Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts

Thursday, May 31, 2012

¿Cómo tratar el mundo África


INTERNATIONA POLITICAL PRELUDE

It has become imperative that the ideas underlying every African nations was those eminent to the present day rage which has of course blast every gentle mind to fury. A day of terror approach where there will be constant betrayal and in this betrayal, brothers will sell their kindred to slavery in terms of new global slave trade known as 'economic dependency'.

But nonetheless, nations have taken the lead in correcting the ills and wrongs of the 'big five' nations. Nations have stood their ground and has taken their destiny, and at which point they have done the best bid by defending their course diplomatically in the theatre of international arena. Some of these nations knew the mysteries underpinning their suffering, yet they have played along course the ideologies of the 'big five', being used as battle ground for selfish purposes. It is regrettable that even citizens of these nations have fell Snell to this obnoxious nonsense just like the proverbial Judas Iscariot in the holy Bible. Imagine the endless and senseless wars in Iraq, Iran nuclear escapade, North Korea' stubbornness to disarm all nuclear aspirations, Israel's mutiny with neighboring factions like the Hezbollah military stronghold, Palestine's breakage and the suicide bomb warranty, Lebanon and the outside codified ally, the Fatah/Hamas struggle for political supremacy, U.S ego-problem with the oil rich nations, Africa's nations and the eminent problem and resolutions to the civil war affected areas.

U.N.O's INTERNATIONAL BASE TOWARDS POLITICS

The controversies over ethics and morality in the global setting are beset by complications of what is the subject of the discussion and what influences globalization has on the features of societies in an international system. There are some international truths that must be unfolded before everything controversial in international politics and the ideal mystery of the Big Five can be settled within themselves without rubbing other nations of their mal-Unity. Are there many reasonable moral views, some of which stand in contradiction, in the world? Are there universal moral norms which no state or person may disregard without being blameworthy from the moral point of view? Is a "my citizens first" ethics compatible with right behavior? Who, if anyone, answers morally for the destruction of lives and ways of life in foreign countries through the consumption of richer countries? And how does all this apply to international law?

If these questions and numerous others cannot be answered, then I m afraid that the Unity and life span of UN is limited to grand zero actualization, despite past height in international peace reconciliation. The bridge that binds nations together under the ties of the UN will be broken forever, and the result will be constant political unrest, International evils in economy, technology and discovery, Terrorism and Wars, Usurpation of National Sovereignty, disloyalty to international constitution as it reflects the UN, national ego-ideal focus, bilateral and trade exploitation, increase in embargo due to fear of the unknown apart from terrorist attacks, diseases and high mortality rate.

Well in terms of its beneficial inter-relatedness, numerous coefficients serve to warm up African Consciousness, which has started to take effects in the areas of Global Mutiny and economic considerations, Africa which they term as developing has arrived at the isles to be self peopled, economically viable, and in my opinion, this is advancement taking place...So Globalization can be taken from either sense as classed economy or the United Nation's perception of power tussles. What I like to know also is the random ideological mutiny, which the Big Five has in post economic exploitation of the more sensitized and conscientized African Communities that claims to be moving towards development. At the height of augmentation, Mozambique, Gambia, Zimbabwe and the rest other southern and eastern nations of Africa are said to be near develop. Then the ethical questions is; what where the parameters that was used in determining the height of economic growth? When with mere eye-saw, these western nations with their economic sickles, and paranoid behaviors in economics, politics, inventions, science and technology, democracy and the like has affected the African Nations with their beefs within its shores.

It is more obvious, if Africans have forgotten so soon that we do not as Africans subscribe to the ideal barbarian lifestyle of the west, and as such those nations of Africa who once defended these way of life, and who where direct student of Marcus morsiah Garvey call for African's consciousness has been bought over simply for the urgency to unify allies in a bid to overcome perceived enemy of so called world-police nations. Our subscription with due course is to the overall unity of all African nations hence the ideal conception and impregnation of the African Unity (AU). Better still the hope of an average African is growth and peaceful co-existence of all Africans undermining civil wars which with respect to numerous investigations where directly and indirectly fueled by the so called western super-powers.

MY RESOLVE ON THE US INVOLVMENT IN PEACE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Although I do not refute that America's influence has not better the tremendous growth of Africa's economy and democracy. This is true, but it is imperative to know that America and her ally has done on the other hand a great harm to African nations through her romance with rebels, which on most cases has been denied by the American government and her allies. The truth is whatever the course today, America would have been able to intervene. But it seems more to every rational thinker that America is only interested in personal and national gains rather than humanity and global realization in peace and war free universe, yet propagation to end all wars is at the corner. This is itself an irony because within the Israeli/Lebanon brief war, we saw where the U.S took side, and gave Israel all needed expertise, when we know that Aaron Sharon still has supporters who where active during the genocide period of Palestine/Israel faction of the 1980's. If no nation will blame US for her involvement in wars, oil and nuncupative arrogance in nations sovereignty, then I am sure sooner or later, another apocalypses will emerge as the 'third world war'. Our fear is that this should not occur, but the way America, Russia, china, extremist Islamic nations are handling matters towards this global and techno-politico era, I fear another world war is zooming the gap of time.

