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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Theological education in Africa: what prospects for sharing knowledge? |
Author: | Gatwa, Tharcisse |
Year: | 2003 |
Periodical: | Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context |
Volume: | 32 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 193-213 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | French-speaking Africa Cameroon Congo (Democratic Republic of) |
Subjects: | Catholic Church Protestant churches Christian education |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1163/157254303X00019 |
Abstract: | Francophone Africa is one of the regions where statistically speaking Christianity is not dominant. In fact Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Yaoundé (Cameroon) are the only places where theological issues that matter for the future of Christianity in Africa have been raised. Furthermore, Catholics, more so than Protestants, have been creative, pioneering 'African theology', inculturation or indigenization. And within the Protestant family, it is the Anglophones who have put African Christianity on the map of universal theology. This article argues that classic disciplines and methodology in the teaching of theology are no longer relevant vis-à-vis the complexity of today's problems. It discusses the history of Protestant and Catholic theological education in Francophone Africa; the Centre for Evangelical Literature (Editions CLE Publishers); problems facing theological education in Protestant institutions (lack of resources for libraries and research, denominationalism, lack of vision, intellectual ostracism, ostracism in the pastorate, and financial dependency); theological thought in Catholic education (the schools of Kinshasa and Yaoundé); and the problem of discontinuity in Protestant institutions. The article concludes that a lot must be done if Protestants are to catch up with crucial issues that matter in the social sciences and offer a solid training to theologians. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |