ABSTRACT

Christianity in Africa has shown phenomenal growth over the centuries and studies of that movement invite and open up new questions for appraising and analyzing African Christianity.1 Edited studies, ethnographic studies, and theological analysis also discuss African Christianity in specific regions and focus on specific themes.2 The existing literature on African Christianity maps out the Christian movement in Africa from its independent days in North and East Africa, to its missionary and colonial context to the development of African initiatives and the explosion of Pentecostalism today. Despite the growing number of works on African Christianity, it is still challenging to find texts that offer targeted insights into African Christianity in a concise manner that appeals to scholars and readers who are interested in a work that combines historical and thematic studies. The chapters in this book begin that conversation and offer critical perspectives on African Christianity on selected topics that address historical developments, thought, teachings, practices, and debates that have shaped the Christian tradition in Africa. This interdisciplinary dialogue does not pretend to offer an exhaustive discussion of Christianity on the continent. Africa Christianity is one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world since Christianity reached Africa before becoming a global phenomenon, yet remained localized in one or two regions before it received a new beginning with the modernist and colonial expansion. The authors offer an historical as well a regional critical analysis on issues and features of Christianity in Africa. This work is a global effort and the most important criteria for determining the contributors were their research on African Christianity and their areas of specialization in the field of religious studies and the social sciences. This book gives the reader a bird’s eye view of the rich story of Christianity in

Africa which cannot be exhausted in one account. In presenting this book, we invite further conversation with our readers and colleagues who teach African Christianity and readers interested in the global Christian movement. The authors seek to contribute to the growing number of critical interpretations of African Christianity. What is different here is that we have chosen to focus on selected themes, and given them in-depth analysis and explored the themes either

in a country, region, or mapped out how that theme has played out over time. Our hope is that readers will use this as a springboard to explore Christianity in Africa through the abundant critical surveys, regional studies, studies of independency, the growing literature on Pentecostalism, as well as studies of Christianity and political culture, economics, gender, health, media, and contemporary African culture. This book does not follow a strict chronology, or categorization of regions.

The organization is intentionally fluid to allow authors to bring a focused perspective based on their research interest. Where authors have offered a historical account, they have taken an interpretive approach to address the topic under discussion. Therefore, our cognizance of chronology is chastened by our desire to highlight historical developments, define and probe issues, movements, trends, the social and public face of the Christian experience in Africa and the diaspora. In doing so, our authors bring new perspectives, introduce new voices and track emerging ones. In addition, the decision to discuss specific themes in different regions of the continent is intended to offer different perspectives on that theme in different parts of the continent as well as give the authors an opportunity to provide a panoramic view of their research. We cannot claim to have covered all the themes that are important, that should be included in such a work. The topics that have been addressed in this manner include the broad historical sketch, African initiated churches, Pentecostalism, and the interrelationship between Christianity and political culture in Africa. Some authors refer to African Christianities to reflect the diversity of Christian traditions on the continent. While some may take issue with such an approach, one could and should make the case that there are really different Christianities in Africa, if one were to think of the three large blocks: Coptic Christianity; the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; and the mostly modern incarnation reflected in the denominations transplanted in Africa through missionary work. Part I of the volume offers historical perspectives on early Christianity and

discusses some of the themes that anchor the tradition and its early developments in other parts of Africa.3 In the first chapter Elias Kifon Bongmba discusses the development of the church in North Africa as an urban and rural phenomenon, arguing that Christianity grew in a complex, cosmopolitan, and religious and cultic spirituality in which Christians faced challenges and persecution because of their commitment to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.4 The thriving church in North Africa developed a spirituality that would give birth to monasticism. A rigorous leadership and theological discourse provided material for theological debates that would shape the Christian church for ever. One of the debates that would inflict heavy loss to the church was the Donatist controversy.5 The Donatists insisted that the church was a holy community and those who had yielded to temptation to avoid persecution had to be re-baptized and the priests who also yielded devalued their leadership role and invalidated their ministration of the sacraments. Bongmba argues that under the leadership of Saint Augustine,

the Roman State suppressed the Donatists and thus weakened the church. But the church finally capitulated when the Muslims arrived in the region in the seventh century and conquered the area. Youhanna Nessim Youssef argues that the term Coptic is used to designate the

people, language, the religious orientation, and ecclesial traditions of some of the people who have practiced and still adhere to Christianity in Egypt. Coptic Christianity has a special place in the history of the Christian tradition because Jesus was taken to Egypt as a baby and legend has it that Saint Mark founded the church in Egypt. The Egyptian church in the first centuries developed theological and spiritual traditions that shaped world Christianity. Thirteen Gnostic papyri translated into Coptic were discovered by farmers in 1945 in Upper Egypt, near the Nag-Hammadi area. Intellectual movements like the Manicheans were part of the educational and cultural life of Egypt and influenced intellectuals like Saint Augustine. The Egyptian Church suffered persecutions, with the most severe being the persecution of the church under the Emperor Diocletian. Youssef discusses the theological debates and conciliar movements of the early church and takes the reader through the history of the Coptic Church under different Arab dynasties and Muslim rulers, including the Ommayed and Abassid dynasties, the Fatimids, Ayyubids, and the Mamluks. The Coptic Church suffered persecutions under some of the leaders, but enjoyed relative freedom under the Fatimid rulers and were allowed to continue to produce their own literature. Coptic literature attained great heights under the Mamluks, but the fourteenth century was a tough time for the Copts as many church buildings were destroyed. He argues that the Coptic Church maintained good relations with the Syriac Church, but not with the Ethiopian Church, whose ecclesiastical headquarters were in Alexandria. Gerhard van den Heever’s chapter addresses discourses and the literature that

