This study tests the legitimacy of Charles Nyamiti's integration of traditional Christian doctrines with African (Bantu) thought patterns in the construction of an African Christian theology. The main problem of this study is the question: is Nyamiti's application of the African traditional concept of ancestor in Christology and ecclesiology theologically appropriate. The experts would say that it survives in the collective unconscious of the Christianized African.
Motivation
It is believed that such a presentation of theology illuminates the redemptive mission of the Gospel for Africans. In recent works such as Schreiter's Faces of Jesus Christ in Africa (1991) and John Parrat's The Reinvention of Christianity: African Theology Today (1995), theologians have provided numerous suggestions for the best interpretation of Christ's mission in Africa by road. As a result of such a question, I was led to investigate whether it is possible for the role of Christ in the Church in Africa to be understood from the concept of the traditional African ancestor.
Limitations of the study
Having an African cultural background where the authority of the ancestors is generally respected, yet being a young Christian who dares to do theology from an African perspective, it is very important for me to consider existing works on African Christian theology, with special reference to Nyamiti theology, based on the perceived parallelism between the role of Christ in the Church and the authority of African traditional ancestors. Would the use of the traditional terminology of ancestors for Christ shed light on the redemptive mission of God through Christ in communities that worship ancestors?
Description of chapters
The question of the Supreme Being, dynamic forces and the role of ancestors are very strong in Bantu thought patterns. In this chapter, Nyamiti's theological construct based on the role and authority of the ancestors is examined. Also the parallels between the traditional Christian teachings and that of the role and authority of the traditional ancestors in Nyamiti's ancestral Christology and ecclesiology are discussed in this chapter.
Brief Biography of Charles Nyamiti
The question of the appropriateness of Nyamiti's application of the concept of the role and authority of the traditional Bantu ancestor of Christ is at the heart of chapter five. The strength and weakness of Nyamiti's theological construct are critically examined using the findings in chapters two, three and four of our study. Nyamiti has been characterized by other theologians as an African theologian who has concentrated on the question of ancestors in relation to his Christological as well as ecclesiological articulation of the Christian faith for the sake of enculturation (Vahakangas 1997:2-5).
Methodology
CHAPTER TWO
- THE TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
- The task of this chapter
- The conception of God
- Christology
- The humanity of Christ
- The deity of Christ
- The unity of the two natures
- The significance of Christ's death and resurrection
- An understanding of the Church
- Conclusion
If Christ is viewed from the perspective of his gender, his masculinity in particular places him concretely in the world of the truly human. How can we unite our conceptions of the humanity and the divinity in the person of Christ. This is the central mystery of Godliness, even as God is manifested in the flesh, is the distinguishing doctrine of the Christian religion.
34;flesh" in the person of Christ to redeem humanity, which had not reached the glory of God. Those who have faith, believing in the saving message of the cross and the resurrection of God/man, are the Church. .
CHAPTER THREE
- THE AFRICAN (BANTU) WORLDVIEW
- The task of this chapter
- The role of ancestors in general
- Conclusion
It "is from him that the life force flows in all the members of the. Participation in the sharing of life with the ancestors is a process of preparation of the life which is continued by the descendants, as well as anticipation of the life after the dead They are connected with the ancestors by a religious bond, they belong to the mystical body of the tribe.
The duty of the individual and society is therefore to be pious and pious. This belief is similar to the travels of the seriti during sleep as we saw above. Among the Pedi, every member of the community expects to enjoy life to its fullest, and anything that interferes with the enjoyment of life in the community is avoided.
Because the Bantu worldview focuses on the interaction between powers, the continuity of relations between the dead and the living members of the community is its most decisive element. He states that the deceased in the family are the invisible members of the family. Among the Bemba of Zambia, ancestors are believed to be the founders and promoters of tradition, especially the laws and taboos, followed by the living members of society.
According to Mulago, the ancestors among the Bantu of the Congo play the vital role of transmitting the life force that they receive from the source of life (the Supreme Being - God). Besides acting as agents for God, they also participate in the maintenance and control of the universe. In overseeing their families and society as a whole, Pedi ancestors maintain the roles they held before death (Monnig 1967: 57).
