Bachelor of Arts in Theology

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    The Silent Witnesses A Spirituality of the Contemplative Life in Reference to the Cottolengo Monasteries
    (Tangaza University College, 2003) Mwalachl, Agatha
    "Tell us something about your life". This request that has been often addressed to me either by the small groups of Christians who visit our monastery or the young people attending the prayer meetings that I used to animate, prompted my choice to do this research so as to deepen my understanding of the spirituality of the contemplative life in the Catholic Church and in our monasteries. To explain what contemplative form of religious life is today, especially to a young searching soul, as is the case of the ladies contemplating to make a choice for our monastery, a theoretical basis that is compelling and energising presented coherently is of crucial importance. This essay attempts to answer four questions. First, what is contemplative life and which are its roots in the scriptures and in the history of religious life? Second, what is the Church's teaching on the contemplative life and which are the principal elements that distinguish it from other forms of religious life? Third, what is the mission of the contemplatives? And fourth, what are the challenges facing this form of religious life and what could be the most appropriate response of the contemplatives to these challenges? The essay has four chapters. Chapter one is an elucidation of the terms spirituality, Christian spirituality and contemplative life. We found it of crucial importance to understand well the meaning and use of these terms in order to grasp the message of the whole essay. Chapter two explores the biblical and historical basis of the contemplative life in the Catholic Church. Chapter three is a discussion on the contemplative life in the economy of salvation and chapter four focuses specifically on the Cottolengo monasteries. The Cottolengo monasteries discussed in the last chapter serve as a concrete example of the reality of the contemplative life in the Catholic Church; hence completing the picture of what this style of religious life is all about. The essay closes with a general conclusion, which is a summary of whatever is discussed in the four chapters. The essay draws ideas from the already existing rich literature on the spirituality of the contemplative life and history of religious life. It is also enriched by ideas from the critical reflections gleaned from my personal experience of more than a decade in the Cottolengo Monastery in Tuuru — Kenya, together with living testimonies of my fellow sisters through discussions and interviews reported in appendix I and VII. Due to space and time limits, the essay goes straight to the point. It does not dwell much on the details about the customs and practices in the contemplative life. We have focused on the above-mentioned key themes in order to make the reader get to know what contemplative life is in a brief but complete way. Even if I am a Cottolengo contemplative, I purposely chose to develop this topic in a broad way without confining my research on the Cottolengo monasteries alone for two reasons: one, because I strongly feel cum ecclesiae, that is, I am a Cottolengo contemplative operating in the large reality of the universal Church. Secondly, although the Cottolengo Monasteries do not belong to the ancient monastic Orders such as the Augustinians, Benedictines and others, they have all the essential characteristics of any authentic contemplative community and their vocation places them at the heart of the Church. Therefore, I too can confidently say with St. Therese of Lisieux: "in my mother, the Church, I shall be love."
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    Therese Of Lisieux: Her Spirituality and Its Relevance to The Mission of The Church In Contemporary Africa
    (Tangaza University College, 2003) Mbaabu, Nchebere Christopher
    The main objective of this essay is to make Therese of Lisieux better known and to make our contemporary world much more conversant with her teaching, which is so rich and relevant to our age. To meet our _objective, we will divide the essay into three chapters. In the first chapter we will study Therese from a biographical perspective with the aim of providing the historical context within which she developed, practised and taught her little way of spiritual childhood. We will divide her life into three phases or periods. The first period (1873-1877) which begins with her birth and concludes with her Mother's death, is a period in which Therese was surrounded by love and was full of life and happiness. The second period of her life (1877-1886) starts with her mother's death, which made her so timid, retiring and hypersensitive that she could not bear the company of people other than her family members. This second period came to an end on the Christmas day of 1886 when she was relieved from her touchiness. She became strong, courageous, and other-centered. The Christmas grace gave way to her third period, which spreads from 1886-1897—the period in which her spirituality came into being and took shape The second chapter constitutes the heart of the whole study. In it, we will present the spirituality of Therese of Lisieux. We will divide our chapter into two major parts: The discovery of the little way of spiritual childhood, and the essential elements of this way. We will focus on Therese's religious experience, that is, her self-image in the light of the mystery of salvation and then look into the discovery itself. We will study in detail the essential elements of the little way of spiritual childhood, which are: confidence (filial trust), prayer, fraternal charity and missionary spirit. In our third chapter, we will present the relevance of Theresian spirituality to the mission of the Church in today's Africa. We do this by first examining what the mission of the universal Church entails. Secondly, we will look into the African situation and the challenges that it poses. Finally, we will present the Theresian response to Africa by briefly exploring the implications of her spirituality of communion, which are: commitment to works of charity, pursuit of reconciliation and peace, and interreligious and ecumenical dialogues.
