The Inculturation of Christianity in Africa: Antecedents and Guidelines from the New Testament and the Early Church (review)

The Inculturation of Christianity in Africa is part of the series, New Testament Studies in Contextual Exegesis, 'dedicated to the publicationof exegetical works which aim at enhancing a textually adequate understanding of the New Testament by taking into consideration the life-contexts, horizons of interpretation, and questions of the non-Western world' (Editors' Preface).

The author is currently the Catholic Bishop of Kanongo-Mampong diocese in Ghana. He holds a PhD degree in New Testament Exegesis (University of Aberdeen) and has taught New Testament Exegesis (University of Ghana, Legon). His basic premise is that inculturation has been the practice of the church from apostolic times (x), that the gospel 'incarnates' in the socio-cultural milieu of the evangelised and the experiences and perspectives that this creates in turn enrich the understanding and experience of Christianity for the global church (20–1). His motivation for this book is belief that efforts in the New Testament and the Early Church to articulate the Christian message in non-Jewish categories of thought have something to contribute to the current debate on inculturation within the church (Author's Preface).

The Introduction sets forth the problem. Whereas from its inception the church preached the good news and formed communities of believers through identifying itself with the evangelised, since the sixteenth century (in the context of colonisation) Christian missionaries transferred into the new lands a Christianity couched in the Western European culture of the Graeco-Roman tradition (1). Several flash points (2–14) illustrate the problems that this has caused in Africa. Using examples, the author demonstrates inculturation in the New Testament (Chapter 1), the Early Church (Chapter 2), and both attests to and demands it for Africa today (Chapter 3).

The framework of the book is decidedly Roman Catholic in its identification of the problem (1), literature defining inculturation (19–24), aspects of its presence in the Early Church (67–75), examples of inculturation in Africa (extensively from Ghana), and potential areas for further work (83–117).

The book contains a very useful overview of the terms (including strengths and weakness) generated by the debate on inculturation (14–21) and guidelines for undertaking inculturation (119–22). The scholarship in his engagement of the biblical texts in their historical critical senses (including potentially disputable positions, e.g. the 'author' of Hebrews as using 'derogatory terms of both the sanctuary and the ministry', 51–2) and theological developments in the Early Church is of a very high standard. Such scholarship helps the author to make a very persuasive case for inculturation 'since apostolic times'.

His treatment of inculturation in Africa is equally engaged although limited to his context. Perhaps an area requiring further work in his analysis of precedents in the New Testament and the Early Church is how inculturation exploits other beliefs and practices (e.g. 'elements of the world', 47–8 and 'divorce', 25–7, 30).