On one hand, one cannot persecute their involvement with these African nations, and thereby unjustifying their wishes and aspiration. The Big five is just certainly the problem of the world, and the UN knows this. They are still the actors of colonization, and during these age of technology, they have adopted advance techniques and warfare to push their devices into sorting for higher egoistic good in Africa, and somehow in the Middle east; as an African Political philosopher Professor Ayodele Adebayo put the terms, "there is only one war to be fought, and this is simply for economy reasons, and man's utmost agitation to alienate his fellow man" Therefore, it is wise that Nations through the UN ties should come together and reason out ways of settling the cold war tussle between the Big Fives and their allies.

When I read the article put forward by my Lord, jaja malonga, I was striped naked of my empathy towards the different types of phobia man in his survival of the fittest has developed over the years. And I have reason seldom awkward in thoughts that it may be right on the ground that it depicts empirically the economic and moral surge the world has been afflicted with, and how the crisis came out as related by ethics, religion, economics, technology and the drive for survival in hard time during the world industrial revolution that took a hell peak at one historic time.

GLOBAL JUSTICE

I will always repeat that although the League of Nations has its demerits, but United Nation's demerits has presided all the Demerits of the leagues of Nations plus the Second World War. The death toll today has tripled itself, and the nations to call for these disasters are seen now perpetuating and sponsoring other Israelis for baseless wars against Lebanon and Palestine and agendas in Iraq, Iran, Africa and the rest of the world - this in itself do not make me an Anti-American, rather As an Apologist of a more sensitized global justice which all nations strives to attain. Apart from the UN, there are member-nations whose solemn good is self centeredness, and to say the least these members are the real racist and extremist of the world and not the perceived arrogant Islamic extremist and fundamentalist, the real sponsors are term the Big-five of which most of us are politically aware of as being US, RUSSIA, BRITAIN, FRANCE, GERMANY etc, and so it will do us no necessary good if we continue to hide under diplomacy as a parameter to resolving our global differences between Nation-States.

Since they are the only nations that can help in structuring out facets for international relations through globalizations, Trades, investment and social and international securities. They must collectively fight a just course and call the middle east and Africa to global dialogue, instead of the threat given to them through sanctions - they must carry them along in every advancement, development, agenda and ethical principles, this is inclusive of the ethical justification for all as reasoned by member nations who are themselves not among the Big five, the Big-Five member states includes USA, Russia, China, Britain and Japan.

In one word, this cannot work as it is a reflection of bias and annihilation of the less developing nations (Third word Countries). Meanwhile there are other areas that the executive councils of the UN can formulate policies to bring to book those articulate agendas that will lead to Strategic progress and a back off of African Land, thus global peace and Understanding between all aggrieved nations and individuals. This is not just done to Africans alone, the Middle East are also affected. No wonder the increase in terrorism and wars.

The purpose of the formation of the UN was to bring about bilateral relations among nations, and for them to help each member states in reconstructing the war dilapidated areas of the world war two and poorer nations. The only way to stop terrorism is not to perpetuate terror to terrorist, rather peace and tolerance can only happen when world unity is the agenda of the day, where respect for life, rights, sovereignty, agendas and the like are discussed in the executive and security council of the UN where member-nations are present. We must dialogue peace; we must call all aggrieved nations and individuals together and reach an agreeable consensus. Let no man or nations be called a terrorist, fundamentalist, extremist and diplomatic enemy of another nation. We should take into cognizance that nations have their rights to internal resolution of crisis, and they don't expect other nations to interfere except when it affects the lives and properties of the timid Masses.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL DICOTOMY

During the past five decades, many countries, often those born of decolonization amidst colonization, revealed themselves to be no more than pseudo states, without solid institutions, internal cohesion, or national consciousness. The end of communist coercion in the former Soviet Union and in the former Yugoslavia also revealed long-hidden ethnic tensions. Minorities that were or considered themselves oppressed demanded independence. In Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan rulers waged open warfare against their subjects. These wars increased the importance of humanitarian interventions, which came at the expense of the hallowed principles of national sovereignty and non-intervention. Thus the dominant tension of the decade was the clash between the fragmentation of states (and the state system) and the progress of economic, cultural, and political integration - in other words, globalization.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE 9/11 ON WORLD PEACE

Everybody has understood the events of September 11 as the beginning of a new era. But what does this break mean? In the conventional approach to international relations, war takes place among states. But in September, poorly armed individuals suddenly challenged, surprised, and wounded the world's dominant superpower. The attacks also showed that, for all its accomplishments, globalization makes an awful form of violence easily accessible to hopeless fanatics. Although this is what the world see them to be, but in my humble Opinion, they are just some bunch of depressed souls wondering and contemplating the level of torture they have received from the Big Five, in most case America and Russia as the leading champions of these oppression. And this was only possible through their involvement with the UN; hence UN only served as a citadel of post economic and sovereign terrors who appear to be the world police, and whose drive is for the oil rich agenda in Iraq, the middle east, irrelevant policy allied agenda with Israel against any perceived enemy states such as Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq.