emerged in North African Christianity in the context of Hellenistic Judaism and the Greco-Roman era. Alexandria was where Philo and others had already established a strong intellectual and scholarly tradition. Van den Heever maps out the vibrant intellectual energies of the period when a variety of movements, intellectual communities, and individual scholars developed a body of knowledge and a set of principles that invited reflection, critique, and appropriation by the early Christian writers as they interpreted the biblical texts for the growing Christian community. Van den Heever takes the reader through historical writings, the literature of the Apostolic Fathers, apocryphal writings, esoteric texts, as well the growing genre of theological literature that would form the basis for the emerging Catholic (universal) theological world view. What emerged can best be described as heterodoxy because of the contestations that emerged from the period. Alexandria takes centre stage in this narrative as an intellectual centre which later became the centre of later developments in Christian intellectual culture because of the Catechetical schools led by Pantaenus, Clement of Alexandria and Origen, who all championed the science of biblical exegesis and hence the development

of hermeneutics. Alexandria was the site for the earliest adaptation of Christianity to African culture – the Coptic culture of Egypt. Starting with the texts of the New Testament, Van den Heever takes the reader

on a historical journey as he highlights these intellectual, political, and social developments that took place and within that context, key discourses, literature, scholars, and philosophical, as well as theological movements. Van den Heever introduces the reader to Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, patristic thought and its theological formulation, and the spread and impact of these intellectual traditions on the Christian community, its episcopacy, spiritual and devotional life, and its influence on Christian theology. The literature also shaped identity of diasporan Jews and North African converts to Christianity in a pluralistic religious environment. What emerged portrayed diverse Christianities, as the many sacred works that have survived from the period, especially the Gnostic texts, demonstrate. Van den Heever tells an intricate and complex story that highlights its African roots and its global reach. Robert Baum in his chapter argues that Christian contact with West Africa

started with the Portuguese explorers. He identifies four periods of the spread of Christianity in West Africa: the era of exploration; missionary work and colonization; the height of colonial rule and missionary consolidation; and the era of decolonization. During these periods Christianity encountered indigenous religions and their worshippers professed belief in a Supreme Being and also believed in spirits which often possessed people. The first missionaries to arrive were Portuguese Catholics and missionaries followed them from other denominations. Missionaries promoted conversion, encouraged Africans to wear European clothes, and made Christianization into Europeanization. The European engagement in African changed to the slave trade and evangelical awakenings in the West helped push for the abolition of slavery. With the end of the slave trade some Africans returned to Africa to evangelize their own people and build African societies, with the most well-known being Samuel Ajayi Crowther who would later become the first Anglican Bishop in Nigeria. African Initiated Churches started in the mid-1800s as a response to a number of issues in the church including leadership and African culture. Baum argues that many in the Diola community of Senegal accepted Roman Catholicism and were eager to get services like education and the health care offered by the missionaries. The missionaries themselves disagreed on whether they should promote the faith through dialogue or be more forceful in their task. Where missionaries adopted a confrontational path, the Diola later reconverted to indigenous religions in the 1930s. Social challenges like the influenza epidemic made many Yoruba Christians start African Initiated Churches to address their perceived needs. Sara Fretheim uses Kongo as a paradigm for Christianity in Central

Africa. She argues that the early Christianization of Kongo was a socio-political experiment that later collapsed. Fretheim argues that later resurgence of Christianity in the region demonstrates that there was a story of local grounding of

Christianity which she traces through the impact of the Manikongo, Alfonso, and Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the founder of an indigenous religious movement. Fretheim details the complex relationship forged on religion and commerce between the Kongolese and the Portuguese arguing that the Christian journey of King Alfonso and the Prophetic activity of Kimpa Vita reflect a vital Christian tradition which was interrupted by civil strife and slave trading, but it survived and grew. Fretheim introduces the reader to a complex religious encounter that was misrepresented by Western economic ambitions and slave trading. These practices compromised the Christian ethics, but as an institution, Christianity was firmly rooted in Kongo. Loreen Maseno discusses Christianity in East Africa from the first Mission

encounters in the 1500s and colonial expansion. In Kenya, Mombasa was highly contested because there was already a significant Islamic presence in the region but the success of the missionaries did not take the deep roots they expected and Fort Jesus at Mombasa would later be captured by Muslims. Johann Ludvig Krapf and his colleagues worked in Zanzibar, and linguists translated the New Testament into Kikamba and Nyika. They also compiled hymn books and prayer books. By the mid-1800s, several missionary societies worked in different places in East Africa. The missionary activity also grew with the completion of the railway across East Africa. During the twentieth century, the Christian tradition in East Africa faced different challenges, including the disputes over female genital cutting in Kenya, liberation movements like the Maji Maji movement in Tanzania, and growing disenchantment from the locals because of colonial land grab. Missionary churches established social services, namely schools and medical work. African Initiated Churches emerged during the twentieth century. Revivals led by Africans were an important feature of the growth of East African Christianity, and the most noted revival was the Balokole. Among the doctrinal emphasis that has received attention in the church is Christology. Jon Abbink in his chapter argues that the symbols of Ethiopian Christianity,

