Kwame Bediako 2004
‘Jesus fulfills and surpasses the function of the Ancestor,’ says the African Christian evangelist.
‘So what?’ shrugs the post-modern Westerner.
What is the next line in this conversation?
Bediako, Kwame. Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience. Orbis Books, 2004.
About the author:
Dr. Kwame Bediako was Founder/Director of the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, an initiative of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in research and advanced studies in the fields of Christian Faith and Thought and in the relationship of the Christian Church to society. He held two doctoral degrees, the first in Francophone Literature from the University of Bordeaux and the second in Divinity from the University of Aberdeen.
It was during his studies in France that he became convinced of the spiritual and intellectual coherence of the Christian Faith, and discovered the central importance of personal faith in Christ. This understanding motivated his subsequent theological studies in Scotland under Andrew Walls.
He wrote extensively in the fields of Gospel, culture and Christian identity, and in the development of new contextual theologies in Africa. His publications include Theology and Identity—The Impact of Culture upon Christian Thought in the Second Century and Modern Africa (Regnum Books, 1992, reprinted 1999), Christianity in Africa—The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion (Edinburgh University Press; Orbis Books, 1995; reprinted 1997), and the volume under consideration here, which serves well as a representative overview of Dr. Bediako’s legacy.
Kwame Bediako, who passed away in June 2008, now enjoys eschatological verification, knowing even as he is known. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Gillian Mary Bediako, and their two sons, Timothy Yaw (24) and Daniel Kwabena (21).
Thesis:
This book is a representative selection of Bediako’s articles exploring his conviction that, as God reveals himself though African idioms in African contexts, an “African theology emerges to edify not only the African church but the Church world-wide.” (page xi) The two-fold purpose of this English-language volume is then (1) to encourage Africans to delve the depths of their worldviews, sacred traditions and cultures for the elements of an African theology and a unique Christian identity; and (2) to introduce the West to the Jesus that is the answer to African questions. Bediako’s legacy stands as an open-ended question: Can/will the Church worldwide be edified and renewed by a uniquely African understanding of Jesus and the Gospel?
(This book was reviewed in prepartation for Fuller Seminary's SIS-PhD Qualifying Exam.)
'Jesus fulfills and surpasses the function of the Ancestor,' says the African Christian evangelist.
'So what?' shrugs the post-modern Westerner.
Warmly and directly the African evangelist replies :
'Your disappointment with your ancestors and their legacy and the hopes we pin to the achievements and influence of ours inhabit the same plane and need to recognize the same Lord.'
Posted by: Philip Moore | 09/04/2008 at 10:01