means-to-be-from-somewhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/tradition-worldview-and-what-it-means-to-be-from-somewhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Tradition, Worldview and what it means to be from somewhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

I read our assigned reading for this week,\u00a0Christianity and African Traditions<\/em> by Matthew Michael, with quite a bit<\/p>\n

How different would our theological stereotype map look . . . . .or would it just be Europe?<\/p><\/div>\n

of interest. \u00a0The church I currently serve is about 50% Cameroonian, and as such, I often – on a weekly, sometimes even daily basis – see and try to account for and understand the intersection of our Christian faith and African Traditions. \u00a0This is sometimes difficult, and often a challenge, but I can honestly say that I am always thankful to be entrusted with this awesome responsibility.<\/p>\n

It is a responsibility that, as I look back on my life, God has been preparing me for for a long time. \u00a0I think of my unusual – at least in terms of the typical American – seminary experience where, starting from my very first class, I was regularly told and exposed to the importance and prominence of African leaders. \u00a0That very first seminary class was called\u00a0‘A History of World Christianity’\u00a0<\/em>and was entirely focused on the history of the Christian faith outside of ‘the West’. \u00a0In that class, we heard (over and over and over \ud83d\ude42 ) that the story of Christianity is not simply the story of Christianity in the Western World.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, we learned that if we ignore or are ignorant of the beginnings of and further development of theology and Christian thought in Africa and Asia, we aren’t just missing some obscure history of our faith – we are missing fundamental elements of the Holy Spirits work in and through the world. \u00a0In short, we can’t get to where we are as 21st century Western Christians without the work, influence and leadership of African Christians over the last two centuries and especially in the early church. \u00a0These are facts, but I don’t think they match up very well with our perceptions, which probably run closer to the ‘worldview stereotype map’ above.<\/p>\n

All of the above is really, just an extended way of saying that I came into contact with Michael’s work already nodding my head in agreement, both about the importance of Africa to Christianity’s past and also to to the essential work of understanding an ‘African worldview’ and African traditions as we integrate those with Christianity.<\/p>\n

Michael says ‘The power of traditions as the origin of worldview cannot be underestimated , thus we must take seriously the challenge that the African worldview poses to biblical Christianity in Africa. (Michael, p. 11). \u00a0<\/em>Unlike many of our cohort who have extensive experience with the confluence of African worldview\/traditions\u00a0in Africa<\/em> my primary experience is their confluence\u00a0in America. \u00a0<\/em>In that experience and observation, there have been many touch points where there tends to be conflict, tension and\/or dissonance between what I perceive to be an African worldview and a more Western one.<\/p>\n