especially the cross, are grounded in the Orthodox tradition that dates from 335 CE, from the time of the conversion of King Ezana. Since then the cross has been a symbol of power both for the kings and the Christians of the Ethiopia who have used it for identity, empowerment at a time of suffering, healing, and as a means of grace. The cross is displayed in many places in Ethiopia, including the vestments and garments worn by the priests, and it is tattooed on people’s bodies. At some point in Ethiopia the cross was considered one of the seven sacraments. The sign of the cross is made on almost every occasion. Legend has it that the actual cross of Christ found by the mother of Constantine was divided into four parts and sent to Alexandria, Constantinople, Rome, and Antioch, and one made its way to Ethiopia in the fifteenth century. The discovery of the cross is commemorated in Ethiopia at the Mäsqäl festival. The Kings promoted it, but another legend has it that during the reign of Dawit II (1382-1412) the Patriarch of Alexandria gave the Ethiopian church a piece of the true cross because he

assisted the Egyptian Christians to get freedom under the reign of the Mamluk. The cross has different forms and shapes and its artistic and aesthetic distinctions are unrivalled. Abbink discusses the five different types of crosses that have been made and used widely by Ethiopian Christians and their leaders in daily religious life, along with the sacraments, for protection, blessing of the faithful, anointing of the sick, and other rituals of the church, including death rituals. Three chapters by Gerald West, Musa Dube, and Esther Mombo round up

Part I of this book. Gerald West in his chapter on the Bible in Black South African theology argues that although the Bible was re-introduced in modern Africa during colonial times, Africans approached the Bible from a hermeneutics of trust in various theologies of liberation with Jesus as “the ultimate reference point.” They also employed a hermeneutics of suspicion because of the role the Bible played in colonization. While some black theologians started with the premise that the Bible was God’s revealed word, Itumeleng Mosala and Takatso Mofokeng introduced socio-economic and class issues into a liberative reading of the text. Tinyiko Maluleke introduced a third phase of reading the text, which demonstrated that blacks were subjugated and accepted the religion of their oppressors. Therefore it was necessary to rethink the Bible through African culture, recognizing the role played by African traditional religion and African Initiated Churches, both still popular with many poor people. This approach “relativises Christianity” even though Maluleke recognizes the importance of the Bible in South Africa. West argues that the fourth phase of reading the Bible in South Africa has returned to the question of class, represented in the work of Makhosazana Nzimande whose imokodo hermeneutics stresses a liberative project that involves the recovery of the land, using feminist literary analysis framed on the story of Jezebel in the Hebrew Bible. Musa Dube in “Christianity, translation, and globalization” begins with a personal

account which highlights colonially imposed identities and the translation projects which brought Christianity to Botswana. Dube argues that Bible translation which mirrored globalization reflected imperial and patriarchal designs and involved not only text, but the positioning of the translator. Dube illustrates the colonial aspects of Biblical translation by discussing the confusion and misuse of local terms in the case of the Zulu word for God, Unkulukulu, which was replaced with the Xhosa term, uThixo. Dube insists that even in the new millennium, translators have argued that the local sense of the terms is often obliterated for the sense of the Bible. In the translation of the Bible into the Shona language of Zimbabwe, Mwari the genderless spirit was used and was described as the God of Abraham, rather than the God of the Shona people, and in doing so translators who focused mostly on the source text, rather than the target language, have misrepresented deity in the Shona community. In Stsewana, Modimo became a male God, and local understanding of gender and its relationship to the divine being was not followed, and Badimo, which refers to androgynous spirits, was turned into a demon. In Tanzania, the Iraqw term for God, which for

the local people was female, and the evil spirits were male, was turned around. Dube calls on translators to decolonize and depatriachalize biblical translation. In Chapter 9, Esther Mombo argues that in many ways women are the church

in Africa in its different contexts and diversity. Women have been at the forefront of the Christian movement and it is only late in the twentieth century that studies of the place of women have emerged from scholars of religion and social scientists documenting the religious experience and participation of women in Christianity in their social context.6 Mombo starts her account at the beginning of modern Christianity and argues that the mission establishment saw women mainly as homemakers and moral agents. Missionaries did not ignore women completely because they organized groups and guilds for women to pray and support one another, but the major emphasis was on family life. As a result, women played a limited role in the church, especially in leadership positions, an issue that was further crystallized in the debate on the ordination of women and the training of women in male-dominated disciplines like theology in the postindependence era. Ecumenical organizations like the All African Conference of Churches took up the question of the place of women in the church and championed the cause of the ordination of women. Significant gains have been made in large part due to the work of African

women scholars like Mercy Amba Oduyoye who have championed the cause of women through the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, an ecumenical group that deployed their research and scholarship on women in the church and the broader African community. The result has been a significant growth in the body of literature that is redefining Christianity in Africa and in the global context, as several African women have taken leadership roles in global organizations, championed feminist theology, postcolonial biblical studies, addressed Christianity and culture in Africa, and led the move to make HIV/ AIDS a major concern of the church. Since theological education for women has been crucial for developing women leadership and scholarship, Mombo explores the place of one particular institution, Saint Paul University, formerly Saint Paul United Theological Seminary, in Kenya, which opened its doors to women early in its history. It is a story that can be traced also in places like South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Cameroon, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and all other theological schools and universities that have opened the door for women to receive training in religious studies and theology. Engendering theological education has gone a long way in bringing equity, but the road to ordination remains a journey that must be taken in all Christian traditions in Africa. The church’s social mission of equity and justice for women and the girl child remains a work on progress. In Part II of the book, the chapters address modern developments including

missions, African evangelical Christian witness, ecumenism and interreligious discourses. In his chapter on mission practice and theory, Frans Wijsen argues that missionary practice took place in light of global political, economic, and

