Discovering the Holy Spirit In AIrican Traditional/Religious Symbols and Institutions

Abstract

The Second Vatican Council strongly encouraged serious dialogue between Christian faith and the cultures and religions of peoples in different parts of the world in order to arrive at effective ways of expressing and presenting the message of the Gospel for greater comprehension. African theologians have taken up this proposition of the Council and are progressively engaged in the task of dialoguing with their own cultures and religions particularly as it concerns the understanding of the Christian God among their people. In the meantime, Pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit, has not received the attention of African theologians as other areas of theology like Christology (the study of Jesus Christ). This apparent imbalance in African theology should be corrected by undertaking Pneumatological enquiries from the context of African religion and culture.