The Theological Legacy of the Reverend Doctor Byang Henry Kato (original) (raw)
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African Christians or Christian Africans: Byang H. Kato and his Contextual Theology
2019
Byang Henry Kato, a promising African Christian leader, passed away in 1975 at only 39 years of age. In spite of his brief career, he has left his imprint on the pages of African Christian history. He is not without his supporters and critics alike. It appears that while his critics have misunderstood him in some aspects, his supporters also have not paid enough attention to his theological conviction and articulation. While this article aims at clarifying some of Kato’s conviction, it also informs readers how, regardless of context and time, others can appreciate, learn, and even adopt some aspects of his contextual model. The writer, an Asian living more than forty years apart from Kato, argues that Kato was indeed an evangelical leader whose theological conviction and model cannot be confined merely to a past era.
The Theological Legacy of the Reverend Doctor
2014
The tragic and untimely death of Rev. Dr. Byango Kato, the evangelical spokesman in the 1970s, has not diminished his influence on the churches in Africa. His voice continues to he heard through his publications which are still read today as through the graduate schools founded through him. This mticle by Rev. Professor Yusufu Turaki was an address given on December 2, 2000 as part of the thanksgiving commemoration for the life of Dr. Kato, held in Jos, Nigeria, on the 25'h anniversary of his death. Though Dr. Kato was a Nigerian from West Africa, he was a man of God with whom we all identified. He was concerned with some of the same theological issues which concem AJET and Scott Theological College. When preparations for Scott graduation were being made in 1975 our graduation speaker suddenly sent his apologies. Though extreme(v busy and weary in body, Dr. Kato agreed to speak at the Scott graduation the latter part of November. Just two weeks later the Lord called him home whe...
2013
This study was conceived primarily as an attempt to evaluate and critique the common assumption that Francis Mary Paul Libermann (1802-52) like any missionary during his age who went to Africa brought Good News of salvation, recreated self-esteem, confidence and selfrespect in Africans who had been dehumanized by slavery. This tendency to overemphasize heroic exploits and contributions of self-sacrificing European missionaries and founders of missionary Religious Congregations often overlooks the part played by the people who were evangelized and their influence on the so called Christian heroes. Far from being a hagiology of Libermann, this study engages in an ideological dialogue by first, evaluating Libermann's theological anthropology of l'oeuvre des noirs in sitz im leben of the nineteenth century with its prejudices against Africans which can also be easily discerned in Libermann's writings and second, underlining important underpinnings of the East African religious traditions which played a critical role in the reception and acceptance of the Gospel message. v Drawing from Emmanuel Levinas' concept of the "other" sometimes referred to as the "face" which cannot be conceptualized, speaks to us, and is inviolable, I argue that Libermann too allowed the "other" that is, Africans, to speak to him. Using this insight I explore the relational notion of human being which is very prominent in the East African concept of person and its impact on Libermann's relationship with Africans, the primary object of his mission. Missionary activity in the East African context, I conclude is a dialogue, a listening experience that leads to metanoia (conversion) of both the evangelizer and the evangelized. vi DEDICATION To my beloved sister, Christine Nnazziwa who passed on to eternity on April 11, 1991. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe profound gratitude to my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Francis and Felista Ssemmondo who nurtured the gifts of life and faith in me and instilled in me a burning interest and desire for Christian missionary activity. I am very grateful to the members of the dissertation committee: Dr. Gerald Michael Boodoo who served as chair and whose critical interpretation of Francis Libermann's teaching was of valuable help; Dr. Eugene Elochukwu Uzukwu CSSp for his corrections and suggestions; and Dr. George Worgul for his advice. I must say that I could not have asked for more supportive and helpful advisors. The initial call to pursue doctoral studies at Duquesne University was from the General Council (2004-2012) in Rome. I am grateful to the General Council for the confidence entrusted in me and their continuous support, particularly through John Kwofie CSSp. I am also indebted to the East African Province Council (2005-2008) and the Uganda Foundation Council for allowing me to do my studies at Duquesne. In pursuing doctoral studies and writing this dissertation, I received financial support from the Trans-Canadian Province which financed my first year at Duquesne and the US Province for the rest of my studies. I am most grateful for this support and the moral support from Jeff Duaime CSSp. I have been fortunate to work with John Fogarty CSSp (current Superior General) and Bernard Kelly CSSp at Duquesne's Center for Spiritan Studies. I am grateful to these two for assisting me to formulate the initial ideas of this dissertation and their continued advice and support. In writing this dissertation, I relied on the hospitality and assistance of people and institutions in many places of which I am very grateful. I am grateful to Sr. Loise Best SND for proof reading the text. I am equally grateful to Vincent O'Toole CSSp for reading this work and viii his helpful insights, and Paul Kollman CSC for reading part of this work and offering useful comments. I am grateful to the chief librarians at Makerere University library and Ggaba Seminary library who gave me access to these libraries.