cultural expansion. Missionaries came to Africa to convert people, plant churches and incorporate people into what they thought was the true religion, and bring them into civilization. With decolonization spreading throughout the colonial edifice, some Christian missionaries called for the adaptation of Christianity into the African context and this was exemplified by Placide Tempels’ book, Bantu Philosophy. Following Vatican II, great emphasis was placed on the incarnation and acculturation of Christianity in Africa and John Taylor’s The Primal Vision articulated aspects of this approach. The next stage came when African churches sought independence from Western churches and called for a moratorium of missions and the promotion of a liberating practice in the African context. Inculturation was the next big idea in missions. Recently scholars have stressed reverse missions to depict the work of African missionaries in other parts of the globe. In terms of theory, missiological studies offer scholars different theological perspective on missions and with the growth of Christian colleges and seminaries, African theologians now articulate perspectives on missions that reflect African culture, although some African scholars continue to promote an exclusivist theory of mission arguing that salvation is to be found in Christ alone and the Bible is God’s unchanging word. Wisjen indicates that other African scholars articulate a dialectical theory of missions by emphasizing the importance of African traditional religions on understanding Christianity. This has created room for an inclusivist mission theory. A pluralistic theory of mission emerged from the mid-seventies and today, a de-conversion mission theory emphasizes the vicarious nature of African Traditional Religions. This has led to ecclesial experiments like the Afrikania church started by Osofo-Okumfy Kwabena Damuah, and philosophical approaches like Kemeticism as religion of the black people promoted by Osaga Odak. If one wonders what happened during and after mission domination with the

evangelical mission of the church, Tibebe Eshete addresses this question arguing that the work of evangelicals in Ethiopia today, represented by what Pentecostal churches do, is rooted in the history of Ethiopian Christianity. I should point out that Evangelicals have recently become a subject of major studies and analysis. The growing literature is not merely a reflection of the evangelical position, or the position of missionaries, and church growth institutes such as the Church Growth School of Fuller Theological Seminary, The Lausanne Commission, or academic enterprises like Overseas Ministry Study Center in Connecticut, but the analysis has been carried out by social scientists and other Africanists and without pretending to give a comprehensive list, I should point out that a study has been released each year from 2006-2010.7 Tibebe in his chapter focuses on the evangelization strategies of Pentecostal churches and he discusses the spread of the Christian tradition in Ethiopia by local Christians. Western missionaries (among them evangelicals) who arrived in Ethiopia in the 1830s had difficulties with Emperor Tewodros (1855-68). However, more missionaries arrived after the occupation of Ethiopia by Italy. In Ethiopia, Evangelicals are defined largely

by their belief in personal faith in the saving work of Jesus following a conversion experience and dedication to a life of holiness. Eshete uses this term to describe many of the churches in Ethiopia that are not members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, whose work and outlook is described by the term nekekit (interaction). The Pentecostal wing of this evangelical movement has grown from its roots in Finnish and Swedish Pentecostal churches because these traditions have had an impact on young Ethiopian students who have formed bible study groups which have eventually given birth to churches such as the Mulu Wengel Church (Full Gospel Church).They have dedicated themselves to preach to all Ethiopians. They have established associations, which facilitate their work, especially evangelism. They have formed the Ethiopian University Student Fellowship (EUSF) and it has encouraged an ecumenical perspective among the students. These groups have formed choirs and carry their message through drama. Pentecostals experienced persecution during the Marxist regime of Ethiopia Clement Majawa discusses The Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965, and

argues that it was the greatest “moment of meaningful rediscovery and redefining… a true African Christian identity” for the church in Africa that was searching for its identity.8 Majawa argues that Vatican II opened the church to the world and began a much needed renewal of the church. The Council called by Pope John XXIII in 1962, continued under the Pontificate of Pope Paul VI, and ended with revolutionary documents that touched on Catholic ecclesiology, spirituality, and nearly all areas of the church’s global mandate and mission, emphasizing the local dimensions of the church. Majawa argues that Vatican II issued its strongest statement, affirming traditional religions, when it said it does not reject what is true and holy and urged dialogue and collaboration between the religions. On the question of evangelization, the church in Africa was urged to become an instrument of love, peace, justice, and reconciliation in order to create a democratic dispensation where human rights will be respected. Vatican II also laid a foundation for new thinking on the church in Africa which would conceptualize the ecclesial community as a family and a paradigm for Small Christian Communities (SCC), and inculturation. Vatican II opened the door for the articulation of African Christian theology and today its robust dialogues address Christology and its implications for ancestorship, narrative theology, and moral and political theology. One of the most exciting theological enterprises to emerge has come from African women, who demand love and justice for all. Vatican II laid the ground for meaningful liturgical practice in Africa. Jesse Mugambi argues that modern African Christianity took an African face

with the work of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crather, whose work would epitomise the self-governing, self-propagating, self-supporting principles articulated by Henry Venn of the Church Missionary Society. He argues that descriptions such “Anglicans,” Baptists, etc. that demarcate Christianity today have no African equivalents.9 These divisions reflect competitions and rivalry for converts in Africa. The term African Christianity refers to all the different denominational

groups in Africa. Mugambi then presents a brief history of the modern ecumenical movement which in the aftermath of the Edinburgh Conference of 1910 started with a conversation with the Life and Work Commission and Faith and Order; the conversation would lead to the formation of the World Council of Churches in 1948. While Mugambi lauds the ecumenical movement, he argues that the fact that John Gatu of Kenya has participated in both the World Council of Churches and the Lausanne Commission, an American-led evangelical organization, demonstrates the African quest for a broader view of ecumenism. Mugambi next maps out the different Christianities in Africa and then argues that the diversity of African initiatives in Christianity reflects a new type of ecumenism. In his chapter, “Christianity and African religion,” Laurenti Magesa maps out

