The impact of an African spirituality and cosmology on God-images in Africa: A challenge to practical theology and pastoral ministry

International Journal of Practical Theology

Volumn 9, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 300-323

  Kasambala, Amon Eddie ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 60950259681     PISSN: 14306921     EISSN: 16129768     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1515/ijpt.2005.9.2.300     Document Type: Review

References (44)

1. An African world-view(s), in the context of this article, will refer to the way African people understand their existence as embracing their cultural values, norms and traditions. For further elaboration, see: Jabulani Nxumalo, Pastoral Ministry and African World-view, in: Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 28, 1979, 27. The African cultural views described here may also apply to other societies (even outside the African continent) that pursue communal and intercultural communication in pastoral theology
2. James Lapsley, Practical Theology and Pastoral Care, in: Practical Theology, ed. Don S. Browning, San Francisco (Harper & Row) 1983, 167
3. Patrick Kalilombe, Spirituality in the African Perspective, in: Paths of African Theology, ed. Rosino Gibellini, Maryknoll, NY (Orbis Books) 1994, 116
4. See also: Kalilombe, Doing Theology at the Grassroots. Theological Essays from Malawi, Gweru, Zimbabwe (Mambo Press) 1999. Patrick Kalilombe is a Malawian national, an outstanding scholar and writer in the Roman Catholic Church tradition. His theological essays have received wide publication in international theological journals and books
5. Kalilombe, Spirituality, 118
6. Masamba ma Mpolo, Spirituality and Counseling for Healing and Liberation, in: The Church and Healing. Echoes from Africa, eds. Emmanuel Lartey/Daisy Nwachuku/Kasonga wa Kasonga, New York (Peter Lang) 1994, 16
7. Daniël Louw, A Pastoral Hermeneutics of Care and Encounter. A Theological Design for a Basic Theory, Anthropology, Method and Therapy, Cape Town (Lux Verbi) 1998, 74
8. Emmanuel Lartey, In Living Color. An Intercultural Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling. London/New York (Jessica Kingsley Publishers) 2003, 113
9. Bellagamba, New Attitudes Towards Spirituality, in: Towards African Christian Maturity, ed. Aylward Shorter, Kampala (St. Paul) 1987, 107
10. John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, Garden City, NY (Anchor Books) 1970, 3. Mbiti has been described as a 'living legend' of African philosophy and religious studies. He has published widely, and has spoken in many international conferences throughout the world. Currently he is based in Switzerland, where he lectures at the University of Bern
11. Kalilombe, Doing Theology at the Grassroots, 220
12. Mbiti, The Prayers of African Religion, Maryknoll, NY (Orbis Books) 1975, 4
13. See: John Pobee, Toward an African Theology, Nashville (Abingdon Press) 1979, 46. The concept of God as Umkulunkulu (or Supreme Being) is from Zulu, one of the major South African languages. The concepts of Mulengi and Musungilili wa vyose are from Central African languages
14. Laurenti Magesa, African Religion, Maryknoll, NY (Orbis Books) 1997, 35
15. Mbiti, Introduction to Africa Religion, London (Heineman) 1975, 4
16. Ogbu Kalu, Ancestral Spirituality and Society in Africa, in: African Spirituality. Forms, Meanings, and Expressions, ed. J.K. Olupona, New York (Crossroads) 2000, 55
17. Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 46
18. John Taylor, The Primal Vision, London (SCM) 1963, 49
19. Akechukwu Ogbonnaya, Person as Community. An African Linderstanding of the Person as an Intra-psychic Community, in: Africa Theological Journal 22/2, 1993, 122. Ogbonnaya writes from a Nigerian experience of African spirituality
20. Gabriel Setiloane, African Theology. An Introduction, Johannesburg (Skotaville) 1986, 14
21. Pobee, Toward an African Theology, 49
22. See, for example: Joshua N. Kudadjie/Akwasi Osei, Understanding African Cosmology. Its Content and Contribution to World-view, Community and the Development of Science, in: Faith, Science and African Culture. African Cosmology and Africa's Contribution to Science, ed. C.W. Du Toit, Pretoria (Research Institute for Theology and Religion, UNISA) 1998, 37
23. Magesa, African Religion, 73
24. Masamba ma Mpolo, A Brief Review of Psychiatric Research in Africa. Some Implications for Pastoral Counseling, in: Pastoral Care and Counseling in Africa Today, eds. Jean Masamba ma Mpolo/Daisy Nwachuku, Frankfurt am Main (Peter Lang) 1991, 23
25. Louw, A Pastoral Hermeneutics, 78
26. Mbiti, African Philosophy & Religion, London (Heinemann) 1970, 20
27. See also: Peter Paris, The Spirituality of African Peoples, Minneapolis (Fortress Press) 1995, 28
28. Kalu, Ancestral Spirituality, 56
29. Kudadjie/Osei, Understanding African Cosmology, 38
30. Gerhard Buys, Competing Worldviews in Africa. The Search for an African Christian Worldview, REC Theological Forum 28/3-4, 2000, 12-14
31. Yusufu Turaki, Christianity and African Gods. A Method in Theology, Potchefstroom, SA (Potchefstroom University) 1999, 34. Ambuyafwi is a Malawian Tonga term for ancestors, and is used with respect. No living person qualifies to use the title. It is given, with great honors, to those who played a large role in society before they died. Now that they are dead, they are in fact still living because their social role continues - to be custodians of the African family
32. Abraham Berinyuu, Pastoral Care to the Sick in Africa. An Approach to Transcultural Pastoral Theology, Frankfurt am Main (Peter Lang) 1988, 8
33. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 107-108
34. Stephen Kapita Mwewa, Traditional Zambian Eschatology and Ethics Confronting the Advent of Christianity. Dissertation presented to the Theological Faculty for the University of Innsbruck for the Degree of Doctor of Theology, Austria, 1977, 17. Mwewa is a Zambian anthropologist and sociologist
35. Mwewa, Traditional Zambian Eschatology, 15-17
36. Daniël Louw, A Pastoral Paradigm for God-images in an African Context. Unpublished paper, University of Stellenbosch, 1999, 1
37. Leroy Howe, The Image of God. A Theology for Pastoral Care and Counseling, Nashville (Abingdon Press) 1995, 111
38. Cavanagh, The Perception of God in Pastoral Counseling, in: Pastoral Psychology 41/2, 1992, 80
39. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 3; see also: Setiloane, 9
40. Teresa Okure, 32 Articles Evaluating Inculturation of Christianity in Africa, Ghana (AMECEA Gaba Publications) 1990, 59
41. Louw, A Pastoral Paradigm, 2
42. Daniel Louw, Meaning in Suffering. A Theological Reflection on the Cross and the Resurrection for Pastoral Care and Counseling, Frankfurt am Main (Peter Lang) 2000, 49
43. See also: Sallie McFague, Metaphorical Theology. Models of God in Religious Language, Philadelphia (Fortress Press) 1982, 43. In discussing the use of metaphorical language in pastoral theology, Louw states that a biblical metaphor can be used as "a figure of speech in the theological vocabulary to present, comprehensively and meaningfully, the unknown (revelation) in terms of the known (creation)."
44. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion, 47