Knowing, believing, living in Africa: A practical theology perspective of the past, present and future

Abstract

The new democratic era in South Africa brought Western cultural influences forcefully into public and private living domains. This dichotomy deformed African cultures in many ways (Bujo & Muya). Local communities were previously 'public people' living and worshipping in transformative hermeneutical communities. This scenario has changed and local communities are steadily being driven into private spaces. The task of practical theology is to question what the undergirding epistemology and beliefs for this shift are and to reinterpret it in the light of the gospel. The impact of Western culture on African traditional villages is telling in so far as traditional African values and practices are being lost at the expense of Western ideology, technology, media, et cetera (Bujo & Muya). We argue that the former dominant monodisciplinary approach of practical theology contributed to a growing private individualist worldview. Practical theology has since developed into an interdisciplinary approach. This newfound reciprocity in the social sciences led to constructive change in church and society (Dingemans). Practical theology in Africa has to deal with an individualised, pluralistic world and tendencies of discontinuity, uncertainty, violence and destruction. In South Africa, practical theology is called upon to redress the dichotomies and defaults of Western and African cultures, respectively.This article seeks to focus on two questions: (1) how the gospel and culture, particularly in multicultural contexts, interact within the framework of practical theology and (2) how practical theology could help the church to create a new culture to serve as a bridge between multicultural praxes. By considering these questions, we shall, firstly, introduce the problem; secondly, present culture as a reciprocal agency; thirdly, propose a new culture of knowing, believing and living; fourthly, present a contemporary contextual framework and, fifthly, propose the transformation of practical theology and conclude the article. Culture as a reciprocal transformational agencyChristianity is confronted with challenges worldwide as it faces new cultures in its attempt to develop its identity (Hastings 2007:viii). Robinson (2006) avers: [W]e are truly living between [modern and postmodern] paradigms and that is not a comfortable place to be. The experience of living between paradigms is not a new one for the church. (p. 12) Mwambazambi (2011) adds his voice to this argument in the following way:The impact of globalisation on the religious lives of the people of Africa challenges African churches to contextualise the Gospel with a trans-formational hermeneutic in engendering an affirmative new African

Transforming Youth Ministry Higher Education in Kenya: A Practical Theological Approach

“…Practical theology as a discipline contains the multi-disciplinary framework necessary to embed the study of youth ministry that is so crucial in the African context [20,13,21]. Since it concerns itself with theological reflection, it takes into consideration the sources, such as the Scripture, Christian tradition and culture as well as the necessary methodologies.…”