the encounter between the two world religions as forms of spirituality that have offered their adherents meaning in human existence. Christianity was reintroduced to Africa in modern times with an enlightenment perspective which denigrated African spirituality as primitive and pagan. This changed as African scholars in the postcolonial age demonstrated that both spiritual paths were coherent systems. Mutual distrust might be going away but remains with Pentecostal and Evangelical Christianity in Africa. In order to underscore the nature of the encounter, Magesa takes the reader through the various phases of Christianity in Africa, the antiquity, the middle years, and the modern period and argues that these periods were marked by a constant shifting sense of hostility and mutuality. That is why some converts like King Nzinga Kkuwu returned to indigenous religious practices. In the modern epoch slavery, colonialism and the brutality of the World Wars, reminded Africans of the “spiritual imperialism” of the West, and the attack on it was ironically led by some Western missionaries. Magesa argues that both religions co-exist in an awkward relationship which led to the formation of African Initiated Churches, and various attempts at inculturation of Christianity, but the way forward calls for a dialogue that is open, mutual, and intimate on both sides. Festo Mkenda discusses Muslim-Christian relations in Africa inquiring how

they have encountered each other as persons. He focuses on Tanzania and Nigeria, where both religions have significant representation. Members of both religions have projected the image of “the religious other” and that has led to violence and intolerance. Mkenda discusses the Muslim/Arab conquest of North Africa and its effect on the Christian minority. When the Mamluks took over Egypt, they Islamized Nubia through a gradual but certain cultural assimilation. Relations between the two religions in Ethiopia started peacefully because the Kingdom extended hospitality to the family of the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad. But Ahmad ibn Ibrahin al-Ghazi (Gran) of Somalia invaded Ethiopia in 1528 and made significant gains, controlled the country and converted many people to Islam. Over the years, Islam has made significant gains on both the Western and Eastern Coasts of Africa and moved further to the Southern African region. Westerners who travelled in Africa requested European missionaries to counter

the growth of Islam. There was a climate of suspicion and conflicts between Christians and Muslims on the Swahili Coast and in parts of West Africa. Both communities face different issues now in Tanzania and Nigeria. Boko Haram wants to prevent Western education and accuses Christians of promoting it and in Tanzania, Shura ya Maimamu wants Western education and accuses Christians of making it difficult for them to get it. In Part III, the authors focus on African initiatives in Christianity in Africa

and the African diaspora and the chapters discuss Christian independency as well as Pentecostalism which has seen major scholarly publications in Africa as well as in global religious studies, which has become a major area of studies.10

Studies of Pentecostalism continue to grow and reflect the extent to which the movement has penetrated African religious life. In his chapter, Ezra Chitando discusses Christian independency in the Southern African region. The growth of Christianity in the region owes a lot to African Initiated Churches (AIC), nomenclature Chitando prefers because it highlights the deliberate and thoughtful process that led to the creation of these churches. The historiography of these churches goes back to Bengt Sundkler’s classic, Bantu Prophets in South Africa, a work that inaugurated seminal studies of the churches by social scientists and theologians.11 AICs emerged in a context of social, cultural, political and spiritual competition. The rise of these churches Africanized the symbols and rituals of the faith as followers used their religion to respond to socio-economic and political marginalization which created racial tensions that lasted through most of the twentieth century as the region was one of the last areas to achieve independence after a long struggle against racism and apartheid. Africans wanted to worship in contexts where their dignity as human beings would be respected since the Christian message proclaimed equality of all people.12 These new churches offered spaces for addressing felt needs and their leaders, often called prophets, mediated spiritual power and offered spiritual healing as an alternative to biomedical approaches to health. Prophets also provided anointing, protection, and prayed for people to overcome evil and find success. While these churches were progressive on some issues, Chitando argues that

on women’s issues AICs offered only limited liberation because men still hold positions of power and control many aspects of the ministry. African Initiated Churches have also participated in development projects and been involved in attempts to solve the ecological crisis in the region.13 Some of them have started informal economic institutions (stokvels) where their members can save money. On politics, some of the churches have not been progressive because some of the African Initiated Churches in Zimbabwe have argued that Mugabe is a Godgiven leader to the people of Zimbabwe. Many of the AICs participate in cultural activities through song, dance and the arts. In her chapter, Martina Prosén discusses Pentecostalism in Eastern Africa as a

microcosm of the population of the region. Pentecostalism is a complex term to define, because Pentecostalism brings together revivalists, the saved, and

evangelicals. Prosén groups these churches into classical Pentecostalism, NeoPentecostal Churches, and the Older Church Charismatics. Pentecostal churches are growing because of their specific ritual practices (liturgy, symbolic actions, sacred language, and spontaneous prayers, preaching, and entertaining music in many languages) and the impact from the northern countries on these churches. Theologically they claim be related to God through the presence of the Spirit. Members express a commitment to Jesus Christ as Saviour and believe in the priesthood of believers. Pentecostals in Eastern Africa have a strong connection to Nordic countries which goes back to 1912. There is a thriving partnership with these churches today as Africans have taken over leadership and the funds from the Nordic countries help carry out relief work in the churches and the society. Prosén argues that Nordic churches’ missiological emphasis on revivalism, less bureaucracy, and greater freedom of the individual missionary approach has promoted independence in Eastern Africa. Additionally, the work of pioneer African evangelists helped spread the work of the church in the region and Prosén argues that one cannot really distinguish between what was done by the Nordic missionaries and African evangelists. Allan Anderson argues that Pentecostalism in South African refers to Christian