CHAPTER FOUR
- NYAMITI'S ANCESTRAL THEOLOGY
- The task of this chapter
- Christology
- Ecclesiology
- Some ethical implications
- Conclusion
Here, too, his attitude corresponds to that of the African ancestors, who are supposed to reward their faithful descendants (Nyamiti 1984: 39). When imagined in the light of African ancestry, the excellence of the Mass as an ancestral ritual also shines with particular clarity. Nyamiti also emphasizes that in the Eucharistic sacrifice the dimensions of the ancestor cult are manifested in the Trinity.
He states that through the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass we participate in the ancestral kinship in the Trinity. In a sense, the Eucharistic presence is a continuation of the Mass: it is as a sacrificed Victim that the God-man is present in the tabernacle. In Nyamiti's (1996:46) articulation of the Trinitarian ancestral relationship, Jesus Christ is a descendant of the Father.
According to Vahakanga's analysis of Nyamiti's works, this allows for an extension of the Trinity among the Christian community. The ancestry of the Father and the incarnate Logos influences every member of the tripartite Church, albeit in different ways. One of the most important tasks of African ancestral ecclesiology is to demonstrate the special importance of the saints (including African Christian ancestors) in the Church.
One of the most outstanding and important features of ancestor veneration is the respect given to ancestors.
CHAPTER FIVE
- THEOLOGICAL EVALUATION
- The task of this chapter
- Strengths of Nyamiti's theological construct
- Limitations of Nyamiti's theological construct
- Way forward
- Conclusion
There is quite a big difference between the person of Christ and the person of the Bantu ancestors. Christ's importance for Christians also lies in the fact that he is the source of a new humanity, in which Christians receive the power of the Holy Spirit through faith. This parallels the belief that the ancestors are the source of the life force of the community.
In chapter three, the Bantu concept of community and communication between the ancestors and the living members of the community is highly regarded as a central point of ancestor veneration. The living members of the community and the deceased are believed to be connected as a community. I am not suggesting that theology in the African context should be done in a way that is completely different from traditional Christian doctrine.
It is therefore natural, in the African context, to try to develop a framework for Christian doctrine that reflects local cosmologies such as those of revered Bantu communities. Nyamiti's articulation of humanity's filial relationship with Christ is also ambiguous from the perspective of the traditional Christian understanding of Christ's nature. Although Nyamiti traces our connection with Christ to a common origin as his point of departure, the fact that he conceives of Christ as a brother-ancestor excludes him from veneration in terms of the Bantu concept of ancestral authority.
It should also be noted that the strong belief in the authority of ancestors among the Bantu-speaking peoples is something that is waning due to the movement of people.
CHAPTER SIX
SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS
In this process it was demonstrated that Nyamiti depended on parallels between traditional Christian doctrines and Bantu cosmological constructs on the role and authority of the ancestors in constructing his theology. In the fifth chapter, Nyamiti's theories were offered for critical theological evaluation, during which both strengths and weaknesses in his relation to the doctrines of the Church were revealed. On the positive side, Christology and his proposed church use the worldview of those who believe in the authority of ancestors to explain to them the meaning of Christ in familiar and thus easily digestible concepts.
Nyamiti made this possible by transcending the theological discourse in his Christology and church, comparing the role of Jesus Christ with the functions of traditional African ancestors. However, he is unable to fully demonstrate his argument in the context of the universal Church according to the parameters he has set for himself, so his constructs are limited to being a 'faithful theology'. In developing an African theology, theologians must acknowledge the fact that, to this day, ancestral beliefs and practices remain deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of Bantu-speaking peoples.
The analysis and theological evaluation of Nyamiti's Christology and ecclesiology gave a clear picture of the foundations on which ancestral theology (Christology and ecclesiology) can be constructed in African theology. This study has attempted to answer some of the complex questions raised by both theologians and students of theology, including myself, about the issues raised by attempts to construct African Christian theologies based on Bantu cosmologies, particularly those that focus on the role and function of ancestors. I therefore conclude that since African (Bantu) cultural patterns of thought, for example belief in the authority of ancestors are embraced in society, the incarnation of a radical gospel among the people must take priority over the formulation of theologies that do not in line with the gospel in terms of context.
The most important aspect that theologians in Africa must pay attention to when constructing theologies in consideration of the worldviews of their peoples is the retention of the redemptive message in the process of relating cultural thought patterns to the gospel; for if it is lost, the validity of the doctrine as a whole may be called into question.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
34; Pogor's beliefs about death and immortality according to the teaching of the Catholic Church: possibilities of 'acculturation'". 34; Effects of belief in the living dead on the mission of the Church in South Africa".