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    Toward A Model for an Igbo Christian Spirituality
    (Tangaza University College, 2001-02) Nwachuicvvu, Peter
    As many scholars have noted, there has been an increasing interest in spirituality since Vatican Id Council. This has been evidenced by the number of people who enroll in spirituality courses each year, many writings on spirituality, number of workshops on spirituality designed to foster the lived experience of the spiritual life. People wonder why there is this increasing interest in spirituality. This should not be surprising because the church since Vatican II has focused on the importance of inculturation of the gospel values in the different cultures. Perhaps, the most effective way of doing this is through an understanding of local spiritualities. Spirituality being a lived experience, the progressive, conscious striving toward personal integration through self- transcendence within and toward the horizon of ultimate concern,' could be a good perspective from which to assess and appreciate the cultural context of the gospel values. Spirituality deals with day to day striving towards one's life goal. When we come to Africa, we may ask ourselves, what is that that an African strives for and how is he or she living out this life project? According to John Mbiti, Africans are notoriously religious. Religion penetrates all the aspects of life so fully that it is not easy to isolate it.2 This means that the principle which controls an African's day to day striving lies in his or her religion. Similarly, the principle which governs the life of an Igbo person in Nigeria, is his or her religion. This implies that in all their life activities, religious beliefs is a guiding force. But when we examine the attitudes of the Igbo Christians today, we are forced to ask, how far has Christian values penetrated their life and their daily activities? Thus one wonders, is Christianity making any impact among the Igbos who are committed to religion and whose religious values guides all their activities? According to an English saying, "there is no smoke without fire." When I look at many Igbo Christians, I wonder what actually is the force behind what I can call a "double lifestyle" and their inconsistent adherence to the gospel message. Contemporary Igbo Christians manifest elements of "double religious consciousness" and are not completely faithful to the gospel message. "Double lifestyle or religious consciousness," is the situation where, one is a Christian and at the same time an adherent of traditional religion. One may attend Christian worship in the morning, and in the evening go to the traditional priest's shrine or participate fully in the traditional worship practices. My experience of this "double lifestyle" and unfaithfulness to the gospel message during my 1999 long vacation (May to August 1999) which I spent in some Igbo Christian communities raised many questions in me. First, what is the force that makes Igbo people to live as both Christians and believers in traditional religion simultaneously? Second, how rooted is Christianity among the Igbos, and how meaningful is Christianity to them? Lastly, how far has Christianity been incarnated in the Igbo culture? This essay, therefore, aims at examining the root cause or the force behind this "double religious consciousness," and will attempt to show how Christianity can solve this problem. This search for the cause of the "double religious consciousness"is examined from the perspective of spirituality. Spirituality in this essay is considered to be the underlying principle behind any human behaviour. This principle is considered to be the root of all human actions and the core of any human existence. In order to achieve the aim of this project, we shall divided the work into three chapters: Chapter one examines the concept of spirituality. It analyses the Christian and African Indigenous spiritualities. Chapter two focuses on aspects of African spirituality as they are found and lived in the Igbo traditional community. Then, chapter three is dedicated to establishing a model for an Igbo Christian Spirituality. In this case, the need for inculturation, the process of and approaches to inculturation of the gospel message in the Igbo culture are identified and analysed. This is followed by a general summary and conclusion of the work. This essay is based on an evaluation of existing literature relevant to the topic of study. The literature analysed include both Christian and African theologians' texts. Furthermore, particular attention is paid to the daily life of the Igbos, that is, their experiences and their nomenclatures. This enables us to explain more fully the inner feelings of the people based on their own experience and their expressions. Also, the essay is based on discussion with some Igbos and interview with some missionaries who have worked among the people. In selection of the key informants interviewed, consideration was given to those with pastoral experience among the Igbos. Ten informants were interviewed,' but out of this ten people, Fr. Declean was chosen as the Chief informant for more indepth interview. Rev. Fr. Declean has worked among the Igbos both as Parish Priest and also a lecturer in a Major Seminary for over twenty years. Also, coming from outside Igbo land and Nigeria, he was considered to be more appropriate to give an outsider's evaluation of indigenous Igbo Christians. The bible quotations in this essay are from The African Bible.' See
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    Humanity of Christ in the Spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila: Relevance for Today
    (Tangaza University College, 2001-02) Idiahi-Imoleh Ehigie, Daniel
    St. Teresa of Avila, the 16t1 century Carmelite mystic and Doctor of the Church, taught that prayer is "nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we known loves us." This became the foundation of her spirituality. For Teresa, the relationship with God did not lie in the abstract or sublime realm. It had to be real. Thus, "the abstract distant God was gradually 'concretized' for her in Jesus."2 Hence, the humanity of Christ plays a central role in the spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila. The humanity of Christ is by no means restricted to the spirituality of the religious family of St. Teresa, the Discalced Carmelites. It does hold a message for all Christians, and in a special way for the African. The aim of this essay is to shed some light on the role of the humanity of Christ in the spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila, underscore its importance in the spiritual life of Christians, and then present some applications within the African socio-cultural milieu. It is worthy of note that several theologians have done a lot of work in the area of contextualizing Christ°logy in different African cultures. I shall draw on some of their materials in this area. I have chosen to focus my reflections on Africa as a whole, and not any particular culture for some reasons. Firstly, no previous work has been done in relating any aspect of Carmelite Spirituality to any of the local cultures in Nigeria (my country of origin). An in-depth research in this area is certainly beyond the scope of this work. It is true that presently in Africa, most of the countries are going through lots of socio-economic problems that have continued to take their toll on the people unabated. Several of the problems are common to most African countries: ethnic conflicts, wars, poverty, starvation, unemployment, political instability, low per capita income, etc. Thus, the choice of Africa as the context is intended to give a panoramic picture of what obtains in the different countries.
