In the endeavour towards propagating the Good News, there seems to be a dangerous categorization of Inculturation and liberation approaches as if they are dichotomized entities that impacts negatively on Christianity’s Kerygma (proclamation) and Didache (catechesis). The paper assumes that an intrinsic combination of these two main approaches would result in a holistic mode of evangelization that would fruitfully inspire and significantly empower contemporary people in Africa to embrace the Gospel in their entire concrete existence while taking them separately would result in impoverished ministry. One may thus hypothesize that a merger of the two approaches would greatly influence the way agents of the Gospel accomplish Christ’s mandate to effectively propagate Christianity, in corroboration with the Holy Spirit, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the remotest parts of the world (Acts 1:8), including today’s Africa. Such an assertion merits investigation at erudition level since it has been either ignored or handled superficially. Going by the assumption that Inculturation approach and liberation perspective in significant ministering of the Gospel have an indispensable affinity and actually, not just factually, necessarily imply one another (Nyamiti,2005:3-5) the study endeavours to verify that the merger has the potentiality of bringing about a holistic more effective evangelization mode that would bear abundant fruits in Africa in accordance with respective people’s socio-religio-cultural realities and signs of the times. Based on the above, the study will be guided by questions like: What is the perception and engagement of Inculturation approach in evangelizing service? How does the Christian Church understand and utilize liberation approach in the role of evangelization? How does the merger of Inculturation and liberation approaches make evangelization more significant in contemporary Africa? In what manner can the integrated model in Christian ministry be applied by the contemporary agents of evangelization in Africa to maximize the benefit to contemporary recipients in their historical concrete life situations? The paper will thus give a brief historical theological setting on the subject then scrutinize the nature and engagement of Inculturation approach in the evangelization ministry. It will also explore the perception and employment of liberation approach towards evangelization endeavour. This will be followed by a brief discussion on the blending of Inculturation and liberation orientations as a more fruitful mode of evangelization. Inculturation theory together with general and special revelation theory will guide the study.
Boesak, A. A. (1977). Farewell to innocence: A Social-Ethical Study on Black Theology and Black Power. New York: Orbis Books.
Boff, L. (1980). “Christ’s Liberation via Oppression: An Attempt at Theological Construction from the Standpoint of Latin America,” in R. Gebellin (ed.), Frontiers of Theology in Latin America. London: SCM Press.
Bujo, B., and Muya, J. I. (eds), (2003). African Theology: The Contribution of the Pioneers Vol 1. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa.
Bujo, B., and Muya, J.I (eds), (2006). African Theology: The Contribution of the Pioneers Vol 2. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa.
Bujo, B. and Muya, J.L. (2013) (eds). African Theology: The Contribution of the Pioneers Vol 3. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2013.
Dupuis, J. (1997). Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1997.
Flannery, A. (1975). Vatican Council 11, The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. Dublin: Costello Publishing Company, Inc.
Freire, P. (1994). Education for Critical Consciousness. New York: Continuum .
Freire, P. (1992). Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed, trans. by Robert Barr. New York: International Publishing Group.
Frostin, P. (1988). Liberation Theology in Tanzania and South Africa: A First World Interpretation. Lund: Lund University Press.
Haring, B. (1979). Free and Faithful in Christ. Great Britain: St. Paul Publications.
Hickey, R. (1982), Modern Missionary Documents and Africa. Dublin: Dominican Publications.
Latourelle, R. (1966). Theology of Revelation. New York: Society of St. Paul.
Magesa, L. (2004). Anatomy of Inculturation: Transforming the Church in Africa. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa.
Magesa, L. (2014). What is Not Sacred: African Spirituality. Nairobi: Acton.
Martey, E. (1993). African Theology: Inculturation and Liberation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis.
Moltmann, J. (1992). The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Moltmann, J. (1997). The Source of Life: The Holy Spirit and the Theology of Life. London: SCM Press.
Moltmann, J.(1992). The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.
Nyamiti, C. (2005). Studies in African Theology Vol.1 – Jesus Christ, the Ancestor of Humankind: methodological and Trinitarian Foundations Nairobi: CUEA.
Rahner, K. (1978). Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity. London: Darton, Longman & Todd.
Shorter, A. (1988). Toward a Theology of Inculturation. London: Geoffrey Chapman.
Sobrino, J. (2001). Jesus the Liberator: A Historical-Theological Reading of Jesus of Nazareth. Translated from the Spanish by Paul Burns and Francis McDanagh, MaryKnoll, New York: Orbis Books.
Wachege, P. N. (2018). Jesus Christ Inculturated into Ag?k?y? Elderhood as M?thamaki (Ideal Elder): A Third Millennium Fountain of Hope, Joyful Love and Ethical Issues. Nairobi: Little Eden Publishers.
Wachege, P. N. (2000). Salvation and Being Saved: An African Socio-Religio-Philosophical Touch. Nairobi: Media Options.
Wachege, P. N. (1992). “African Inculturation Liberation Theology,” in L. Namwera (ed.), African Christian Studies. Nairobi: CUEA Publications, vol. 8), no. 1, March.
In-Text Citation: (Wachege & Syengo, 2018)
To Cite this Article: Wachege, P. N., & Syengo, S. N. (2018). An Investigation of Blending Inculturation and Liberation approaches towards new evangelization in Contemporary Africa. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(7), 72–86.
Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