US's FOREIGN POLICY IN THE OIL RICH NIGER DELTA

Sooner or later, terrorism will be championed from the Africa and core Asia minority states, because the US involvement in the reach oil regions of Africa such as the Niger Delta is beginning to take awkward effects, through opinion polls of the Nigerian rationalist, they and including myself have posit that, the US sudden Military base in the Niger Delta has an Ulterior motive from the US depute Secretary of State, Sir Negroponte himself, a man who is known to eat lions. This is the same man who lobbied the congress being used as Bush Administration's puppet to champion the dis-arment of Saddam and his final execution; this was the same man fueling the un-reconciliation and bilateral impunity between Rice and Hezbollah of Iran, the same man championing Fatah/Hamas stronghold. What can such a man do to better the economic life of the Niger Delta people and Nigerians if not to use the elites in slaughtering the minorities? He has been so careful and strategic enough to use his fraudulent political antics to confuse Mr. President Umaru Ya A'dua to grant him military base in Nigeria. Since when has Nigeria become member of the western or eastern block? Or do they think that Africa will one day be used as their dust-bin and testing ground for policies? This can only happen when Africans are reluctant to approach the suspicious western policies championed by Germany, Britain, US and their Allies.

The truth in this wise is not far fetch. America as a leading pathfinder of the Big-five has seldom looked upon themselves as the real problem of world peace, amounting to what becomes truth, America, Britain, France, china, north Korea, Russia, Japan etc and its allies have done nothing other than sharing the world into nations of their own, like the Asia economic interest in Africa, in fact it grieves my hearts to discover very recently that even china, Philippines are all working in same scourge to alienate Africans, and thereby re-colonized its territories. As long as i support creativity, economic relations between nations, I nevertheless would submit to the economic ulteriorness of nations having weird and fake Agenda for Africa's urgent development if not for self and economic interest, both advantageous to the communist nations and a slap to the economic and global integrity of the Nation-state at it expense. The wondering continues as this is a stylish way of post colonization and imperialism. The rest of the world is just being fooled and blinded because they kind of lack the economic, political, humanistic, socio-ethical and moral values to handle national issues. I sometimes wonder when these stiff neck, cancer worm Big-five nations will cease to interfere in other nation's affair, becoming spies and the actual terrors of the world. I hope Mr. Bo ki Moon - the newly elected UN secretary general will map out strategies to aid world's understanding of what the Big-five Nations are up to.

TERRORISM AT A GLANCE (1)

Terrorism is the bloody link between interstate relations and global society. As countless individuals and groups are becoming global actors along with states, insecurity and vulnerability are rising. To assess today's bleak state of affairs, therefore, several questions are necessary- I was able to ask this moral questions during the conference in New Delhi, Australia, Middle east - Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria . What concepts can help explain the new global order? What is the condition of the interstate part of international relations? And what does the emerging global civil society contribute to world order? These and many more are the necessary contingent questions that must be answered by the Big Five, in technical terms they are the Global police. In theory they monitor the political excesses of nations why they press for the reserves of self consciousness and own national benefits. It is imperative that the Big Five has become a threat to the developing and less advance nations in terms of Global warfare of all kinds, ranging from the accumulations of nuclear weapons and economic arrest through sanctions.

TERRORISM AT A GLANCE (2) - MODERN ECONOMIC MODELS

Two forensic models made a great deal of noise in the 1990s. The first one -- *Francis Fukuyama's "End of History" thesis -- was not vindicated by events. To be sure, his argument predicted the end of ideological conflicts, not history itself, and the triumph of political and economic liberalism. That point is correct in a narrow sense: the "secular religions" that fought each other so bloodily in the last century are now dead. But Fukuyama failed to note that nationalism remains very much alive. Moreover, he ignored the explosive potential of religious wars that has extended to a large part of the Islamic world. That even the less religious tolerated nations now embark on religious Mutiny and rivalry, it is now being fashioned as perpetuated by political insensitivity of Politicians in most African countries as in Nigeria, Sudan etc, and other countries of the middle east, Asia and some part of Europe.

Fukuyama's academic mentor, the political scientist *Samuel Huntington, provided a few years later a gloomier account that saw a very different world. Huntington predicted that violence resulting from international anarchy and the absence of common values and institutions would erupt among civilizations rather than among states or ideologies. But Huntington's conception of what constitutes a civilization was hazy. He failed to take into account sufficiently conflicts within each so-called civilization and the national context, he made a blatant error in so far that he was not mindful of his conscience, rather he judged too emphatically; and he overestimated the importance of religion in the behavior of non-Western elites, who are often secularized and Westernized. Hence he could not clearly define the link between a civilization and the foreign policies of the United Nations' member states. Meanwhile he was able to fashion a model for lasting economic solutions through the realization of the elite poorer nations. There was an institution that was built to conscientize citizens and the national polity in terms of national allegiance of which they owe a mechanical solidarity.

