Bachelor of Arts in Theology

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    'If Someone Rejects You...Leave So That Others May Come and Stay'. (Cf. Matt 10:11-14).
    (Tangaza University College, 2004) Mgonja, Godfrey
    When I was reading some books I came across an article, which inspired me to write my essay on the missionaries and the missionary activity of the Church in Algeria. The article says: Missionary, go home.. . or stay. If you are not abie to separate the eternal Word of the Gospel from the cultural moulds in which you azried it to these !ands and taught it with genuine abnegation: Missionary. go home. If you are not able to identify with the events, anxieties, and aspirations of those peoples prematurely aged by an unequal struggle which seems to have neither termination nor hope: Missionary, go home. If your allegiance and fidelity to your nation of origin are stronger than loyalty and obedience to Jesus Christ who came "to put down the mighty and lift up the lowly" (Lk.I : 52): Missionary, go home. If you are not able to love and respect as equals those whom once you came to evangelise as "the lost": Missionary, go home. If you are not able to rejoice at the entry of new peoples and churches upon a new stage of maturity, independence, and responsibility, even at the price of committing errors like those which you and your compatriots committed also in the past: Missionary, go home. For it is time to go home. But if you are ready to bear the risks and pains of this hour of birth which our [Algerian] peoples are experiencing, even denying yourself, if you begin to celebrate with them the happiness of sensing that the Gospel is not only proclamation and affirmation of a distant hope but of a hope and liberation which are already transforming history, if you are ready to give more of your time, your values, your life in the service of these peoples who are awaking, then: STAY' There is much to do: hands and blood are lacking for an undertaking so immense in which Christ is the protagonist and pioneer.' This article would imply that missionaries are sent out to proclaim the Word of God and not to preach the values of their cultures of origin. Missionaries are to insert themselves into the life of the people, identify themselves with the events, anxieties and aspirations of the people. In a place where people are oppressed in any form such as colonialism, poverty, diseases, illiteracy and wars, then missionaries are to take the lead to help the people to come out of such oppression. In many places, we find that missionaries have founded Churches, yet having founded the Churches, they are to let the local people lead their own Churches. They are not to patronise the local Churches as if the local peoples are not able to lead their own Churches after many years of missionaries' existence in a particular place. Hence, this quotation is a reaction to the practices of the missionaries, which are not in line with the Gospel. In this case, it is better that some missionaries leave if they have misunderstood the goal for which they were sent to the people. This quotation however is very hard on missionaries as if they never did anything good to the people. Yet, we find that some missionaries did a lot of good things such as education, healthy care and development. It is not just therefore to override all these and say missionaries go home if you do not do this and that. Having 3aid that, let us see the organisation of this essay. This essay is organised in five sections. The first section is the general introduction. The second section deals with the history and my experience of Algeria and the Algerian Church. The third section focuses on the theological reflection on the mission of the Church and the process of evangelisation in Algeria. This will centre on the reflection of the Church's understanding of her missionary activity and her relationship with the colonial power during French colonisation in Algeria. The fourth section deals with pastoral implications and recommendations on how the local Church in Algeria can grow. Then. a general conclusion.
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    The Traditional Religious Leaders among the Gogo Society Of Central Tanzania
    (Tangaza University College, 1999-02-12) Chilala, Mlabu E.
    "My son; for the contemporary generation and this religion of yours, it is very difficult to understand and appreciate what has been done and what is being done by the real traditional diviners". It is a statement by an old lady, about eighty years old, called Chando Msonjela When I was interviewing her, in detail about the traditional religious leaders in the Nyambwa community she was not comfortable, because it is her belief that the world we are living is quite different from the world she lived; we are living in a chaotic world. The reasons being that, there is no respect for the traditional customs, traditional religious leaders are becoming fewer and fewer and most of those who are calling themselves traditional religious leaders are not true diviners but liars. Her world view is just in a small village called Sanza and other neighbouring villages in the Eastern part of Singida region in Tanzania. Mama Chando, was trying to express how it is becoming so difficult for the new generation to value and appreciate the traditional religious leaders in the Nyambwa community; this community is part of the (logo society in central part of Tanzania. The Gogo society is divided into two main communities, the Nyaugogo community in the eastern and central part of Dodoma, and the Nyambwa community which is in the western part of Dodoma and the eastern part of Singida region, situated in the Central Rift Valley . These two communities speak the same language but they differ in accent and some few expressions of words. As a result of my interviews from experienced elders of the Nyarnbwa community and going through different books, I hope that this paper will be helpful for us to understand about the traditional religious leaders in Africa, using the Gogo society specially the Nyambwa sub-group, as a case study. In this paper I will try to explain the reality of the African traditional religious leaders, their existence, role and how the African communities looked at them. Explaining the past about these religious leaders it will not be enough without trying to see , what is the attitude of the contemporary society toward them. Having an idea of who are these religious leaders and their importance to the African societies it will not help us, unless we pick something from them that could help our Christian priests and the whole Christian community at large in their Missionary work. The song of inculturation will not click to any mind, unless the wisdom and knowledge of the African traditional religious leaders is consulted,since their wisdom is the foundation of the African beliefs. It is my hope that, something positive and educative from the African traditions will come out. With open and critical mind we will be able to understand the African traditions, which later on is going to be very helpful for our missions in Africa.
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    Cross-Cultural Formation of Future Missionaries in the Context of the Society of African Missions
    (Tangaza University College, 1999-02-12) Pociask, Janusz
    In this long-essay I will try to present my views on cross-cultural formation of future missionaries. Because the topic is very broad, I would not be able to exhaust it, so I will be rather selective. Also, I was encouraged by my tutor to narrow the topic to the formation of future missionaries in the context of the Society of African Missions. By doing that I was to contribute to the future formation of students within my own missionary institute. Nevertheless, I hope that the key issues in the areas of cross-cultural formation highlighted here are universal and can be applied, understood and read in the broader context of any missionary congregation. In the first Chapter I intend to show the need and novelty of cross-cultural missionary formation as well as existing Church documents regarding this topic. In the following Chapters I will try to follow the methodology called SEE-JUDGE-ACT. Therefore, in Chapter Two I will briefly describe the present developments regarding cross-cultural formation in the SMA context, presenting what has been done so far and how the formation is carried out in practice. In the Chapter Three I will evaluate critically the present recruitment system and things the formation system lacks in preparing well-formed candidates to missionary priesthood. Also, I will take into account such things as inculturation of formation; preparation for being witnesses to the people; preparation for a collaborative ministry and formation within the Charism of missionary institutes. In the last chapter I want to point out some general guidelines for future adaptation and implementation of new changes in different SMA houses of missionary formation. The purpose of this paper would be rather to encourage existing international houses of formation to look for their own solutions to their particular needs and ways of improvement.