Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo,*
By Africanization I mean: the unveiling of Jesus Christ the Lord and foundation of all cultures veiled in the depth and roots of the African Culture, through dialogue with the the Good News (the Gospel), Church Teaching and Church Tradition. This is so that the African people may stop living in tension between their culture and Christianity. Right now, Africans are apparently living in two worlds, one leg in their culture and another in Christianity!
Christ, The Word, is the foundation of all human cultures because «All things [including culture which is an essential dimension of our social life] came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.» (Jn.1 :3). And for this reason, if we look carefully in the foundations, roots and the basic pillars of African Culture, we shall find Christ veiled in there! So it is our task to unveil him, like I have said, through dialogue with the Gospel, Church Teaching and Church Tradition.
But as Jesus challenged some of the concepts, customs and traditions of his culture and time, the Gospel helps us unveil the Christ hidden in the foundations of African culture which we can also safely call African Religion. If need be, it will challenge some of its ideas and customs. The Gospel will do this in order to enrich our culture by adjusting its lenses to have a better vision for the truth.
African Cosmology or World View
Africans have a world view and interpretation of reality, in many ways different from the Asiatic or Western understanding of the world and conception of reality, but which in my opinion is very close the biblical or Hebrew mentality, especially, the Old Testament. The African world view like that of the Bible, is very anthropocentric. Almost everything rotates around the human being.
Pillars or Foundations of the African World View
The following are the basic pillars of African Culture and perception of reality:
a) God or Supreme Being or Creator
b) Spirits [like those believed to be in the sky or air, water or sea, forests and rocks ], ancestral spirits or spirits of departed relatives and the ancestral world
c) The human being and the centrality of the child in human life
d) Living things, like: animals, insects and plants
e) Non-living things, like: rocks, stones and mountains
f) Witchcraft, the dark force of destruction and the ultimate cause of sickness and death
All these pillars of African culture are dynamic forces which interact with each other.
In our Africanization efforts, there are already some gains made which deserve mention: The Liturgy in many places in Africa is celebrated in local languages, the Bible has been translated in many of the main African languages, African song and dance have been introduced into the liturgy.
In spite of these positive developments, the African still finds himself living a kind of double life, one leg in his culture and another in Christianity. So, there is still a lot to be done to resolve this tension. I believe it is now time to go beyond liturgy in local languages, song and dance which right now dominate Africanization to the African conception of the human being and the basic cultural forces that influence the African in their daily life outside the Church!
Some of the basic things or problems the African faces outside the Church after Sunday Service are: sickness, misfortune or bad luck, family problems like failure to have a child in a marital union, impotence, poverty, death of relatives and friends etc. The way the African understands and interprets these realities is different from the Asiatic or Western conception of them. So, anybody engaged in Africanization, in order to find some solutions to the difficulties an African faces in his life has to turn his attention to the African conception of a person and the basic cultural forces that influence him.
Anybody who reads the Bible and is familiar with the African culture easily notices that there are many similar things between biblical stories and texts and the African Culture. These similarities could serve as bridges that can help us unveil Christ concealed in the African culture. The following Biblical text are a good example:
«…our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places [or in the air].» (Eph.6:12) The African in his conception of reality knows that there so many spiritual forces in the air and some them are evil spirits which are manipulated, captured and used in witchcraft. Again for the African everything even non-living things like rocks in the cosmos are active forces or powers.
«Then Saul said to his servants, ‘Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go and inquire of her.’… ‘There is a medium at Endor.’ So Saul disguised himself…and went there, he and two men with him. They came to the woman by night and he said, ‘Consult a spirit for me, and bring up the one whom I name to you.’…» (1Sam.28:3ff) Africans most of the time consult the ancestral spirits when there is a big problem. So all this fit in very well with the African conception of reality!
«Then woman said, ‘whom shall I bring up for you?’ He answered bring up Samuel for me.’…The woman said to Saul, ‘I see a divine being coming up out of the ground.’… ‘An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe.’ So Saul knew it was Samuel…Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?’…» (1Sam.28:11ff) Here we have an ancestral spirit namely, Samuel. And it is called up from the ground where Africans believe the ancestral world to be, where the dead go although they have the power to come up! And interestingly, the spirit of Samuel is visible! In Western thinking, the spirit is invisible. But it is common in Africa to hear people say that they have seen the spirits of the dead, sometimes, sitting on their graves!
