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Christian fundamentalism began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and American Protestants [1] [2] as a reaction to theological liberalism and cultural modernism. Fundamentalists argued that 19th-century modernist theologians had misinterpreted or rejected certain doctrines , especially biblical inerrancy , which they considered the fundamentals of the Christian faith. A few scholars label Catholics who reject modern theology in favor of more traditional doctrines fundamentalists. Interpretations of Christian fundamentalism have changed over time. It became active in the s after the release of The Fundamentals , a twelve-volume set of essays, apologetic and polemic , written by conservative Protestant theologians to defend what they saw as Protestant orthodoxy. The movement became more organized within U.
Christian fundamentalism
Learning from African theologians and their hermeneutics: Some reflections from a German Evangelical theologian. This article shares some reflections on African theology from an outside perspective. Starting from personal experiences as a German Evangelical coming to South Africa, it basically takes a look at the book African theology on the way: Current conversations, edited by Diane B.
It wants to identify ways of looking at theology which could be considered in some way or another as 'especially African'. The article then compares these findings with two other books, presenting two different ways of applied African theology: The Africana Bible, edited by Hugh R. Page, coming from a very international background and implementing also the views of African people living outside of Africa, and the Africa Bible Commentary ABC , edited by Tokunboh Adyemo, featuring an evangelical view.
It challenges the one-way transfer of theological thinking from Europe to Africa, which for many centuries determined the relationship between the continents. It shows that European theologians indeed can learn much from African theologians and their way of reading the Bible.
There are at least two dangers in comparing 'African' and 'European' or 'Western' theology. These dangers are generalisation or even stereotyping, on the one hand, and subjectivity or even arbitrariness, on the other hand. One should not think all Africans to be similar in their way of doing theology.
In fact, there is nothing like 'the African theology' just as there is also nothing like 'the European theology' or even 'the European Evangelical theology'. This article therefore presents a very subjective and selective view.
In no way is it meant to be an exhaustive academic survey of the specialties of African theological thinking. My student was presenting a paper on the ideas and plans for his dissertation. At the end of it, one of them asked the student what the relevance of his dissertation would be for the church in Germany and his own personal Christian life. I shall never forget the look on the face of my student. He had never thought about this. His dissertation was on an academic-theological question.
Why should it have relevance for the church or for his own Christian life? I observed the same phenomenon time and again in the students that followed him. It became clear to me that there is a difference in the understanding of 'theology' in South Africa or Africa and Germany.
In this article, I shall look into this difference in more detail. Let us now come to the first step of this article. Most articles referred to at this stage come from the book African theology on the way: Current conversations, edited by Diane B. This book serves as a starting point for the survey, helping to identify ways of looking at theology which could be considered in some way or another as 'especially African'.
In his article on 'Biblical hermeneutics in Africa', Gerald West from the University of KwaZulu-Natal presents his hermeneutic as a development of the so-called 'intercultural hermeneutics' which is, according to West ibid , the ' One important element of this intercultural hermeneutics is the following West ibid :. The time of colonisation and mission, which were connected to a great extent, strongly influenced theology in Africa.
Perhaps one should rather say that it dominated African theology for a long time. It was the missionary theology which was imposed on African churches as 'the' theology of the Bible.
There was no distinction whatsoever between the Bible and the theology proclaimed by missionaries 2. It is, however, not only the influence of the missionaries in presenting the gospel, defining theology and building churches that has to be noted. The missionary influence also led to the prominence of Western very often: German academic theology in African theology. These two forces, 'missionary Christianity and Western academic biblical studies', as West puts it, are still very strong in Africa.
Hence defining an 'African theology' always means to consciously grapple with this reality. This discussion with the colonial past can be seen in almost every article used in preparing this article. The responses are manifold and in part even contradictory. What has found consistent approval amongst all of them is the stress on the necessity to connect the biblical truth to everyday life in Africa.
Integrating 'real life' and theology. Something that strikes a European theologian as very specifically African - even if it is not explicitly mentioned in any article - is the numerous citations of African proverbs in many of the articles. The very first sentence of the book is a proverb: 'When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion' Stinton xiv. This may not sound strange to African readers, but for theological books in Germany, it would sound somewhat strange and inappropriate to start with a proverb.
According to Holter , this ' This takes us to the next point. Integrating 'real life' means the integration of non-academics. Gerald West writes as follows:. The African biblical scholar is never allowed to settle in the academy alone; there is a constant call from ordinary African interpreters for African biblical scholars to engage with them and their realities. Whilst there is a growing distance between the academic world and the everyday life of Christians in Germany and also in many other countries of the Western world , African theology consciously tries to bring these two worlds together.
The editor of African theology on the way, Diane B. Stinton, a Canadian-African theologian, stresses this in her preface to the book. There she refers to the story of the Emmaus disciples Stinton :. Just as the Emmaus disciples shared their hopes and fears, their certainties and their doubts, their grief and their joy 'on the way' of discovering the Risen Jesus with them, so African believers continue to grapple with recognizing and appropriating the Risen Christ in our midst today.
