| dc.description.abstract | This study has shown (a) the theological misconception of the modern missionary movement , (b) the Afrians theological appropriation of the Christian faith to their cultural and religious heritage in the context of the modern missionary background, and (c) the levels of contemporary Christian critiques of Christianity to which African Christian theological reflection must respond. It has also shown (d) that at both the cultural and ideational levels the modern missionary enterprise introduced practices and ideas which were new to African culture and thought, but spite of the shortcomings of the modern missionary process Christianity has become established among African individuals and peoples.
The African r response of acceptance and rejection of the Christian faith are closely associated with the way in which Christianity was introduced in East Africa through the modern missionary movement that gained momentum in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The African understanding of Christianity was greatly influenced, in some cases positively and in others negatively, by the missionary enterprise through the Christian faith.
The modern missionary movement, in both its Protestant and Catholic forms, based its major objective of spreading Christianity from Europe to countries abroad, on assumptions which are both historically and theologically questionable Historically, the movement has often, though not always, in apparent alliance with the colonial administration to the extent that missionary organizations and individuals operating in Africa sought the protection of those colonizing countries from which they were sent. Sometimes the missionaries from different colonizing powers clashed in the 'mission field. Africa - not only because of doctrinal disagreement, but also because of their countries of origin. Thus the missionaries working in Africa regarded themselves as not only Christian, but also as English, Scotich, Irish, French German, Italian and so on. Their - missionary activity consisted not only in teaching Africans the essential proclamation of the Christian faith, but also in imparting their respective cultures to African peoples, thereby destructively undermining the African cultural and religious heritage.
This historical development thrived on a theological assumption which was scripturally erroneous - that western culture was part-and-parcel of Christianity, and that therefore the spreading of the Christian faith to non European peoples automatically meant meant also imparting western 'civilization' to them. That assumption was strengthened by the belief in 'progress' which at that time was anchored in the advances of modern sence , and in the developments of modern nationalism in the western world.
That theological assumption was a deviation from the theological insight agreed upon at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts ch15, Galatians ch. 2) , which became the cornerstone of missiorory principles during the first three centuries of Church history - until Constantine , That insightwhich St. Paul often repeated (Romans chs , 2-3; 1 Corinthians ch. 9; Galatians ch. 2-3; Colossians ch.3:5-11) was that in Christianity there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all, and in all (Col. 3:11) It is ironical that this insight was completely overlooked by most missionaries who introduced and worked to establish Christianity in East Africa, in spite of their pietistic orientation and sustained insistence on scriptural justifications for their missionary calling. Rather than follow this insight, they maintained the attitude of superiority which was dominant in the western world during the nineteenth century t that African peoples were culturally 'primitive' and religiously depraved.
The Council of Jerusalem recommended that Christian missionary activity should be constructively critical of, lather than destructively prejudiced against t he cultural and religious heritage of the peoples to whom Christianity was to be introduced, Following the approach endorsed at that Council, Christianity became readily and critically adapted to the cultural, religious and philosophical setting of the Greco-Roman world within the first three centuries of Church history. | en |