Our Lord Jesus himself when he died, before his resurrection descended into this ancestral world! «Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last….the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered into the holy city and appeared to many. » (Mt.27:50-53) According to African anthropology, these bodies that entered the city and moved about appearing to many cannot cause any intellectual problems! For in African mentality, apart from the ordinary physical body a person possesses another body! And, especially, when he is about to die, he can be seen in two different places at the same time. An elderly person I interviewed in Cameroon made me aware of this African concept of the human body.
The Child (Symbol of Christ): The Greatest Meeting Point Between African Culture / Religion and Christianity
The child is so important in the African context that it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the centre of the African culture. In an African context, someone who has all the riches of this world but has no child is considered as nothing and his ideas cannot be taken seriously! And he cannot be given an honourable burial! Everything in African life rotates and revolves around the child! This is why religious life and celibacy do not make much sense to many Africans.
A marriage without a child is a real curse! And it is very difficult to tolerate! So every possible solution has to be tried so that such a couple gets a child. This child is the life, salvation and resurrection of its parents and their ticket to the ancestral world. One who dies without a child cannot be welcomed into the ancestral world! He or she becomes an evil spirit that has no merits to join the ancestors!
This child, so important in African life, is the Christ veiled and hidden in the depth and roots of the African Culture! So from this child dialogue with Christianity should begin. This child is the greatest meeting point between the two.
In Christianity the Saviour and salvation come to us through the child! «Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.» (Mt.1:23) And this child Emmanuel, Jesus Christ is our resurrection and life. For he said, «I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live. » (Jn.11:25) The Lord himself loved children so much and once he said, «Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.» (Mk.10:14)
Resurrection in the African Context
Resurrection in the African mentality is through procreation or begetting children and not the Christian resurrection of the individual person at the end of time. This is why in Africa the more children and grand children one can have the better. And this is the way the Jews also generally understood resurrection. «The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is not resurrection; and they asked him a question saying , ‘Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother…» (Mt.22:25-27).
So, one of the greatest tasks of Africanization should be to help the African move from the concept of resurrection as procreation, to the Christian resurrection of each individual at the end of time. It is also important to move them from the concept of ancestral world as the place where the dead go to the Christian concepts of heaven, purgatory and hell.
Witchcraft
The African world view cannot be complete without mentioning witchcraft. Meaning: the manipulation of evil spirits and forces of darkness and make them do what natural human powers cannot, including evil things that leave everybody totally shocked and terrified beyond belief. These may include human sacrifice in which innocent children are the majority of the victims. And this is one of the areas in which evangelizing is needed in an African context! For the majority of Africans, the ultimate cause of sickness and death is witchcraft! Even if it is clear that someone has died of malaria, it is understood that beyond that malaria there is someone who has bewitched them!
Witchcraft is such a big thing in Africa that rich and poor, men and women, educated and uneducated, politicians and peasants, young and old all consult witchdoctors. Even famous football teams on the continent have special witchdoctors whom they consult if they want to win big matches! Witchcraft is now big money and the number of witchdoctors is on the rise. Even presidents and bishops are not spared as is the case with President Yoweri Museveni and the bishops in Uganda! It is today one of their biggest worry!
So, when people are in difficulties it is very difficult to know whether it is God whom they consult more or witchdoctors! Witchcraft is really a big pastoral problem on the continent.
Suggestions
Africanization has the task of digging up and bringing out all that is good, beautiful and true in African culture / religion and integrate it in its programme of evangelizing God’s people in Africa. For what is good, beautiful and true can never be in opposition with the Gospel.
Africanization should also help Africans abandon all that is opposed to the Good News in their culture, beliefs like: that someone who dies childless becomes an evil spirit and a curse to the family and so, nobody can be named after them.
Practical solution should be found to such important questions like: How do we integrate ancestors / departed relatives, who are so important to the African people in their day to day Christian life? How do we integrate the circumcision rite, the passage from childhood to manhood and womanhood into people’s Christian life? How do we prevent Christians from getting involved in witchcraft activities and so entrust their cares to the Lord?
All religious leaders and theologians in Africa should read Tim Whenwell’s article: «Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda» and watch the video that accompanies it. To find them, go to google: BBC News-Newsnight-Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda.
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