Stinton xvii calls this discussion between the disciples and Jesus a 'Christian palaver' which has many similarities with the African culture. One very important element in this kind of African palaver is the following: 'Every member of the community has the right to participate, whether in speech or symbolic action.
Hence African palaver guarantees equality in terms of accessing speech' Stinton xvii. Integrating 'real life' leads to a less strict and extreme theology. The fact that theology in Africa seems to be far more routed in everyday life than is often the case with European theological thinking has certain consequences.
One of these consequences is that African theology often seems to be less strict and extreme than Western theology, which tends to be more interested in 'pure' academics than in everyday life. In his article in African theology on the way, Gerald West depicts 'liberation theology' and 'feminist theology' in Africa. What is very clear from his presentation is that both theologies are routed in the experiences of everyday life.
In respect to feminist theology with their special 'African' implementations 'womanism' and 'bosadi' , West ibid writes: 'It is from within African feminist hermeneutics that the most sustained engagement with postcolonial hermeneutics has come.
The catholic theologian Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator formulates this idea with the following words: 'Theology is about life. Understood this way what we call theology differs considerably from the exact sciences.
Researchers engaged in the latter always strive to isolate their experience so that they can examine the data objectively, that is, without allowing their emotions, feelings and personal experience to influence the result of the experimentation. Another consequence of integrating 'real life' and theology is that the personality of the theologian is not excluded from but consciously included in her or his theology.
Integrating 'real life' means integrating the theologian him or herself. During the s and s, there was a consistent thrust in the academic world at German universities for a 'neutral' and 'nonbiased' approach to theology. Students in their first semester were asked to leave their childish faith behind when they entered university. Only in the last two or three decades has this gradually changed.
It has now finally been replaced with an increasing realisation that there is no such thing as 'neutrality' when it comes to theology. This realisation is often viewed as something very sad, but which cannot be changed.
African theology in contrast gladly embraces the fact that we as human beings as well as our circumstances and cultural surroundings always were and always will be part of our theology. Many articles thus contain references to personal aspects of the author. The editor Diane Stinton explicitly encourages the reader as follows:. Even before listening for the content of their ideas, get a feel for who the speaker is through the bio-data provided and through any additional research you can do.
A person's theology almost certainly reflects his or her life experience, so try to discern what has shaped the person's view. The last and most important consequence of integrating 'real life' and theology is the importance of the context 9 for theology. Integrating 'real life' means dialogue between culture and Bible. Gerald West cites Justin Ukpong, a key commentator on the comparative method. Ukpong says that the goal of comparative interpretation is ' To West f.
While Western forms of biblical interpretation have been reluctant, until recently, to acknowledge that text and context are always, at least implicitly, in conversation, the dialogical dimension of biblical interpretation has always been an explicit feature of African biblical hermeneutics Interpreting the biblical text is never, in African biblical hermeneutics, an end in itself. Biblical interpretation is always about changing the African context.
While Western forms of biblical interpretation have tended to hide or omit the contemporary context of the biblical interpreter, African biblical interpretation is overt about the context from which and for which the biblical text is interpreted. For Orobator, the concentration on the African context is most important. Context for him Orobator is ' An appropriate theology is thus a theology ' Orobator writes: 'Context is to faith what soil is to a seed. The dialogue between the Biblical text and today's context can be seen as a very dynamic one.
Jesse N. I opt for the On the one hand, the context provides the operational platform on which theology has to be done. On the other, the text provides the analytical stimulus for creative reflection. The theology of reconstruction is based on this two-way communication between the text and the context.
With the term 'theology of reconstruction', Mugambi denotes a theology which tries to reconstruct the biblical truth in light of the questions of today. Mugambi writes further:. This approach takes biblical hermeneutics seriously, discerning the meaning intended by canonical texts and relating that meaning to specific cultural contexts.
Like Princeton Theology, The Fundamentals reflected growing opposition among many evangelical Christians towards higher criticism of the Bible and. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (June ): Walter M. Dunnett, "The hermeneutics of Jude and 2 Peter: the use of ancient Jewish Ronald F. Youngblood, Editor, "[Essays on The Battle for the Resurrection, by N.L. B. Dale Ellenburg, "A Review of Selected Narrative-Critical Conventions in.
Learning from African theologians and their hermeneutics: Some reflections from a German Evangelical theologian. This article shares some reflections on African theology from an outside perspective. Starting from personal experiences as a German Evangelical coming to South Africa, it basically takes a look at the book African theology on the way: Current conversations, edited by Diane B. It wants to identify ways of looking at theology which could be considered in some way or another as 'especially African'. The article then compares these findings with two other books, presenting two different ways of applied African theology: The Africana Bible, edited by Hugh R.
By Peter W. View a PDF version of this bibliography.
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