Encountering Jesus Christ as an Ancestor And his Mission Among the Sukuma People
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Date
2002-02, 2002-02
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tangaza University College.
Tangaza University College.
Tangaza University College.
Abstract
he person of Jesus Christ is at the centre of Christian faith. Though Jesus Christ
is 'the same yesterday', today and forever, our experience varies according to the person
who experiences him and the social context of that experience. The social context is the life
situation in which Christ comes as the Saviour. One of the vital emphases in the
contemporary Catholic Christology is the shift away from a rather static vision of Christ,
seen in terms of dogmas and definitions. The task of Christology today is not that of
repeating the Christologies of the past, but it is to create a new translation. It means that
the full humanity of Christ has to be taken with the greatest seriousness, an absolutely
essential point for any valid theology of Mculturation.
Christ is present in every human situation in every community and every human
tradition and this fact must be rendered explicit. For Christianity to be rooted in the African
soil is to see Christ as an African, that is through the eyes and aspirations of the African
people. African beliefs are centred around the divine. This divine could be in the form of
a Supreme Being or divinity. If we see the present day Africans both traditional and
modem, they do not have any problems with who God is. The Africans are very clear about
the position and function of God in the universe. God is the creator and sustainer of the
universe. Jesus Christ, the Son of God is one with the Father. The Father (Yaweh) revealed
himself to Africans and they responded in faith. So the same Africans also can discover
Christ in their 'acts of faith'.' Since Jesus is one with the Father (in 10:30) and Africans
do worship God, Jesus has actually been worshipped in African religion but without a name. According to J. M. Bahemuka: "Jesus of Nazareth may have been unknown in
traditional Africa, but Christ as the liberating force for humanity was and is present in
various manifestations of African culture in general: in its myths, rituals, beliefs, symbols,
art and language"?
Africa is already offering interesting ideas for an inculturation of Christology. The
African Christian theologians give Jesus Christ different titles, for example, Ancestor,
Elder Brother, Ideal Elder, Chief, Master of Initiatioil, Healer, King, Priest and Liberator,
which are all related to the concept of Ancestor. They are trying to incarnate Jesus Christ
into African traditional religion and develop an incultured African Christian theology
which remains basically Christian, and is salvific. These are the images and concepts that
could facilitate a better understanding of the figure of Jesus Christ and of his saving
mystery in African culture. African people experience Christ in their own communities, within their own
cultural traditions. In 1980, in Nairobi, Pope John Paul II told the Kenyan Bishops: "not
only is Christianity relevant in Africa, but Christ in his members is himself an African".
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What does it mean to see Christ as African? It does not mean that the historical Jesus was
an African, but that the Christ of faith can be seen authentically by an African only through
his culture and thinking categories. African ancestors are at the centre of ATR and play a
salvific role in ATR and without them there is no ATR. So to see Christ as an African is
to see Christ as an African Ancestor, one who dwells among Africans in their daily events
of life. With such an understanding, the examination is made in this essay to show some of the concepts of 'ancestor' in African tradition in relation to Christ. This work is done
with special reference to the Sukuma people of Tanzania. The experience of the ancestors
is a very significant religious value among the Sukuma, and it should not just be
suppressed. The missionaries in the past failed to appreciate the significance of the
Sukuma belief, which is also common to many other African cultures - the continuing
existence of the dead and their active, good or ambivalent influence upon the living.
Description
Keywords
Ancestor, Sukuma People, Jesus Christ, Mission, Priest, Prophet, Chief