- Home
- African Christian Studies Series
- religion
- Akan Christology
Akan Christology
An Analysis of the Christologies of John Samuel Pobee and Kwame Bediako in Conversation with the Theology of Karl Barth
Foreword by Wesley Ariarajah
Series: African Christian Studies Series
Imprint: Pickwick Publications
As Christianity expands and grows in Africa, there is deep new interest in African theology in general, and the way in which some African theologians are interpreting the significance of Christ within African culture, in particular. This volume explores the Christology of two of the foremost African thinkers against the background of the West African Akan culture. The result is a rare and fascinating look at some of the key cultural symbols of African culture, the struggle to reinterpret the "white, blond, blue-eyed Christ" presented by pioneering missionaries to Africa, and the pitfalls and promises that attend the exercise. The selected theologians, John Samuel Pobee and Kwame Bediako, are put into a critical conversation with Karl Barth in order to initiate a dialogue between Western theology and African theology that brings to the fore some of the pertinent issues about the particularity and universality of Christ. The volume, while seeking to make Christ relevant for Africa, moves away from romanticizing African culture and insists on being faithful to the biblical witness to Christ. The result is an attempt to present an engaging piece of work that makes a significant contribution to contemporary debates on Christology and indigenous theology.
Charles Sarpong Aye-Addo (PhD, Drew University) is the Founder and Executive Chancellor of Yeshua Institute of Technology, Ghana. He is Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Montclair State University, and the Senior Pastor of International Central Gospel Church, Worcester, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Gertrude, have three children--Akusika, Nyansafo, and Nhyira--all of whom are pursuing degrees in their respective fields of study.
"The phenomenal growth of Christianity as a non-Western religion has made theological studies on the interface between faith and culture even more imperative. In this study Charles Aye-Addo has served the African church and theological academy well by building excellently on the theological christological traditions of stalwarts like Kwame Bediako. This book is a welcome and timely contribution to the important literature on Christology from African perspectives."
--J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Professor of African Christianity, Trinity Theological Seminary
"Is the goal of Christology to render Jesus Christ familiar and 'at home' within a cultural context? Or is the task of theology to continually renew the strangeness of Jesus to every cultural context, against ever-present tendencies toward domestication and proprietary control? These are difficult and risky questions to ask in postcolonial Africa. In this challenging new book, Charles Aye-Addo has the courage both to ask them and to struggle toward fresh answers."
--Chris Boesel, Associate Professor of Christian Theology, Drew University