Abstract:
To what extent do the resources of African Traditional Religion (ATR) contribute towards
Christian theological discourse and benefit the African church? ATR is accommodated in
the African Initiated Churches (AICs). The members of these churches aim to be Christian
without losing their African identity. ATR is a religion that was practised throughout Africa
before the arrival of the Western missionaries. The core premise of ATR is the maintenance of
African culture and its main feature is loyalty to the ancestors and the accompanying rituals
that express this loyalty. This study addresses the appropriateness of ATR’s resources in terms
of their contribution to the doctrine of the Trinity. When the early church worshipped God
the Father and God the Son (Jesus) in the presence of the Holy Spirit, a tension developed.
The questions of monotheism versus polytheism and the nature and position of Jesus within
the Trinity were put forward and addressed. The doctrine of the Trinity is uniquely Christian
and includes the belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who alone mediates between God
and men. There is, on the other hand, an understanding that Africans worship one Supreme
Being and venerate ancestors as intermediaries to the one Supreme Being, without clear roles
being ascribed to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. This article enquires whether the process of
Africanisation and contextualisation consciously or unconsciously downgraded Jesus Christ
as Mediator who came to reveal who God is and to reconcile humankind to him.
Description:
This article represents
a reworked version of
aspects from the PhD
dissertation (University of
Pretoria, April 2013) entitled
‘Church and society: The
value of perichoresis in
understanding Ubuntu with
special reference to John
Zizioulas’, with Prof. Dr Johan
Buitendag as supervisor.