communities which emphasize the presence and work of the Spirit in the churches and the expression of charismatic gifts like speaking in tongues, exorcism, and healing. Anderson traces Pentecostalism in Southern Africa in the 1900s to the social and political conditions of the region and the growth of urbanization. The growth was spearheaded by African missionaries who emphasized preaching and healing and provided spiritual resources for people living on the margins of a segregated society. Pentecostalism spread as people moved within the region. The work of the Apostolic Faith Mission and Zionism converged to plant a local Pentecostal tradition and the political climate influenced the Zionist and Pentecostals to define themselves as different traditions. The new churches spread thanks to the leadership of Daniel Nkonyane, Elias Mahlangu, Paulo Mabilitsa, J.C. Phillips, John G. Lake, and later Engenas Lekganyane. The churches also kept some of the early doctrines of the Apostolic Faith Mission which Anderson describes as the classic Pentecostal church. The South African Assemblies of God started by missionaries has been led for a long time by Nicholas Bhengu. This body separated from the international group in 1932. Anderson argues that although largely seen as apolitical organizations, these

churches described as bazalwane (born again) provided a service that was needed by the members at the time and context. New Pentecostals emerged in the 1970s and continued the independent spirit of the older churches, but drew membership from among the educated people and responded to social needs, especially economic and racial inequality. The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Bill Burnett, became a Pentecostal when he served in Grahamstown. He and a Methodist charismatic, Derek Crumpton, condemned the white regime after the Soweto crisis and helped to promote social awareness among the Pentecostals.

Large charismatic congregations emerged in the 1980s, such as Rhema Ministries and New Covenant Ministries, and many of them established connections with American Pentecostal groups. Moses Biney concludes this section by discussing African Christianity in

the diaspora and focuses on transnational networks and the connection of these churches to Africa.14 Many Africans who emigrated to the United States in the post-1965 Immigration Act, have brought their religion and established churches that have an African orientation and created institutions and networks linking those churches with sister churches in Africa such as the Fountain of Life Ministries that has over one hundred churches in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. African Christians in the diaspora experience religious freedoms, but they still face challenges because of racism. Studies of African Churches in the diaspora focus a great deal on Pentecostal

congregations at the expense of institutions and networks and they also pay less attention to the challenges immigrants face as transnationals. The exception is the micro level, meso level, and macro level analysis done by Helen Ebaugh and Janet Chafetz in Religion across Borders. The African churches provide services for their members to adjust in their new country using pastoral counselling and offer religious resources such as books for their members. They form affiliations and partnerships with other churches and accept governance from their home churches. Some of the churches are affiliated with American denominations, and therefore have a syncretic service. African immigrant congregations work together with other African immigrant association to promote African culture and raise funds for development projects in Africa. Women are an important part of the African Christian diaspora and some of them have been instrumental in starting churches. These churches do not merely reflect African-ness but have made an impact on global Christianity through their worship and theology. In Part IV, contributors discuss Christianity in its broad social setting. In his

chapter, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu discusses Christianity and its public role. While the debates on religion and politics took place in the context of African nationalism, the need to develop a national church that expressed an African identity shifted to a complex relationship in which the church was no longer seen as part of a nationalist agenda. Later political dictators accused churches and their leaders of being enemies of the state. Religious leaders like Bishop Festo Kivenjere of Uganda were tortured for criticizing the political culture of the day. In a later shift, politicians have co-opted and patronized churches and leaders like former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, have claimed to be born again Christians. Ghanaian President John Dramani Hahama has also worshipped at a Pentecostal Church. Traditional authority has sacred dimensions because leaders govern because they owe their powers to their ancestors but Kwame Nkrumah sacrilized political authority at the national level. In Ghana and Nigeria some political leaders co-opted Islamic clerics to serve as their advisers and some have reported

benefits from medicines given to them by some of the religious leaders. Religious leaders have also worked to resolve conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and addressed the problems of governance. Asamoah-Gyadu argues that the social and economic situation in Africa which

has marginalized many of its people, led to military dictatorships and economic insecurities. Political and economic corruption has bedevilled the region. Christian political leaders have worked for reforms but revivalist, Charismatic leaders, and Voodoo priest have not helped the situation as Pentecostal churches have themselves enjoyed the patronage of political leaders who remained very corrupt. Charismatic preachers like T.B. Joshua continue to have influence over politicians like former President Mills of Ghana. Outgoing Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan has reportedly kneeled before Enoch Abeboye, the leader of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. The success of the civic theology adopted by the Charismatic Churches remains to be seen. In the next chapter J.J. Carney examines church and politics in the central

African region where the Roman Catholic Church has dominated evangelization, social engagements, and been a major spiritual and social force. In Africa, church and state developed a symbiotic relationship in the Kongo and the church exerted tremendous influence in Rwanda where, in late colonialism, the Catholic Church invoked democratic ideals and indigenization. Carney maps out the ethnic tension in the Great Lakes Region that would exacerbate church-state problems as well as some of the most gruesome violence of modern history when Catholic and state collaboration failed. Some scholars have argued that, from the 1970s, the church was seen by others as complicit in the chaotic socio-political conflict even as it served as one of the main sources for social development. States in the region responded to the violence differently. For example, the

Burundi leaders ruthlessly suppressed the Hutu insurrection that killed many Tutsis, resulting in the deaths of over 200,000 Hutus. The Catholic Church criticized this brutality, prompting an anti-clerical backlash. In Congo, Cardinal Malula objected to Mobutu’s authenticité program and this provoked tensions between church and state, but Catholic leaders condemned political corruption and the exploitation of the poor. Churches joined in the democratic euphoria of the 1990s organizing national conferences and speaking out for justice only to have those hopes dashed by the gruesome genocide of Rwanda where the church was implicated and “Catholic parishes and schools became some of the largest killing grounds during the Rwandan and Burundian civil war.” Carney argues that the Catholic Church has since worked to promote reconciliation, but the region continues to face tensions, poverty, curtailed freedoms, and lacks a culture of political justice. James Amanze argues that in a predominantly Christian region like Southern

