AFRICA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A WESTERN RELIGION

BY

BERNARD KARIUKI KIMANISTUDENT NUMBER 07026

A PAPER PRESENTED TO DR.STEVE MORAD

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE: HS 505 AFRICAN CHURCH HISTORY

NAIROBI, KENYA

June 29th , 2009.

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Introduction.

This paper is going to be built around challenge of Christianity as a foreign religion. The

issue contested here is the authenticity of Christian faith for Africans. In a sense, we are

wrestling with the claim that Christianity is too white and foreign and that it is a religious

expression of colonialism. This research essay is going to respond to this challenge in a

scholarly manner. As such, the aim will be to respond by looking for facts and evidence that

Christianity was not an import of the west to Africa or an imposition in the African Christian

thought neither was it a camouflage of Western imperialists.

Thesis

Traditional Christianity in its historic manifestation has been predominantly western and has

demonstrated aggressive, superior, colonial and imperialistic attitudes. The tendency to

uphold colonial powers as part of God’s plan has been evident in the missionary agenda. As a

matter of fact, it is hard to differentiate the two. This has led to the condemnation of local

religion and religious systems in preference for the Christian foreign religion1. Ngugi wa

Thiongo referred to the missionaries as the “colonial spiritual police”2 while amplifying on

the great connection between colonial imperialism and the missionary enterprise. However,

as much as one should not be blind to the mistakes done in the early days of the spread of

Christianity in Africa, we must come to terms with both historical facts and other instances

that show that Christianity is indeed an African religion. The thesis of this paper is that

Christianity is not and never was a western religion, neither was it imposed on Africans by

the westerners. Africans chose to believe the gospel. Whether the missionaries brought the

gospel in their cultural wrappings is another issue altogether which should not be equated

with trying to establish the authenticity of Christianity as either African or western.1 Campbell-Jack Campbell and Gavin J. McGrath, New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2006), 46.

2 J.N.K. Mugambi. Critiques of Christianity in African Literature (Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1992), 34.

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Arguments that support the thesis

The following ideas help to clarify that Christianity is not a foreign religion or an import of

the west which was imposed on Africans:

First, Africans chose to believe the gospel.

Although becoming a Christian meant imitating the ways of living of the missionary, the

missionary himself did not expose his culture completely to the African catechumens and

catechists’3.When he would speak with fellow European missionaries, he would adopt their

culture but when mixed with Africans he would adapt the methods to fit the ways ‘primitive’

Africans could understand4. In that sense, we cannot say that westerners imposed their culture

on Africans. Again, it would be too far fetched for Ngugi wa Thiongo to claim that

‘Christianity brought only confusion to the African community’5. That would be too

simplistic and not looking at the issue from all vantage points. This is especially so because

coupled with the ills performed by the missionaries, the education system, which Wa

Thiongo is representative of, even today, grew out of the missionary endeavors not to

mention the infrastructural developments. The bone of contention here is not the modality of

bringing the Christian message —which is perhaps the reason why Christianity is referred as

being too white—as to whether actually anyone was forced to accept it or they merely chose

to follow it. Even though there were few missionaries who chose not to represent God and

instead chose Christianity as a vehicle for European inculturation—which is indeed

regrettable— we should not be blind to the scores of others who risked their lives and made a

lasting contribution to the African society.

Second, there was indigenous reception of the Gospel.

3 Ibid. 101.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid., 102

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Africans had an indigenous reception of the gospel which they also transmitted to their fellow

Africans whole heartedly. There was overwhelming response to the message of Christ from

the freed slave colonies of Freetown, Sierra Leone and Monrovia, Liberia. A good example

was the effort of Anglican’s first African Bishop, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a Nigerian who

was instrumental to the spread of the Gospel in the South and Niger-Delta areas of Nigeria.

We can say the same thing of Afonso of Congo and Desmond Tutu of South Africa. In fact, it

has been claimed that for every missionary in Africa, there were ten African catechists and

village evangelists providing local leadership and evangelizing fellow Africans6. Again, As

Mbiti alludes, Christianity is indigenous to Africa because it is “a response to the gospel not

an imitation of the conduct of the missionaries.”7As such, Christianity is “neither a visitor nor

a tourist in Africa”8.

Third, Christianity is distinct from Colonialism.

