Salvation In African Christianity

“What must I do to be saved?” That question, raised in the book of Acts by the Philippian jailer, is a question for the ages. Yet what, even, does it mean to be saved? Is salvation for this life or the next? Is it purely spiritual or does it have physical and material implications? Can salvation be lost? Do we determine who will be saved or does God? What role does Christ play in salvation? Such are the seemingly unending questions soteriology strives to answer. In this eighth volume from the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology, African theologians articulate their understanding of salvation – and its widespread implications for life and practice – in conversation with Scripture and the rich diversity of an African cultural context. Salvation is examined from historical, philosophical, and theological lenses, and scholars address topics as wide-ranging as conversion, ethnicity, fertility, poverty, prosperity, the Trinity, exclusivism, African Pentecostalism, rural community, eschatology, wholeness, and atonement. It is a powerful exploration of the holistic nature of salvation as articulated in Scripture and understood by the African church.

Revision of author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Baylor University, 2007 under title: The material in salvific discourse: a study of two Christian perspectives.

During the Civil War, traditional history tells us, Afro-Christianity proved a strong force for slaves' perseverance and hope of deliverance. In Slavery, Civil War and Salvation, however, Daniel Fountain raises the possibility that Afro-Christianity played a less significant role within the antebellum slave community than most scholars currently assert. Fountain presents a new timeline for the African American conversion experience, insisting that only after emancipation and the fulfillment of the predicted Christian deliverance did African Americans more consistently turn to Christianity. Freedom, Fountain contends, brought most former slaves into the Christian faith.

In the words of John Paul II, «A faith which does not become culture is a faith that has not been received, not thoroughly thought (through), nor fully lived out». It is for this reason that inculturation hermeneutics has become a useful reflective tool for many African students of Theology. In this work, the author argues that the concept of salvation in evangelical Christian thought as postulated in the works of the French Reformer John Calvin and that of African Traditional Religions do not connote the same idea nor lead to the same goals. In spite of the basic differences, he states that symbols, metaphors and some practices from the traditional religions of Africa can be employed as hermeneutical tools for the explanation of concepts of the Christian faith. The author therefore concludes that the Anlo-Ewe traditional religious practice of nugbidodo-ritual reconciliation best explains Christian salvation as man's reconciliation with God and constitutes a basis for the healing, deliverance, and a socio-economic advancement of the individual and the entire community.

The Liberation to the African Mind: The Key to Black Salvation is a strong book written to the millions of African Americans who have had their history distorted by the Church and public schools. Because of these distortions Black people are estranged and alienated from their culture and the wisdom of their ancestors. The book challenges African Americans to begin to think for themselves especially in the realm of religion. It is a prophetic book with a revolutionary perspective. It is prophetic in that it points to the direction the Black Church must take to effectively address the spiritual needs of the Black community. It is revolutionary because it challenges the Church and believers to establish a new paradigm, an African Spiritual frame of reference. The Black Church must transform itself and take on a new view of the scriptures, doctrines and dogmas of Christendom. This book documents the fact that what Blacks have been given as Christianity is in reality stolen African mythology, cosmology and history that has been corrupted by Roman and Greek priest, philosophers and emperors. It is one of the most powerful challenges to Orthodox Christianity to date. The Truth will liberate you from their strong delusions. While there is indeed some positive and beneficial aspects to Church membership it is time for the Black Church to make its exodus from the Western religious way of faith in God to the African spiritual way of knowledge of God. Black Pastors and religious leaders must begin to teach that which will bring about the manifestation of the fullness of Christ. This is the charge given to all church leadership by the Bible they teach from. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelist, some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to be a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13. There are far too many Babes in Christ in the Church. It is not the fault of the believers but a reflection of corrupted doctrines and false dogmas. In addition the unity of the Black Church must become a priority. Not one church or believer can say they have no need of the rest of the Body of Christ in good conscience. Yet unity in the Black Church is more a rhetorical than an actual reality. Imagine what could be done if the wealth of the Church was combined to establish a super fund. Unity must be at the top of the agenda for the Black Church and for the Black community. Lastly, though we have the proverbial church on every corner there is an undeniable spiritual crisis in the Black community. The Liberation of the African Mind: The Key to Black Salvation makes the Spiritual Resurrection of the Black man a valid goal and priority. It will challenge many long held beliefs and dogmas, however Christendom must be examined and that which is not of God must be abandoned. Not since Marcus Garvey, Fredrick Douglas and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad have Blacks questioned the validity or efficacy of Christianity. Mr. Muhammad made an attempt to make Blacks aware that Christianity was the religion of the people who had enslaved them. Every race worships God in a way that is peculiar to their culture. Since the days of captivity Blacks have worshiped the god of their conquerors and oppressors. Worshipping a White man as God is not only a form of idolatry but extremely detrimental to the Black Psyche.

Reexamines the first twenty years of the East African revival movement in Uganda, 1935-1955, arguing that through the movement African Christians articulated and developed a unique spiritual lifestyle.

In this book, the well-known Kenyan theologian, John Mbiti, takes the reader on a pilgrimage of the mind and spirit as he examines the phenomenon of Christianity in Africa. This is a fascinating form of the Christian faith, combining certain characteristics of apostolic Christianity with the realities of African life in the present. It is fresh and fragile, dynamic, and domineering. It echoes the experiences of the early church while at the same time responding forcefully to the situation of today. The author explains how this form of Christianity while leaning heavily on the religious culture and background of the African peoples, seeks and finds its legitimation in the bible. He illustrates that it is both deeply African and committedly ecumenical and universal. A 16-page section of the photographs vividly underlines the theme.