AFRICAN THEOLOGY : THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE PIONEERS (Vol. 2)Edited by
The sequence in this chapter is as follows: the first observation and preliminary reflections will be on a brief biography of Charles Nyamiti. The next step will be on how Nyamiti examines and elaborates the key concepts as employed in his works. Then the scrutiny of this methodological approach will follow. After that, his basic orientation will be tackled. The next step will be deeply concerned with hi pedagogy for the realization of African Christian theology. The chapter will be concluded with a brief general appraisal.
Developing an African Evangelical Theology
Pharos Theological Journal, 2022
Evangelicalism in Africa is an export of American theology and therefore considered inadequate for the African situation because it is shaped by Western culture. Consequently, I argue that Evangelical theology contains cultural elements from the dominant cultures of the West that apply only to those cultures. This article argues that if Evangelical theology is relevant in Africa, it must consider the cultural context. In most cases, references to Evangelical theology in the writings of sub-Saharan African theologians seem to mean previous theology done by Western theologians. In particular, the debate centres on the type of Christianity transmitted to Africa through Western theologies in the 21 Century. African theologians such as Bujo (1992:43) accuse Western theologians of being ethnocentric and paternalistic. This is perhaps the most prominent critique of Western Evangelical theologians' approach to Africa as if it had no heritage. For this reason, Western Evangelical theology fails to understand that African anthropology treats a person through the community. (Maimela, 1994: 4-5). The lived realities of poverty and suffering must be taken seriously in developing a praxis of Evangelical Theology for Africa. A qualitative methodology is employed in this article by using the works of African and Latin American theologians to understand how their works may assist in developing an African Evangelical theology that focuses on an integral mission.
A Reflection on African Christian Theology
E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies
The African heritage and identity have been intensely religious. Africans carry along their religio-cultural background and tradition wherever they go and in whatever they find themselves doing. Africans embraced Christian theology while having already imbibed and appreciated African theology and identity. Being religious beings, African Christians have sought to appreciate Christian theology through the lens of African theology and heritage. This paper establishes that African Christian theology should go beyond championing African heritage and identity. It should rather be proactive and go a step further to address the challenges and ills of human society in the African setting. This will make it worthy as a source of hope for hopeless Africans in their religious existence. Using secondary data resources from the internet, and published and unpublished literature in the form of books and journal articles, this work discusses African Christian theology and the way forward. It is th...
TASKS OF A THEOLOGIAN IN AFRICA TODAY
African Christian theology has many tasks today. This is evident both from a reading of the history of African christian theology and from the wide variety of current understandings of its nature and task. Some theologians today contend that the task of African theologian is to provide a clear and comprehensive description of the African Christian faith. Other theologians emphasize the importance of translating faith into terms that intelligible to the African cultures. For others, African christian theology must be defined as thinking about important issues from the perspective of the faith of African Christians. And still others insist that theology must be reflexion on the praxis of Christian faith within an oppressed community. Therefore this paper seeks to provide briefly some definitions, different approaches to contextualization as a process of theologization, the history of Christianity in Africa. We will proceed to explore the need for an African theology, its models and how it is taught to African Christians; the problems confronting African Christians today throuh different cultural values. We will conclude with the general guidelines on formulating the tasks of African Christian theologians.