This publication clearly indicates the dynamics of indigenous Christianity in Southern Africa with its holistic approach addressing the needs of their flocks in all dimensions of their existence. Their own church problems also receive attention.

Kwame Bediako was one of the great African theologians of his generation. Challenging the assumption that Christianity is a Western religion, he presented a non-Western foundation for theological reflection, expanded the Christian theological imagination, and offered a path forward for post-Christendom theologies. Kwame Bediako: African Theology for a World Christianity is the first full-length introduction to Bediako’s theology. It engages Bediako’s central concerns with identity – specifically what it means to be African and Christian in the aftermath of the failures of colonialism – the relationship of theology and culture, and the need of indigenous expressions of Christian faith for the health of theological reflection worldwide. Challenging stereotypical perceptions of African Christianity and pressing readers to interrogate their own theological convictions in light of cultural and societal presuppositions, this book examines the gift of Bediako’s work not just for Africa but for the world.

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.

It is ideologically driven to build a group of church historians who will tell the story of African Christianity, not Christianity in Africa, as an African story, by intentionally privileging the patterns of African agency without neglecting the noble roles played by missionaries. The effort has been to identify the major themes or story lines in African encounters and in the appropriation of the gospel. --from publisher description.

The degree to which Christianity has been embraced by Africa south of the Sahara has been a phenomenon that has led to a closer examination of the mutual impact of the Christian faith and African culture.

Kwame Bediako examines the question of Christian identity in the context of the Greco-Roman culture of the early Roman Empire. He then addresses the modern African predicament of quests for identity and integration. Theology and Identity was one of the finalists for the 1992 HarperCollins Religious Book Award.

The book charts Christianity s advance in Africa, exploring how African agents (priests, prophets, martyrs, missionaries) made the religion their own. It shows Christianity empowering Africans, through faith, to deal with concerns for health and wealth, and overcoming evil. It demonstrates how Christianity captured the African imagination.

In 1969, nineteen-year-old Robert Hunt was found dead in the Cairo, Illinois, police station. The white authorities ruled the death a suicide, but many members of the African American community believed that Hunt had been murdered -- a sentiment that sparked rebellions and protests across the city. Cairo suddenly emerged as an important battleground for black survival in America and became a focus for many civil rights groups, including the NAACP. The United Front, a black power organization founded and led by Reverend Charles Koen, also mobilized -- thanks in large part to the support of local Christian congregations. In this vital reassessment of the impact of religion on the black power movement , Kerry Pimblott presents a nuanced discussion of the ways in which black churches supported and shaped the United Front. She deftly challenges conventional narratives of the de-Christianization of the movement, revealing that Cairoites embraced both old-time religion and revolutionary thought. Not only did the faithful fund the mass direct-action strategies of the United Front, but activists also engaged the literature on black theology, invited theologians to speak at their rallies, and sent potential leaders to train at seminaries. Pimblott also investigates the impact of female leaders on the organization and their influence on young activists, offering new perspectives on the hypermasculine image of black power. Based on extensive primary research, this groundbreaking book contributes to and complicates the history of the black freedom struggle in America. It not only adds a new element to the study of African American religion but also illuminates the relationship between black churches and black politics during this tumultuous era.

The common charge laid against missionaries that they are destroyers of African culture is shown to be untrue of the missionaries treated in this book, who worked with considerable success to integrate Christianity and African culture. The author examines the endeavours of the missionaries from the perspective of the local Christians, who were not themselves interested in Africanization as such. One can thus find some missionaries defending - against the elected African Church leadership - the right of the Chagga Christians to circumcise their daughters, and Nyakyusa Christians refusing to use African tunes because the missionaries - influenced by National Socialism - professed both love for African culture and White superiority. This informative book, based on local and archival research at Daressalam University, is eminently readable. It features the first historical study of Bruno Gutmann, and provides case study material for teaching.

Apart from the mainline, Pentecostal, and Zionist churches, there are different types of African Independent/Indigenous Churches (AIC). The greater part of the more than four thousand denominations and eight million adherents came into the AIC during the past three decades, mainly from the traditional African religious background. The important role of the diviner in the traditional society has been replaced by the prophet in the AIC; the prophet understands the worldview of his/her people, especially the cultural diseases. In some churches the office of prophet cum diviner is represented by one person. The AIC movement is the most dynamic church movement in many parts of Africa, especially Southern Africa. The consistent growth of these churches can largely be accounted for by the healing procedures they use, which ar highlighted in this study. Dr. Oosthuizen approaches healing from various angles, as sickness is not only determined by physical and psychological factors, but also by disturbed human relationships and socio-political and economic tensions.