Africa, Christianity has been part of the political culture since colonial times. Christian groups, with the exception of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, opposed the constitutional proposals of Ian Smith and his unilateral government

on grounds that it deprived the people of land tenure and perpetuated racial discrimination in the church. In post liberation Zimbabwe, a cordial relationship existed between the churches and the government, but was shattered during the crisis in Matabeleland during which the government of Robert Mugabe dispatched troops and more than 20,000 were killed. Although the churches remained silent, the Roman Catholic churches called for reconciliation In “Christianity and apartheid in South Africa,” Robert Vosloo discusses the

public engagement of Christianity with apartheid in South Africa, the political and theological doctrine of separateness that was legalized in 1948. Christians preached equality under Jesus, but some justified the vicious policy of apartheid. Vosloo argues that the Dutch Reformed Church’s internal reforms struggled with accepting all who believed in Jesus but a compromise suggested by Andrew Murray opened the door for the creation of separate churches. Industrialization, urbanization, and attempts to solve the resulting problems

propelled the Nationalist party to power and they moved to legalize apartheid in the twentieth century. African leaders like John Dube and D.D.T. Jabavu worked with the party that had become the African National Congress (ANC) and challenged discriminatory legislation at all levels. The Dutch Reformed Church promoted discriminatory actions against blacks, opposed racial mixing in all areas of life, and justified it on the basis of biblical teachings. Following the victory of the National Party in 1948, they institutionalized apartheid and passed many discriminatory laws to create permanent separation of races. The antiapartheid struggles locally and internationally were led by key leaders who produced conference resolutions and documents, and galvanized the black and white resistance, who used movements like the Defiance Campaign, institutions like The Christian Institute of South Africa, the South African Council of Churches, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and the World Council of Church’s program to combat racism. The Soweto uprisings of 1976 brought to the state leaders like Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement, which would also influence Black Theology in South Africa. Leading clergy – like Beyers Naudé, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Allan Boesak, Archbishop Dennis Hurley and Rev. Frank Chikane – played leading roles, and key statements like the Kairos Document proclaimed a prophetic theology that would move the country towards liberation. Apartheid collapsed with the release of Nelson Mandela and other detainees in 1990, initiating a new experiment in democracy and reconciliation. In his chapter, Richard Maposa discusses how Christian churches in Africa

carried out social and economic development and contributed significantly to local and national development. In a historical and theological exploration, Maposa examines development practices of the United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe as part of a “sustainable development,” and nation building in its overall goal of changing and shaping the lived-experience of believers. While noting the contestations of the term “development,” Maposa argues that the Christian community considered development a key part of the church’s

engagement with society to promote social justice in Zimbabwe. The UCCZ grounded their development project on the view that God created everything. Maposa organizes the development programs of the UCCZ under the terms kerygma, koinonia, and diaconia all as part of its community development projects, especially in rural Zimbabwe which he traces to colonial times. Maposa then maps out rural development carried out by the UCCZ between 1965 and 1995, and he analyzes the Hama Maoko (Community Cooperative Project) which focused on hand work (sewing, weaving, knitting), the Huku (poultry project), and the Zadza Matura (Community Food Security Project). Maposa argues that the last of these projects demonstrates why the land reforms of the 1980s were important for the people of Zimbabwe. The Hama Maoko (Community Project 11) expanded the projects to include piggery, poultry, and grocery projects. These developments enabled individuals and families to fight poverty and change their lifestyles. Christian missionaries serving in Zimbabwe at the time worked with locals to begin some of these initiatives with the help of funding from Western organizations. In his chapter, Ernst Conradie discusses four approaches to environmental

concerns in South Africa. The first approach argues that Christians have an obligation to conserve nature by being good stewards of the resources of the environment. They appeal to biblical texts to make the case. The second approach urges Christians to be environmentally conscious to preserve ancestral land. A third approach calls for environmental responsibility as a way to promote sustainable development. This approach takes development discourse into new directions, but it has been called into question because a capitalist championed development does not contribute significantly to the idea of sustainability. The fourth view calls on all to work for environmental justice and demands that the rich countries, responsible for most of the pollution, pay to clean the environment. Conradie argues that the literature suggests that environmental concerns are not dominant because of the major economic difficulties which people face. Christianity also stands accused of environmental degradation. He argues that maintaining a balanced and responsible attitude to the environment is part of the African religious tradition. He concludes by arguing that other voices in the debate insist that a Supreme Being controls all things and there are new technologies today to help the Christian community address the environmental crisis. In Part V, the authors discuss Christianity and lived experience by focusing on

how the Christian tradition has influenced belief and lifestyle in certain areas. In her chapter on music in the African church, Emily Achieng’ Akuno provides a historical portrait of music in the African church and the creativity of African Christians. This is an area of study that is experiencing a renaissance as scholars and ethnomusicologists are producing creative work in African Christian music which has become a huge economic, cultural, and spiritual phenomenon.15 Akuno traces the introduction of western hymns to Africa, the adaptation of those hymns for use in worship, and the introduction of African forms in different

