This paper aims to show the development of African Christology out of particular lived-realities of African Christians. These lived-realities necessitated, according to Victor Ezigbo, a re-imagining of the person and works of Christ specifically for African people. The fundamental Christological questions go all the way back to John Taylor’s widely quoted inquiry which reads: “But if Christ were to appear as the answer to the questions that Africans are asking, what would he look like? If he came into the world of African cosmology to redeem Man as Africans understand him, would he be recognizable to the rest of the Church Universal?” In response, African theologians have produced a variety of Christologies that have contributed immensely to the conversations about the nature of world Christianity. This paper presents a taxonomy of African Christologies in a heuristic way, thus enhancing clarity for those who seek to understand and interact with these Christological proposals. The paper then argues that pursuing such understanding and engaging with these Christologies within an evangelical framework will be mutually beneficial to both global evangelicalism and African Christological (or theological) reflections.
Some key works that the paper interacts with include:
Bahemuka, Judith M. “The Hidden Christ in African Traditional Religion.” In Jesus in African Christianity: Experimentation and Diversity in African Christology. Edited by J. N. K. Mugambi and Laurenti Magesa. Nairobi: Initiatives, 1989.
Bediako, Kwame. Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience. Maryknoll: Orbis, 2004.
Clarke, Clifton R. African Christology: Jesus in Post-Missionary African Christianity. Eugene: Pickwick, 2011.
Ezigbo, Victor I. Re-imagining African Christologies: Conversing with the Interpretations and Appropriations of Jesus Christ in African Christianity. Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2010.
Mana, Kä. Christians and Churches of Africa: Salvation in Christ and Building a New African Society. Maryknoll: Orbis, 2004.
Mofokeng, Takatso Alfred. The Crucified among the Crossbearers: Towards a Black Christology. Kampen: Uitgeversmaatschappij J.H. Kok, 1983.
Mugambi, J. N. K. From Liberation to Reconstruction: African Christian Theology After the Cold War. Nairobi: East African Educational, 1995.
Nyamiti, Charles. Christ as Our Ancestor: Christology from an African Perspective. Gweru: Mambo Press, 1984.
Oduyoye, Mercy Amba. Hearing and Knowing: Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa. Maryknoll: Oribis, 1986.
Stinton, Diane B. Jesus of Africa: Voices of Contemporary African Christology. New York: Orbis Books, 2004.
Strauss, Stephen J. “Perspectives on the Nature of Christ in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church: A Case Study in Contextualized Theology,” PhD Dissertation. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Dec. 1997.
Taylor, John V. The Primal Vision: Christian Presence Amid African Religion. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1963.