Ngugi wa Thiongo gave the story of Dr. Irvin, a Presbyterian who worked in Meru, eastern

Kenya who wrote a small book called How to behave. The book was a manual to show how

“civilized” and “Christianized” Africans should behave in all circumstances to show that they

had become civilized and Christians9. This could in a sense say that Africans were

brainwashed into western Christianity. If we follow this argument, Christianity and

Colonization would be synonymous which would be a myopic rendering of the mission

enterprise of that era. Again, “Christianity was shaped in Africa by clear minded church

fathers like Tertullian, Origen, Anthony and Cyprian in North Africa. Anthony (d. 356) was

the father of monasticism and Christian religious piety. Tertullian was a trained lawyer whose

skill “especially distinguished [him] in Rome.” He was described as possessing a “sharp and

6 Mark Shaw, (Ed). Popular Objections, Powerful Answers (Nairobi: NEGST, 2008), 92.

7 J.S. Mbiti in Mugambi, Critiques of Christianity in African Literature, 67

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid., 102.

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violent talent.” Cyprian, on his part, was first a pagan rhetorician who had trusted the gods to

protect him from “black magic” before he became a Christian and put his trust in the power

of the Lord Jesus Christ. These were the African church fathers that Africanized the faith

from the very beginning. It is difficult to submit to the claim that all these bold and brave

believers were brainwashed by colonialists.”10 However, the dilemma of defending the

Christian faith without being associated with “sins” of colonialism has been a delicate task.

Most apologists have had to maintain the delicate balance between being Christians and not

being a part of the “Christian colonial” power11. Though the means by which Christianity

came to us seemed colonial, we cannot underestimate the strength of clear minded

missionaries whose agenda was simply and only Gospel propagation12.

Fourth, Christianity did not originate from the West. Early legends have it that“Ethiopian

Christianity dates back to the biblical contacts of the queen of Sheba (queen of the South)

who visited Solomon. The constitution of the late emperor Haile Selassie holds Ethiopian

kinship and priesthood to be the legitimate continuation of the Solomonic dynasty and

Aaronic priesthood. The queen was identified as Makeda of Aksum who conceived a son by

Solomon, called Menelik I. Menelik was brought to Jerusalem to be educated, after which

Solomon sent him back to Ethiopia”13. Westerners received Christianity just like Africans

did. Modern Western Christianity evolved from African "seeds”. Historically, the claim that

Christianity is a foreign religion is then challenged. Thomas Oden14 leads the attack on this

10 Shaw, Popular Objections, Powerful Answers, 92

11 Campbell and McGrath, New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics, 46

12 Shaw, Popular Objections, Powerful Answers, 97.

13 Ibid. 91.

14 Thomas C. Oden. How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2007), 42-56.

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premise. In his book, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind, he gives seven ways Africa

could be considered the seedbed of western Christianity namely:

1) The western idea of the University was conceived in Alexandria.

2) Christian Exegesis (biblical interpretation) first matured in Africa.

3) African biblical interpreters powerfully shaped most of the important Christian

doctrines.

4) Africa was the region that first set the pattern and method for seeking wider

ecumenical consent on contested points of scripture.

5) The African desert gave birth to worldwide monasticism. Monasticism started

in the deserts of Egypt and eventually moved to Asia and Ireland.  Africa also

had the influence of St. John Cassian, St. Augustine, and St. Pachomius.

6) Christian Neo-Platonism emerged from Africa.

7) Rhetorical and Dialectical Skills were sharpened in Africa for the Europe’s

benefit.

If we follow Oden’s argument, then it would be untenable to say that Christianity is a western

import for Africans. Thus, instead of viewing the Christianity introduced to Africa by

European and American missionaries as something foreign to African consciousness, it is

more accurate to appreciate that Western missionaries had been bringing home a (decadent)

offspring in desperate need of renewal.

If we compare the premises of African intellectuals like Ngugi wa Thiongo, we bemoan their

misguided condemnations of Christianity, because their minds, trained in the basic tenets of

modern Western secular thought, cannot see that Christianity is the religion of their ancestors

and, as such, a necessary basis for their own intellectual maturation. These intellectuals

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cannot lead the charge to reclaim Africa's intellectual legacy. This is especially tragic

considering that the ‘idea of a university was born in Africa’15.

Fifth, Biblical account shows a relationship between Africa and early Christianity. The

angel told Joseph to take the little child Jesus to Egypt at the outbreak of persecution by

Herod. In Cairo, they venerate a church built over the place where the Holy Family

supposedly dwelt during the sojourn in Egypt. The Ethiopian Eunuch that Philip baptized

could equally have contributed to the Gospel of Jesus in Africa long before Europe was

evangelized.

