Unlike the global North, “the ferment of Christianity” in the global South, among the majority of world people, has been astronomical. Despite the shift in the center of gravity of Christianity to the global South, intra-ecclesial tensions globally remain those of the relationship of culture to religion. The questions posed revolve around to what extent Western Christianity should be adapted to local cultures. Should we talk of Christianity in non-Western contexts or of majority world Christianity? Is it appropriate to describe the shift as the emergence of global Christianity or world Christianity? Should Christianity in the global South mimic Christianity in the global North, or can it be different in the light of the diversity of these cultures? Can Africans, Asians, Latin Americans, Europeans and North Americans – the entire global community – speak of God in the same way? This book is devoted to examining varieties of the intercultural process in world Christianity. It understands culture broadly as a common meaning upon which communities’ social order is organized. Culture in this sense is the whole life of people. It is the integrator of the filial bond holding people together and the various institutional structures – economic, technological, political and legal – that guarantee peace and survival in societies, states, and nations, both locally and internationally. As this book shows, the centrality of culture for world Christianity equally showcases the important position the scale of values occupies in world Christianity.

We often hear these days that the centre of Christianity is moving toward the Global South and Africa is a key player in that movement. This makes the study of African Christianity and African realities important – even more so when it is being done by Africans themselves in their own context. The Africa Society of Evangelical Theology (ASET) was created to encourage research and sustained theological reflection on key issues facing Africa by and for African Christians and those working within African contexts. The volumes in the ASET series constitute the best papers presented at the annual conferences of ASET and together they seek to fill this important gap in the literature of Christianity. Africa is all too familiar with suffering. Yet there is a dearth of sustained theological reflection on suffering by Africans, or for Africans. Christianity and Suffering: African Perspectives addresses this need and is the fruit of the 5th Annual Conference of the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology. The contributions address age-old issues like why God does not prevent or relieve human suffering; they wrestle with causes of suffering including witchcraft, poverty, curses, and war; and they also explore appropriate Christian responses to suffering, all from within the African context. The Africa Society of Evangelical Theology (ASET) is a professional society, founded in 2009 for the purpose of fostering evangelical theological scholarship and to facilitate collegial relationships among scholars and practitioners of the Christian religion in Africa. Its core values are: (1) Faithfulness to the Bible, (2) Professional ethics, (3) Creative and critical thinking, (4) Christ-like humility, (5) Community of scholars encouraging, respecting, and learning from one another, and (6) Development and inspiration of young scholars. To learn more about ASET, please visit its Facebook page: facebook.com/AfricaSocietyOfEvangelicalTheology

What does the globalized world that we live in mean for our Christian identity and for our struggle for social justice? That is the central question that is addressed in this book from a wide array of angles by members of the Association of Theological Institutions of Southern and Central Africa (ATISCA) and Justo Mwale Theological University College (Lusaka, Zambia). "This book is about the struggle for social justice in relation to the self-understanding of Christians from Southern and East Africa in a globalizing world. Among other concerns, it brings out the connection between theology and disability where disability is reflected as an issue that calls for self-identity and self-re-definition. This book is an important resource on contextualisation of theology and it is worthy reading" Dr. Samuel Kabue, Executive Director of the World Council of Churches network EDAN. "In a work long overdue theologians and other researchers in Christianity investigate, discuss and critique the influence of globalization on Christian identity in Southern Africa and its consequences in the struggle for justice. Despite all talk about a 'global village', the voices of Christians from Southern Africa are hardly ever heard. This book represents an important change in this respect. The book has been well edited by Hermen Kroesbergen and it is a must read for all theologians and ministers who want to reflect on our shifting identifies. " Christian Literature Fund

Does religion reinforce the balkanization of cultural attitudes or does it help people transcend their culture? A noted scholar of world Christianity, Lamin Sanneh offers Westerners a perspective on such questions, a way to test the religio-cultural water and air in which they live. He shows how modernity has made of moderns "cultural believers" and "religious agnostics, " and how the stubborn refusal to confront this bias in both secular and religious culture depletes both Christianity and Western culture.

Ghanaian theologian Kwame Bediako presses all Christians to question their own theological commitments. He does so by rethinking Christian identity in light of cultural identity and the shortcomings of colonialism. Bediako's quest to be both African and Christian informs what it means to be Christian in a secularized Europe and North America. Far more than just chronological and biographical, Tim Hartman's analysis of the arc of Bediako's theology demonstrates that Bediako's vision of Christianity as a non-Western religion allows it to serve as a resource for World Christianity amid the exponential growth of Christianity in the Global South. Hartman points to how Bediako sidesteps the influence of Western thought by rooting African Christianity in a twin heritage of pre-Christendom patristic theology and precolonial traditional religious practices of Africa. Bediako expands the canon of theological resources available for Christians by eliminating the distinction between gospel and culture. Since there is no such thing as a pure theology for Bediako, culture itself becomes a source of divine revelation through the incarnation. Hartman's study of Bediako helpfully corrects inaccurate portrayals of African Christianity. The growth of African Christianity should not be feared, nor mischaracterized as narrow-minded or too conservative. Bediako asserts a polycentric understanding of the Christian faith based in grassroots theologies and the beliefs of actual Christians. While Bediako agrees that Christianity in Africa (and the Global South) is the future of the Christian faith, he rejects assumptions that the Christian faith needs to be yoked to political power. Instead, Bediako offers an alternative understanding of politics based on democracy and nondominating power. Both Bediako and the book offer a way forward in thinking about questions of religious pluralism. African Christianity has never known cultural hegemony as African Christians have always lived with Islam and African traditional religions. Bediako offers a theology of "Jesus is Lord" while appreciating the integrity of Islam and traditional African religions. In the end, the book presents an African Christian theologian who values--and does not simply reject--African traditional religions. Bediako believed that traditional African religions, far from being demonic, served as evangelical preparation for the Christian faith and as the substructure of African Christianity, and that African religious imagination was the foundation for the Christian faith worldwide. As Hartman shows, the more distinctively African Bediako's Christianity became, the more suited that theology became for the world.

In a world of increasing globalization, we live amidst a clash of cultures, religions, and worldviews – each battling for the human heart and mind. In this in-depth study, Yusufu Turaki offers a theological framework for engaging this clash of perspectives in Africa, where traditional African religions, colonialism, and exposure to Christianity have each had a lasting impact on contemporary African worldviews. Professor Turaki undertakes a systematic analysis of the nature of African Traditional Religion, its complex history with Christianity, and the need for African Christian theology to address its cultural and historical roots effectively. He provides both a conceptual framework and practical guide for engaging African cultures and religions with compassion, understanding, and a firm foundation rooted in scriptural truth. This book is an excellent resource for students of religion and theology, as well as those interested in Africa’s traditional heritage or drawn to the important work of cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.

For the church, there can be no more significant question than Christ’s Who do you say that I am? It is the cornerstone upon which all of Christian faith and praxis must stand. In this volume, the sixth from the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology, contributors explore the question of Christ’s identity – and its implications for the global church – from a distinctly African perspective. Engaging biblical studies, church history, and applications for missions, discipleship, and inter-religious dialogue, these essays utilize African hermeneutics and rich cultural perspectives to shed light on Christ’s contextual relevance for Africa and for the world. The final section is dedicated to the memory of John S. Mbiti, the father of modern African theology, who passed away in 2019.

Thomas C. Oden surveys the decisive role of African Christians and theologians in shaping the doctrines and practices of the church of the first five centuries, and makes an impassioned plea for the rediscovery of that heritage. Christians throughout the world will benefit from this reclaiming of an important heritage.