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    Profile of a Religious Social Minister Focus On Human Maturity
    (Tangaza University College, 1998-04) Gamboa, Luis Alberto Facundo
    The idea of writing a paper in this line came to my mind after some experiences of living in some religious communities of my institute in different countries of Africa. It is not good to judge people about how they handle their lives in community, work and in their way they relate to others in their ministerial work. But what impressed me was to find similar problems related to human maturity wherever I was. Seeing how some of my confreres lived their cross cultural ministry, I felt deeply struck and I questioned myself if that would be my future. It is also true that I am speaking about people whose preparation was not the best to face the challenges of our missions and did not have the opportunities that the people of my generation are having today. I am not blaming anybody; what I want to emphasise is that as a religious social minister I realise that our presence in a world which presents complex realities and big challenges today has to be meaningful, bringing the novelty of the Gospel in a new creative way that makes our message believable. Relationships are more important than ever, now that we are moving into a new understanding of mission and evangelisation being relational. I believe that we can hardly be in ministry to another if we have not come to be in relationship to ourselves. In this way I see the importance of having an acceptable, intellectual preparation and human maturity supported by a strong spirituality that allows us to minister efficiently and effectively in a world that calls for that. This paper wants to be, first of all, a work for my personal reflection that helps me to grow as human being, as a religious and as social minister, trying to place myself in the actual context of the world, especially in third world countries that are a big challenge for the mission of the church. The actual situation of the world demands new identified ministers that own a strong human basis and a clear and renewed spirituality. I am aware that to bring about a new world I need to start with myself In the first chapter of this paper I describe the identity of the religious social ministers who are engaged in a new complex society. This society presents specific challenges to ministers in cross cultural settings, describing that they are agents of social transformation, being involved in human promotion. What I try to show in this chapter is the actual reality of the world that social ministers face today and the importance of being aware of the challenges they meet while ministering. In the second chapter I present an analysis of the role of the religious social minister, describing certain attitudes and values that make social ministers more competent and relevant as they perform their ministry. Lastly in the third chapter I speak about the spirituality and formation required for religious social ministers. I see the importance of a spirituality more incarnated in the world to help ministers to be more human and to consider social care as genuine spirituality. Concerning formation, I propose a suggested integral formation program that I consider to have all the elements needed in a global formation for religious social ministers.
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    Luo Family Spirituality
    (Tangaza University College, 1997-02) Oduol, George
    This work is an essay which is to be presented at the Tangaza College, (Theological Centre for Religious), the Constituent College of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa,CUEA, Nairobi, in March 1997, marking the end of a four-year Theological training at the same College. It is a study of the Luo Community of Nyanza Province, Western Kenya, as regards their Family Spirituality, an important area of their religious and spiritual world. In doing this work, I was greatly assisted by the generous selfless co-operation of the people and institutions of higher learning in getting the raw-materials I needed for presenting this work. The assistance I got enabled me to gather rich information from the people I personally interviewed during my field research and also from books which treated the same topic. Therefore,from the information given, I too applied my own personal critiques according to my observation which I considered could justify the claims I put forward and I believe, can make the family image for a better change in the future. For practical reasons, it is not possible to thank all the individuals who, through co-operation and encouragement, helped me to carry out this research; although, the key helpers have been included in the list of informants in the text below. To all of them, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the cooperation, which sometimes, involved personal sacrifices and physical hardships but without which I would have achieved very little.