CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE CHALLENGE OF INCULTURATION

摘要

Christianity was planted in Africa during the period of colonization. The Christian message which the missionaries brought to Africa was thoroughly western in form, teaching and values and quite unrelated to the cultural ethos of the people. Because of fear of syncretism no real attempt has been made to incarnate the Christian message in the African cultures. Although many Africans profess the Christian faith, they quickly revert to their traditional faith and world-view in times of crisis, such as misfortune, illness and death. This happens because the Gospel has not penetrated deeply enough to transform their worldview. A Christian message which 1s abstract and divorced from the concreteness of everyday life loses much of its force and impact on the people. This paper questions the ability of the African to be authentically African and at the same time authentically Christian. It discusses, especially, the tasks which different arms of the Church must undertake in order to inculturate the gospel validly in Africa. The challenges which face the missionary today 1s how to preserve the “pure faith” and at the same time root the Gospel in the culture of the people. The task African theologian is equally confronted by a similar task of more profound weight, that of presenting the Christian message in the language and mode which the people will understand. After discussing the problems involved, this work, therefore, proposes that African Christians need a theology which is authentically Christian,