Comrades, after much dissertations presentation on international politicking by the western and the global policing of this same western world, I was able to come up with an Ideal conception of how this lasting problems can be possible through an inevitable solutions of a proper international Dialogue between member states of the UN to define their roles in the international political scheme of things; and how well their rights can be preserved without causing any furiousness in the eyes of member states who have felt intimidated in the last few decades, and whose sovereign right they felt was trampled upon politically.

MY LARGESE OPINION AND RESOLUTION ON THIS ISSUE.

I have prepared this dissertation works, and on the next conference in Novo Scotia, Canada in December 17th 2007 (which has been postponed to 18 January, 2008, this agenda shall be placed forward and deliberated upon. This also shall be the first time that a Black man has ever confronted the world problems from an imperceptible ground of rationale, and thereby would pull the entire power bunches together who called themselves 'the Big-Five'; and of which the greatest moral question of our time will be raised and resolved. And in so doing they either make a choice of settling down towards peace, forgoing the obsession of the "Biggest Guy in the World syndrome" or be made to face a catastrophe that will profit no nations but destroy the world in sevenfold all living creatures both Humanity, Animals and all that was created except the dust of the earth. This is evident at least with the modern stiff neck of nuclear bombs manufactured by nations of the world.

I have seldom asked if the Black will profit in this bid, and the answer to this question is true: the black will gain, but it will be on the ground that their WILL may flourish economically and otherwise and their ideals to an infinitesimal rational conclusion to world peace will be guaranteed. Although other black scholars have tried the same task I threading through. I know it will not be easy, but I must work the saddest mile to liberate my people and the Blackman from total alienation. The Black nations must surely take their place in the order of international politics....This is sure!

I have littered this article to be seconded by my fellow Black scholars who have held same opinions over the past years; this can also serve as a catalyst to persuading the world that the Black nations - Africa, Asia and Middle East (If they are actually ready) to take their place in the scheme of things. It is time we act fast before the Snell lingers longer exposing our cowardice and identity as a nations which has long been glaring. This article is open to criticism from proponent scholars of political reputes. I'm calling on all Black scholars to respond as soon as possible given your Opinions about this matter. My major analysis shall be centered on UN for the next 5 months which shall includes intensive submissions of dissertations as it regards how the UN can actualize Peace in this world amongst member states which already comprises of 205 members.

Dr. Carl-Collins Ogunshola Oshodi (PhD)




My Life is a simple one, a very well organized aspect of living. I grew up to be the man i had always wanted to be, and no matter, i will always be what i want to be in life, making those who trust in me very proud people. My Goal is to make a breakthrough in the area of art as it is in science, space, technology and Mathematics. As Mathematics has lead to higher truth, i believe beyond all reasonable doubt that reason alone in the contemporary issues of Humanity will also lead me to higher through. I have tried in my search to finding lasting solutions to the ethical problems of men, and that like the maze of life, we all must stand and pick up the bones, which in a nutshell has been left to rot.

Our lives in this world seems more maribound to those who watches our progress and compliment on them. My goal is certainly to be good, and righteous always. Being "Good" is the veritable source of our pride, honor and all we have fought for in this changing world. Life is good, but there is more to life than the eyes can see, because it also contains some unrealistic events happening.




Sunday, May 13, 2012

Doing theology in Africa today - issues and trends in Nigeria


INTRODUCTION

Since the mid-1950s, African theologians like John Mbiti, Edward Fashole-Luke, Desmond Tutu, Vincent Mulago and Harry Sawyerr, Bolaji Idowu, Byang Kato and others have made it their mission to bring the gospel to bear on Africans' lives and thought-worlds -- to make Christianity indigenous on a continent that first heard the gospel in New Testament times. It would therefore be a misleading oversimplification to state that Germany, America, Britain and Africa respectively created corrupted, corrected and copied theology. Africa has something meaningful to offer. This provides supportive evidence for a realistic assessment of the issues and trends of the Church in Africa.

