One thing I have learned about co-edited books is that usually there is one editor who is really at the helm while the others play an auxiliary role. This certainly applies to the new book that has just been published by TSM Press – Facets of African Christian Theology in the 21st Century. At the helm has been my colleague Mzee Hermann Yokaniah-Mvula and mine has been an auxiliary role.
It was Hermann who conceived the idea of a book that would assemble some fresh contributions to African Christian Theology. Perhaps he was reacting to a sense that theologians in the twenty-first century have too easily been satisfied by a rehearsal of the great strides that were made during the late twentieth. What will our century have to contribute to an African understanding of Christian theology?
It was also Hermann who identified authors who were willing to try their hand. Most of them are working from a Malawi base but in this book they have attempted to look at some theological questions in a broad Africa-wide perspective. African approaches to the Bible feature as do women’s perspectives and questions of human security. A call for deepening dialogue between Ethiopian Orthodoxy and other streams of African Christianity offers fresh challenge. There is also a recognition that the witchcraft complex, far from disappearing as some expected, is reasserting itself and calling for theological analysis. And there is a reminder that most African Christians prefer to sing their faith rather than be bothered with abstract theologizing – so theology can be done as reflection on song.
I will leave it to Harvey Kwiyani to offer his assessment: “The book is groundbreaking in its effort, ambitious in its reach, and earnest in its depth. Its deep understanding of Malawian issues is evident, but it also reflects on continental themes. All scholars of African theology will find this book helpful. I cannot recommend it enough.”
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