Theological Education in Contemporary Africa

Chapter Six - HIV/AIDS and Other Challenges to Theological Education in the New Millennium

CHAPTER SIX HIV/AIDS and Other Challenges to Theological Education in the New Millennium Musa W. Dube Even long before the scourge of HIV/AIDS, dare I say that creating new theological thinking is long overdue? For so long, many churches in Africa have been living with imported theology, which does not speak to the fears and hopes of the people… I am here begging for a theology that will help us ask critical questions about our inactivity or wrongdoing; a theology that will help the child, youth, woman and man in the pew and streets to cultivate a dialogue that will lead to life-giving action in the midst of suffering, misery and death… I am begging for a theology that will provoke us to come together, to argue it out when things go wrong, with or without academic theologians. We need a theology that will creatively help us to retell our story of colonization, cultural and religious imperialism, people’s resistance and struggle for land and freedom (uhuru, in Swahili) to the point where we say no to injustice, exploitation, globalization and senseless death.1 Introduction I wish to congratulate the alumni, members and staff of this institution, on this occasion of the centennial celebration of St. Paul’s United Theological College. I am sure that historians of this theological institution can inform us that you are not only one of _____________________________________ 1 Nyambura J. Njoroge, “Come now, let us reason together,” Missionalia 29/3 (2001): 254. Theological Education in Contemporary Africa the oldest institutions of the Kenyan church but of the African continent as well. I hope that you will take this occasion to document, not only the history of your institution, but also a short biographical history of your graduates. We need to know the graduates of this institution and what they have done for their churches, societies, and the world as a whole. One thing I have been told is that when the college was founded its aim was to respond to issues of development and social justice in an area of freed-slave settlement.As you reflect on your vision for mission in the 21st century, you need to keep this history in view, to understand your past, your strengths and weaknesses in order to sharpen this vision. You will indeed need to have an understanding of your world - how it is changing and how you can best position yourself to serve God’s changing world. But in particular, I think it will be absolutely important to remember and uphold the role of being guardians of social justice in your theological education. For my part, the task I have in this celebration and consultation is to highlight the role of theological education by focusing on HIV/ AIDS and other challenges in the new millennium. “Theological education has been defined as the task to motivate, equip, and enable the people of God to develop their gifts and give their lives in meaningful service.”2 The easy part of my contribution is that HIV/ AIDS automatically includes all other challenges. The difficult part is that HIV/AIDS, as an epidemic that functions within other social epidemics and as an epidemic that affects all aspects of our lives, impacts everything. To speak about the challenges of HIV/AIDS in any thorough way is daunting. At the same time, the task might be lightened by the fact that we are all aware of the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS - the question we must address is how it affects and informs theological education. In this paper I intend to select and 106 ___________________________________________ 2 Ofelia Ortega, “Theological Education,” in Dictionary of Feminist Theologies (eds., Letty Russell & Shannon J. Clarkson; Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), 282-283. highlight some of the major aspects of HIV/AIDS and the ways in which they challenge theological education. Defining Theology Since I am by training a biblical scholar and only a theologian by practice, it is important for me to give my own working definition of theology and theological education. This is particularly so because two weeks ago I was in a workshop in which a professor spoke about HIV/AIDS and theology and people disagreed with his definition. If I give you my working definition, you will at least judge my words within their own framework. In my understanding, theology is a reflection on the Divine Being within a...