CONTEXTUALIZATION

The term contextualization could be defined as simplifying, clarifying and giving ownership to the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a specific community of faith. If the system for doing so is therefore only understood by the stranger or alien, then one has closed the channels for incarnation of the Word. The researcher was impressed when he visited several churches in Lagos, Nigeria during a field study and noted areas of contextualization. The Anglican and Aladura churches have some programmes in the native language. Even the Catholic church is no longer conducting the service in Latin but English. African instruments were used and African choruses were ministered. Dancing and clapping are not uncommon. An assessment of Christianity from the Portuguese explorations in the fifteenth century to the middle of the seventh century reveals that there was a relative failure on the part of the missionaries in the presentation of the gospel. They did not take the culture of the people into consideration. The Roman Catholics demanded monogamy from their converts, but they did not show how the unwanted wives could be resettled. Christianity was portrayed as a European invention. Usry and Keener (1996) provocatively titled their text Black man's religion: can Christianity be Afrocentric? It is so titled, not of course to imply that non-Blacks are excluded, but to point out that biblical Christianity is a Black religion as much as a white one. The issue of slavishly accepting or rather adopting any thing from the west should be treated with caution. The article, Halloween in a cross-cultural perspective, is a passionate account of the vulnerability of children which the Harry Porter series is taking advantage of. The new repacking of witchcraft in a fictitious novel is attractive to children (and adults) since it is user friendly.

Schreiter (1985) presents an excellent and very relevant text that clearly teaches how one can understand culture so that the gospel message takes root. Ownership of the Bible must be given to a community of faith in a given place. For instance, an Igbo and by extension, an African, will clearly understand the humiliation Christ went through since the writer clearly expresses that to humiliate someone who is either popular or rich is worse than to kill him, a message which the African understands. The cultural sensitivity of Dan Wooding in Blind faith in cross-cultural perspective, Part 1, enabled him to reasonably establish intercultural rapport in the men's breakfast meeting at the Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene. In responding to this invitation and willingly giving generously, an individual eventually received five fold merely out of his blind faith rather than a display of supernatural acts like speaking in tongues.

ISSUES

Corruption

Boer (2003) identifies two major issues which are affecting the Nigerian church; "the first is corruption which has penetrated every level of society..." (Boer 2003, 31). One must however note that corruption is an issue facing both developing and developed nations. The church continues to be guilty of many of the kinds of corruption which characterize the society as a whole, an issue that shocked Dr. Eze as he observes in his article Worldview issues on corruption.... He realistically argues however that "the survey of CPI (Corruption Perceptions Index) on the levels of corruption in countries they researched is not based on hard empirical data... (but) on the experience and perceptions of those who are most directly confronted with the realities of corruption" (Eze 2004, 1).

Islam

The second issue facing Christian spirituality according to Boer is Islam. The subject of his book Nigeria's decade of blood, vol.1 is Christian-Muslim relations. "If corruption has demonized Nigeria", Boer argues "Christian-Muslim relations have bedeviled it" (Boer 2003, 1). He steers Christianity and Islam into positive channels for national building and suspects that there is a great risk that Nigerians will grow tired of religious riots and either return to a sanitized form of traditional religion or to an African version of secularism. Every Christian should read his text and note that Christians in western nations are now fighting the very secularism they produced through their infighting.

African Traditional Religion

Any realistic attempt to do theology in Africa must take into consideration the influence of African Traditional Religion in the lives of the people. Dr. Eze did a very relevant study of several manifestations of God among the tribes of Lardin Garbes. The assumption that God was introduced to Africa by the Europeans is a misleading oversimplification. In addition to the family and village deities, the Kamwe people believe in a transcendent and universal God. Dr. Eze (2004) argues that Africans knew about the Creator or the Supreme God inspite of their polytheistic understanding and used his grandfather, Mr. Muogbo Eze as supportive evidence. Even though they have the faulty notion that He is far away thus justifying appeasing the lesser deities to reach him, the concept of the way to the Creator is still present among them. Paul uses the belief in the unknown God to minister to his audience. Christians should also use this concept of the way to the Creator already present in the worldview of the Kamwe to present Jesus to them. God amazingly works within human cultures (irrespective of different language, race or ethnicity) to unfold His plans. This is in consonance with the philosophy behind the phrase 'redemptive analogy' which is so-called because it facilitates human understanding of redemption within human culture. Its God-given purpose is to precondition the mind in a culturally significant way to recognize Jesus as Messiah. Outside of Scripture, it appears that God's general revelation is the source of redemptive analogies worldwide. It is relatively easier for one to use the supernatural orientation of the African to win him to Christ.

Growth of cities

Perhaps the most urgent issue facing the church in Africa today is the rapid growth of cities. The clash of cultures, and religions, desperate poverty, AIDS, horrific numbers of street children, pressures on traditional morality, problems of temporary and unstable work, and the lack of training for what few jobs there are brought home to the reader in moving and perceptive accounts of the people with whom Shorter has direct contact. A case in point is the city of Lagos whose population of over twelve million is more than that of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia combined.

Numerical growth of the church

At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was estimated that about three percent of the people on the African continent professed to be Christians and that this number significantly increased to about fifty percent towards the end of the century. There is every reason to believe that the church will continue to record significant growth. Ajah (1996) even attributes this 'swollen membership' to the church's wise use of music which is seen as an outstanding highway into the hearts of most Africans. All the churches visited by the researcher during the field research were packed full. During the researcher's stay in Nigeria (2002-2005), it was observed that churches with more musical instruments and skilled instruments generally attracted more worshipers than those with few.