African regions and context in a manner that highlights the resilience and adaptability of African forms for religious purposes. Music, Akuno argues, by itself is not sacred, but is adapted for sacred purposes

through the use of texts and melody, pitch, time, tone, quality of sound, and rhythm are all brought together in a composition that is then performed for religious purposes. In this way, Western hymns were incorporated into local structures and African music was brought into the church in a fusion that used both local and Western instruments. Akuno argues that trained musicians like Samuel Ochieng Makokeyo in Kenya have served the Christian tradition as organists, composers, arrangers, and music directors. The development of the kwaya, (choir) tradition created music for liturgy and for broadcast on radio and television. The kwaya institution is found all over Africa and with greater contact with the American gospel tradition, Africans in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to name a few countries, have developed sophisticated gospel music traditions with individual artists whose music tops charts in those countries. Gospel is at once simple but complex because it employs both local and foreign composition techniques, and sometimes uses more than one language in the same song, but the goal remains the same: to communicate the Christian message and help listeners address the issues they may be facing, and give them confidence that everything will be fine. Music today is part of the African churches’ identity in both urban and rural settings and offers people different resources for transforming their circumstances and propagating the gospel. In addition to popular gospel, distinctive choral styles have emerged, and the tradition of choral music introduced to Africans in schools has evolved as new forms of music are being commissioned and created to reflect the African Christian traditions and liturgical events. In their chapter, “Christianity and sexuality in Africa,” Matthews Ojo and

Adewale Adelakun discuss church positions on marriage and sexuality introduced by missionaries. Sexuality remains a challenging subject for Christianity in Africa because of complex issues like gender roles, sexual orientation, sexual identity, and the practice of sex outside marriage. In sexual rights theory most Christians depend on their church for a perspective on sexuality. Ojo and Adelakin argue that missionaries denigrated African views on sexuality and rejected polygamy but some churches admitted converted polygamists without requiring the individual to put away his other wives. Missionaries also criticized initiation rites, especially female initiation rites in several African communities. Attempts to Christianize female genital cutting in some countries failed. Western church weddings were imposed in many areas. Missionaries thought women were exploited by men for sexual satisfaction. The current understanding of sexuality in African churches is affected by the

mass media and Pentecostal beliefs which emphasize strict sexual morality. Most churches condemn homosexuality, especially in the wake of the debates in the Anglican Communion. Evangelical churches continue to promote sexual

purity as a standard for Christians and some have adopted the Southern Baptist Convention (USA) slogan, “true love waits.” Churches also condemn divorce despite the fact that prominent Christian pastors have divorced their wives. Churches espouse the traditional view of sexuality by linking it to procreation. They condemn premarital sex citing sexually transmitted diseases. Some pastors stress natural means of conception and most African churches are pro-life. In his chapter, “Christianity and same-sex relationships in Africa,” Adriaan

van Klinken highlights the contested and often acrimonious positions on same-sex relationships in Africa where the bible continues to be a central part of the debate. This topic is receiving attention in scholarly discussion in African Christianity.16 Van Klinken argues that the ordination of an openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States caused a storm which has not abated. The fight today has been strengthened by the positions of Pentecostals and Muslims, whose moral positions have always been critical of lax views on morals in mainstream Christianity. In Uganda, Pastor Martin Ssempa has been a vocal critic of homosexuality and his views have strengthened the antihomosexual political agenda. The debate on homosexuality in Africa has transnational links to evangelical groups outside Africa. Van Klinken indicates that it might take some time for the African church to bring in a more civil dialogue on these issues. Elias Bongmba discusses Christianity and health services in Africa, which started

with the practice of medical missions. He argues that medical missionaries used medicine to heal, evangelize, and civilize. With the coming of independence, medical missions transitioned to church health care services. The former mission hospitals today are managed by African Churches. Bongmba briefly discusses the history of medical services in the Cameroon Baptist Convention. An important development in church health services in Africa has been the formation of ecumenical groups such as the African Christian Health Association, a network of church health services that share their experiences in medicine, carry out advocacy, encourage research, promote technical assistance, mobilize resources, participate in joint procurement of supplies, and evaluate their work. The other ecumenical network is the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical network that coordinates the procurement and rational use of medicines. These two and other global partners have strengthened church health care service especially at a time when those services have faced the greatest challenges from HIV/AIDS and the Ebola Virus Disease. Tabona Shoko discusses Christianity and healing, discussing healing in the

Holy Cross Anglican community in Zimbabwe whose priest, Livingstone Nerwande, has practiced healing. Shoko discusses the historical development of these communities and the role of some of the key leaders: their beliefs, views on witchcraft, healing practices and rituals. New religious communities developed from 1980 to 1985, during which Father Livingstone Nerwande’s Holy Cross

Church was established. He had previously served in the Anglican Church and rose up in the hierarchy, but left to form his own movement after he received a call to heal others. The ministries of African Initiated Churches and practices of African traditional religion influenced these new healing ministries. Nerwande became a charismatic leader who healed people by touching them with his hands. Nerwanda formed a spiritual movement called Chita Chemuchinjiko (Holy Cross). He stressed personal gifts, saying that members receive those gifts to use for healing and releasing others from bondage. Nerwande also believed and practiced miraculous healing, a point of contention which led to his expulsion from the Anglican Communion. Theologically, Nerwande stresses the centrality of Christ in his healing ministry. He also teaches that the Holy Spirit empowers him to engage in works of charity and he adopted a children’s home in Nyanga. His critics complain that Nerwande’s ministry is no longer effective because of bad administration and mismanagement of funds. Some claim he uses methods often employed by traditional healers. One cannot see a book like this as a definitive statement on African Christianity.

Instead this book should be seen as an invitation to scholars to do further research on aspects of African Christianity that we have not addressed in this volume. Future dialogue should definitely include studies on religion and the arts broadly, more in-depth studies of Christianity and gender, Christianity and the economy, human rights, and culture.