Sixth, The fact that Europeans brought Christianity does not make it white.

Commenting on this, I agree with the apologetics task force at NEGST who say:

It sounds as absurd as saying if one gives you milk in a black cup the milk will be

black. As a matter of fact, Jesus and the twelve apostles were Jews and not Europeans.

Jews from Asia did not colonize or Christianize Africa. The extreme labor of those

clear minded Africans who Christianized the continent and led the way for the foreign

missionaries’ incursion into the interior of Africa like Samuel Crowther, Afonso I and

Desmond Tutu cannot be overlooked. David Koi was Kenya’s first martyr for

courageously witnessing Christ to Bwana Isa. He was beheaded by the Arabs. At a

very high cost, the rule of Christ was instituted into the “individual, social and

national life” of the kingdoms of Toro, Ankole, Busoga, Teso, and Acholi by Apolo

Kivebulaya. Steve Biko, through his “Black theology” brought God and Christ into

partnership with the Black man and his daily problems. Contemporary African

Evangelicalism has among its founding fathers and leading contributors such

15 Oden, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity, 46.

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theological voices as the late Byang Kato of Nigeria, late Kwame Bediako of Ghana,

Tite Tienou of Burkina Faso and many other promising voices of the 21st century16.

The zeal and tenacity with which the above individuals and others after them followed the

Christian faith indicates that they could not have given themselves too much for a mere

imposition. Much more importantly because when the Europeans went back to their countries

after independence in various countries, Christianity continued to thrive in many places

unperturbed. It has survived the Christendom guilt complex of the West and today thrives as

a post-Western religion in the global South. Not only has the population of Christians in the

South overtaken those in the North, this development also has had major implications for

world Christianity17.

Seventh, Christianity is a universal religion and cannot be encapsulated in race or color.

By declaring that Christianity is too white, we are assuming that God can be

compartmentalized to represent the ideas of a specific people group or race. Rather, Christian

faith in the one true God was meant to be a universal inheritance that no one culture can

claim ownership over. However, the God of the Bible is one that reveals himself in many

ways and that is the reason why the gospel is contextualized in many places to aid in more

understanding. Considering Israel and by extension what is observable today, we notice that:

God chose their language, experience and events to make himself known and be made

known to other cultures in their language and experience. As African Christians, we

are to follow these steps of God and the Jews and bring the truth of scriptures to bear

on varying cultures and beliefs. This is what the missionaries have attempted to do—

and it is what we are all commanded to do (Matt. 28:19–20). It is also the heartbeat of

God and the whole essence of the global missionary enterprise. Today, many Africans

16 Mark Shaw, The Kingdom of God in Africa (Katunayake: New Life, 2006), 224

17 See The Next Christendom by Phillip Jenkins.

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are preaching to the biggest congregations in the West and former Soviet Republic.

The biggest church in North London is pastored by a Nigerian. The same goes for the

largest congregation in Ukraine. A lady Kenyan is the pastor of Chicago Redeemed

Christian Church of God from Nigeria. Wouldn’t it be absurd for the white

congregants in those denominations to claim that God is black and so would not be

received as a universal God just because the missionary preachers are from Africa?18

Surely, the idea of rejecting Christianity on the basis of whether it is white or black does not

arise. It is because of people’s commitment to other values and things and not in Christ Jesus

that makes them allergic to the Christian faith.

Eighth, an argument from presuppositions. Proponents of the position that renders

Christianity foreign to the African thought do so with presuppositions that are deeply rooted

in other things in the name of defending the African religion known before the Europeans

came. Other people affirm to that but they do not reject the Christian faith. Wathiong’o and

the rest are suffering from a neo colonial presupposition. For most of them, this is a shaky

foundation and their basis of argument cannot be proven. Kwame Bediako’s Christianity in

Africa and Lamin Sanneh’s Translating the Message are very crucial in debunking the myth

that Christianity is a foreign religion. Sanneh ‘examines the consequences of scriptural

translatability, with modern Africa as the main focus. He shows the deeper connections

between Bible translation and related issues such as cultural self-understanding, vernacular

pride, social awakening, religious renewal, cross-cultural dialogue, transmission and

recipiency,reciprocity in mission, and in a provisional way what light the comparative Islamic

example might throw on the subject. Such people fought for the Christianization of

Africa’19. For Bediako, Christianity is suited for Africa. He confirms that churches begun

18 Shaw, Popular Objections, Powerful Answers, 99

19 Lamin Sanneh, Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture. (Mary Knoll, New York: Orbis, 2008) pp.1ff.

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by western influence and indigenous African initiative remain important religious and

social institutions in their own right which can not be ignored. Looking at the above

references, it behooves the African Christian to reject in totality any attempt that aims at

insulating them against a faith that they participated in its formative stages. Such foundations

have no basis.