Prosperity

A contemporary trend to avoid suffering at all cost has led to the 'Prosperity Gospel' which stresses faith in claiming blessings as they name them. At the risk of oversimplification and distortion, this gospel teaches, among other things that:

1. Every Christian is created to be materially and financially buoyant.

2. Christians who are in a state of prolonged financial predicament are ignorant of God's design.

3. For the manifestation of the reversal of breakthrough, the aspirant must demonstrate his expectancy by blessing the 'man of God' first.

Christians are therefore encouraged not to accept suffering as their portion. Anyone who is suffering is either living in sin or is not standing on the promises of God for his showers of blessing. This teaching was reflected in the Pentecostal church visited during the field study. The number of offerings raised in the Pentecostal and Anglican churches was astonishing.

Training of church leaders

The church in Africa has made amazing progress during the twentieth-century. It has grown from just a handful of training institutions to hundreds of seminaries. This is an indication that the African church in the twenty-first century is going to be much more educated church. In the churches covered in the field study, the researcher observed that the pastors of the Aladura and Pentecostal Churches visited, Superior Evangelist E.M. Babatunde and Rev. Mike Ohiorenoya, are doctorate holders. It is indubitable that Catholic and Anglican priests are academically trained.

The role of women

The central message of the Christian mission is that of salvation, and by implication, liberation. With this message, the church should take cognizance of the 'imbalance' in the male-dominated African culture. In the second part of The agony of the 'passion' in cultural lenses, Dr. Eze (2004) analyses the concept of a theology that is culturally driven. He realistically argues that any image of manhood outside the Messiah is culturally driven and misleading. The church should learn the African concept of muntu, that is, person. Societal changes demand that the church make some modifications in women's role. The dynamics which women now exhibit in the wider society and in the Aladura church visited in particular have challenged the subordinate roles offered by some other churches. The researcher observes the role of women at West Africa Theological Seminary where they serve in very important capacities such as Registrar, Missions Director, Ag. Director of Spiritual Formation and lecturers. More and more women are going to become pastors as more seminaries are opening doors to more female students and lecturers. With the ascension of women into leadership positions, perhaps the church will see a gentler and softer style of church leadership.

TRENDS

Mediocre spiritual growth

Indubitably, a visible trend is a continuous and explosive growth of the African church. However, there is a very big challenge associated with it. This has already started manifesting itself in contemporary Christianity. The problem is numerical without a corresponding spiritual growth. For instance, the dressing of church members, if not checked, would lead to serious problem in the church. In the Pentecostal church visited, the researcher was so happy when he was moved from the seat he was occupying to a special seat reserved for visitors since the dressing of the lady sitting in front of him was indecent. She was putting on a bandless trousers which exposed a considerable portion of her pink underwear. The preaching was very loud and emotional but devoid of substance. The church must resist mediocrity with the same commitment that it resists compromise. The researcher observed that the churches visited did not have a very clear discipleship training programme. Winning souls for Christ without a systematic discipleship programme is to some extent equivalent to begetting sons for the devil.

Fanaticism

In several churches today, the service is incomplete without a few prophecies, a healing or two, and a few demons cast out. Churches and ministries 'compete' with the most dramatic advertisements such as 'Divine Explosion', 'Mountain of miracles', 'Supernatural sensation' and similar expressions. Though it is good to stress the supernatural, the African church must realize that the daily occurrence of miracles is not the focus of the Bible. Building the church in Africa around the miraculous may tend to lead to a wrong emphasis. The primary commission of Jesus was to preach the gospel. Leaning on the miraculous in every service could therefore lead to fanaticism and deviation from the truth. In the Celestial Church of Christ visited during the field work, the researcher was called out of the service and taken to the back of the outside altar where visions and revelations, mostly untrue, from a prophetess about him were penned by a recorder. For instance, the prophetess observed that the researcher's wife sometimes suffered from stomach ache. The question in one's mind then is: how many normal women do not normally suffer from bellyache?

Rationalism

The education of the church is steadily improving. There are many Bible colleges and seminaries in Nigeria alone. Many of the universities and colleges of education have departments of religious studies. However, as more and more Africans are exposed to re-packed western ideas, African Christianity should fight very hard to avoid the anti-supernatural rationalism of the western church. Starting with the 'Age of Reason', the western church has gradually been more and more influenced by an anti-supernatural bias which arises from rationalism. Even though this has not yet really become a serious problem, a serious note of caution is that African Christians need to balance faith with reason.

Syncretism

In an attempt to 'protect' the Gospel, European missionaries under contextualized the message. As the church is now becoming more African, care must be taken so that the message is not over contextualized which could lead to syncretism (the mixing of religious beliefs). For instance, the overstress on visions and dreams in the Aladura church. Contextualization without syncretism is one of the major challenges facing the African Church in this century. The typical African, unlike his western counterpart has a supernaturalistic orientation. The African society gives more attention to religion while the west emphasizes on economics and material culture. One of the reasons why Pentecostalism has been well received in Africa is because many of the basic tenets are consistent with the African worldview. Some of these includes the supernatural, demons/evil spirits, divine healing, and emotional and physical expressions of worship. Dr. Eze clearly reveals that the Kamwe/Mubi in Nigeria (including Christians) go to animist priests. As he noted, "felt needs for supernatural power for solving certain problems that defy solution still drive people to animist priests" (Eze 2005, 5). The lesson to be learnt is the attitude of the Christian community that prayed for rain (with God honouring). This is a clear manifestation of the fact that the Christian God is alive or active in the affairs of men. If theology in Africa is to be meaningful, this point must be seriously noted otherwise the church will not be relevant and would be like Rip Van Wrinkle, the legendary character in Gulliver's Travels who slept for decades only to wake up to find a completely changed world.

Domination

An unfortunate tendency within Christianity throughout church history is that whenever Christianity has achieved the majority status within a culture, it has become intolerant and sometimes abusive of other religions. The Crusades in the 10th century onwards could testify to this. The thin line between evangelism and tolerance of other religions has been a tightrope which Christians have not always walked very well. Several writers encourage tolerance between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. Although Boer for instance blamed the latter for most of the religious conflicts, he also argues that there are some instances in which the former sometimes started later riots. The essence of his message to Christians and Muslims is respectively wholism and pluralism. Christians need to repent of their flirtations with the language and concepts of secularism in an environment shared with Muslims and move away from it by developing a more comprehensive worldview. Muslims, on the other hand, need to update their sense of pluralism. Nigeria is marked by a pluralistic situation that no longer allows the domination of one religion over all the people. Boer argues that the situation calls for changes in the attitude of Christians and Muslims ? they need to move from hostility to respect.

THE OUTLOOK OF THEOLOGY IN AFRICA/OPPORTUNITIES

Any attempt to do theology in Africa must seriously take note of the afore-mentioned discussion. From the foregoing, it could be argued that not all the issues and trends are negative. Although care should be taken to avoid a church that is heavily inclined towards rationalism, prosperity, syncreticism, to mention but a few, the African church must be commended for its conscious effort to contextualize the Gospel and emphasize on training of its clergy. However, the rest of the paper further discusses several opportunities which must be wisely utilized for theology to be meaningful in Africa.

The age of the church

A significant proportion of the contemporary church is made up of young people. The estimated average age of churches visited during the field work is thirty. There is a possibility that this trend is not going to change. The church in Africa will continue to be a young church. This age group is going to continue to give to it much energy and enthusiasm. It will enable the church to have the strength to evangelize and impact the society. However, it could also make the church more susceptible to fanaticism, intolerance and unwise decisions. One must not forget that Nigerian proverb which states that the child on top of the tree cannot see what the elder sitting on the ground can see.

The church and the theological school

An increase in the number of theological institutions is a welcome development. However, the church and theological school have to work as a team to impact society since "the position between the two has almost become that of the church versus the theological school" (Turaki 1991, 31). Turaki evaluates areas of strengths and weaknesses in the assumed roles for each, and the theological implications of the dichotomy, together with the resulting competition, isolationism and assertions of autonomy to doing theology.

Curriculum development

It is necessary for theologians to revisit the curriculum in the seminary. It is questioned whether African seminaries should review, retrieve the history of western thought and the western church or instead launch into the depths of their own culture and tradition and correlate Scripture and tradition with African culture, roots, sources and riches. There are areas where the west could also learn from Africa. It is against this background that it is observed that "instead of competing or claiming superiority for various approaches, we need to exchange and share experiences, we need to understand one another and learn from each other" (Turaki 1991, 29). It is reasonably argued that, contrary to popular thought, Africa has had a definitive and significant effect on the development of the ecumenical movement in general and its mission made in particular. It was against this background that the Edinburgh Conference in 1910 introduced the idea of the whole Gospel by the whole church to the world.

Emphasis on justice

Justice is one of the most fundamental concepts of Christianity (and Judaism). It is a theme that must receive more emphasis in the African church. A society cannot be healthy without justice. In 1995, a group of Nigerian leaders became concerned about the injustice in the Nigerian society. This led to the Congress on Christian Ethics in Nigeria (COCEN) which took place in Abuja in November 1997. It was stressed that Christians are also guilty of ethical violations. Christian principles must be properly contextualized for Africa. There must be a clear understanding of the close link between religion and social/political issues, and faith and justice. The social teaching of the Church must not only to be studied and known, but also applications to the myriad problems facing Africa must be formulated and tried.

Respect for individual human rights

The rights of individuals must be protected. Refusing to grant a person a job because he or she is from the 'wrong' ethnic group is a violation of that person's fundamental human rights. The researcher has observed for instance that Christians don't normally come out in a unified force to clean the environment when the government gives the command every last Saturday in Freetown and Lagos. Night vigils can be conducted without necessarily using loud speakers that would disturb the peace of citizens who are resting.

Assistance to the needy

The teachings of the church should not unnecessarily emphasize on giving from congregation to the church but the other way round. One of the clearest teachings and examples of Jesus was related to compassion for the poor. It must be viewed as a fundamental responsibility of every culture to take care of its weak and needy members. Just giving a little money to a poor person must not satisfy Christians. Christianity must be involved in identifying the causes of poverty and addressing these problems. God has not called all Christians to be rich. Prosperity teachers must take note. However, He has called us to help meet the needs of the poor. Helping the needy require adequate housing is not just a governmental responsibility but also a responsibility of the church. The researcher was impressed when an appeal was made to assist the poor in the Aladura church visited. Free computer training was offered which enabled several youths to be empowered. The entire congregation was fed after the service. The researcher learnt that this is a regular occurrence.

CONCLUSION

A biblical fact of which theology must take account is that if God indeed is concerned with all peoples, then there is a theological continuity between the people of Israel and others (including Africa).

If the Christian faith is to have any real effect on African life, it must accept and address the spirit world. A Christianity that has no place for the supernatural speaks in alien tones. The culture of Africans must be realistically studied if any meaningfully impact could be made. Kalu brilliantly quotes P.O. Ajah's summary of the expectations of the theology of the African church :

African theologians should programme towards realizing answers to what African theology has to say concerning witchcraft, black magic, demonic influences, occultism, spiritually induced sicknesses, spiritual guidance through divination or future predictions, divine healing, deliverance from and casting out of demons and evil spirits, appreciation of cultural values, liberation of the oppressed, relief from poverty and deprivation, human rights, democratization, ozo title and secret societies, reincarnation, death and the resurrection, the last judgement (Kalu 1978, 123).

WORKS CITED

Books and articles

Ajah, Paul. 1996. An Approach to African theology. Uburu : Truth and Life Publications.

Boer, Jan H. 2003. Nigeria's decades of blood, Vol. 1. Belleville, Ontario : Essense Publishing.

Eze, Herbert. 2004. The agony of the "Passion" in cultural lenses (part two).

Available (online) : http://www.assistnews.net/stories/2004/s04040016.htm. 9th March 2005.

_____________. Halloween in a cross-cultural perspective. Available (online):

http:www.assistnews.net/stories/2004/s04040016.htm. Accessed 11th March 2005.

Kalu, Agwu. 1978. The lights and shades of Christianity in West Africa. Umuahia : Charity Press.

McCain, Danny. 2000. The church in Africa in the 21st century. Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology.

19(2) : 105-130.

Schreiter, Robert J. 1985. Constructing local theologies. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books.

Turaki, Yusufu. 1991. The quest for cooperation, renewal and relevance in theological education. Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology 10(1). 29-38.

Utuk, Efiong S. 1989. A reassessment of the African contribution to the development of the ecumenical

movement : Edinburgh, 1910. Africa Theological Journal 8(2) : 85-103.

Participant observation

Celestial Church of Christ, Mafoluku, Parish I, Wulemotu Agbo Road, Off International Airport Road,

Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. St. Paul's Anglican Church, 1-9 St. Paul's Church Street, Mafoluku,

Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. Visited by researcher on Sunday 1st May, 2005.

Church of God Mission International Inc., Victory Miracle Centre, 10 Oludegun Street, Off International

Airport Road, Mafoluku, Lagos, Nigeria. Visited by researcher on Sunday 10th April 2005.

St. Jude Catholic Church, 47 Old Ewu Road, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. St. Paul's Anglican Church,

1-9 St. Paul's Church Street, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. Visited by researcher on Sunday 24th

April, 2005.

St. Paul's Anglican Church, 1-9 St. Paul's Church Street, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. Visited by

researcher on Sunday 17th April, 2005.

© Oliver Harding 2008




AUTHOR SIGNATURE

Oliver L.T. Harding, who obtained his GCE O & A Levels from the Sierra Leone Grammar School and the Albert Academy respectively, is currently Senior & Acting Librarian of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He is a part time lecturer at the Institute of Library, Information & Communication Studies, Fourah Bay College and the Extension Programme at the Evangelical College of Theology at Hall Street, Brookfields; Vice President of the Sierra Leone Association of Archivists, Librarians & Information Scientists; a member of the American Theological Library Association and an associate of the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals. His certificates, secular and sacred, include: a certificate and diploma from the Freetown Bible Training Centre; an upper second class B.A. Hons. Degree in Modern History; a post-graduate diploma from the Institute of Library Studies, a masters degree from the Institute of Library, Information & Communication Studies and a masters degree in Biblical Studies from West Africa Theological Seminary, affiliate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he won the prize for academic excellence as the Best Graduating Student in 2005. Oliver, a writer, musician and theologian, is married (to Francess) with two children (Olivia & Francis).

Email: oltharding@yahoo.com

Mobile: 232-2233-460-330