Ninth, Africa had a rich religious heritage. There was an assumption that there was

nothing valuable in African cultural and religious heritage, and that the African background

must be ignored or abandoned by any African who chose to become a Christian. This led to

the conclusion that the European cultural tradition by virtue of its long influence by

Christianity was itself Christian, and African culture was pagan, heathen and primitive. This

has led to the hesitation and widespread refusal by missionaries and African Christians to

take African religions seriously, for fear of syncretism. Many Christians have erroneously

assumed that Christianity as it was introduced by the missionary enterprise was pure, without

any non-Christian elements from pagan Europe. Many of the customs now accepted as

Christian, such as Easter, Christmas and Christian marriage were developed in Europe

through a process of Christianizing pagan customs. The fixing of Christmas and Easter

calendars, for example, was determined more by European pagan religious customs than by

historical considerations of the birth and crucifixion of Jesus. In that sense, Christianity was

full of syncretism even before it reached East Africa through the missionary enterprise20

Implications for African Christianity

In responding to the challenge of Christianity as an authentic religion for Africans, several

implications came to the fore:

1. Contextualization of the faith. In the first place, the impact of the conduct of the

missionaries on the perception of the Christian faith in the past demands that we

20 Mugambi, Critiques of Christianity in African Literature, 5-6. See also Popular Objections, Powerful Answers, p.112

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contextualize the faith carefully. We must never try to impose our culture or

worldview on people but allow them to form their own convictions as we cogently

build a case for the faith in Christ Jesus. Following the footsteps of Jesus and Paul, we

notice that contextualization presents the Gospel through the felt needs, worldview

and prevailing situations around a person or group of people. Whether considering

customs dealing with meat offered to idols or people’s religious perception, leading to

his sermon on Mars Hill, Paul, unlike some European missionaries, matched biblical

truth with cultural meaningfulness in doing theology of contextualization21. This is

what missionaries missed as they considered Africa concept of God as savage and

primitive. Arguing against the same, Mbiti22 argues that Africans had a concept of

God and they understood him as omnipotent, omnipresence and omniscient.

2. Need for Incarnational Missiology. As believers endeavour to present the gospel in

cultures foreign to their own, they need to find contact points which can give them a

rapport with the recipient culture. This will be more effective rather than trying to

demonize parts of their culture that look demonic. This is especially because in every

culture, there are both divine and demonic elements.

3. Need for new way of doing apologetics. In the past, Christian faith has built its case on

positions. Evidentialism has been the main thing that has been used to convince those

who are against the Christian faith. However, 21st century African Christian apologists

will need to start engaging with dissenters on a presupposition level. This method

brings the dissenter to the humble admission that the reason why they are against the

Christian faith is not because it has problems but because they are part of a

prepositional value system that rejects God and which they would rather not recant.

21 Shaw, Popular Objections, Powerful Answers, 98

22 Mugambi, Critiques of Christianity in African Literature, 67

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Conclusion

Christianity is not and never was a western religion, neither was it imposed on Africans by

the westerners. No one forced the Africans to believe the gospel and indigenous Africans

were instrumental in the formative stages of Christianity and even in the European

missionary enterprise. As Such, Christianity cannot be said to originate from the west. Those

who declare that Christianity is a foreign religion, work on basis of presuppositions that they

hold dear and would not relinquish them for the Christian faith. When all is said and done,

the real issue will never be whether Christianity is foreign or local—since we all know that it

cannot be encapsulated in race or religion—but will be a matter of allegiance to God or

rejection of God against all knowledge that is presented before them.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Campbell, Campbell-Jack, and Gavin J. McGrath. New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2006.

Mugambi, J.N.K. Critiques of Christianity in African Literature. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1992.

Oden, Thomas C. How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2007.

Sanneh, Lamin. Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture. Mary Knoll, New York: Orbis, 2008.

Shaw, Mark. The Kingdom of God in Africa. Katunayake: New Life, 2006.

Shaw, Mark (Ed.). Popular Objections, Powerful Answers. Nairobi: NEGST, 2008.

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