Theological Education in Contemporary Africa

Chapter Eight - Beyond “Victim Theology”: Reconstructing Theological Education in an Era of HIV/AIDS in Africa

CHAPTER EIGHT Beyond “Victim Theology”: Reconstructing Theological Education in an Era of HIV/AIDS in Africa Peter Mageto Introduction W hen future generations of African scholars conduct their historical research on the theological, moral and political life of African leadership in the final decade of the 21st century, how shall they judge our performance regarding AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa? Shall our inaction - especially the inaction of African theological educators - withstand the judgment of history? What verdict will our descendants render upon their ancestors who stood silently as a generation ofAfrican children was reduced to an underclass by this viral ‘genocide’? No doubt, they will find that a few lonely voices spoke out, but will they not ask whether we as theological educators could not have done more? I am reminded that there are at least two other viruses which are enabling HIV to spread among the most vulnerable in society. The first is a virus which makes colonized peoples believe they are inferior. The second is a virus of global economic injustice.1 For the purpose of this paper, I propose that there is a third virus, “victim _________________________________________ 1 Kevin Kelly, “Conclusion:AMoral Theologian Faces the New Millennium in a Time of AIDS,” in Catholic Ethicists on HIV/AIDS Prevention (ed. James F. Keenan; New York/London: Continuum, 2000), 324-32. Theological Education in Contemporary Africa theology”, which utilizes the sources of theology but fails to account adequately for the relationship between God and humanity.This paper proposes to examine this third virus through three lenses, three different ‘taboos’—sex, disease and death—in order to address the question raised by Tinyiko Maluleke: “How can theological education in Africa be conducted in a ‘business-as-usual’ manner when thousands and millions of Africans are dying of AIDS?”2 The challenge posed by new diseases around the globe can be summarized in the words of William McNeil: It is obvious that human (and nonhuman) diseases are evolving with unusual rapidity simply because changes in our behavior facilitate crossfertilization of different strains of germs like never before, while an unending flow of new medicines (and pesticides) also present infectious organisms with rigorous, changing challenges to their survival.3 With regard to HIV/AIDS, part of the problem is church teaching implemented by leaders who make people feel bad for being human and sexual at the same time. Teaching in a dualistic fashion that ‘flesh’ and ‘spirit’ are locked in a battle; the church has often treated human sexuality as a bane of human existence rather than as a gift from God. The direct association of sin with disease has been at home in some theological circles for a long time. The simplistic association of good health with righteous living has condemned many who find themselves in a state of sickness and suffering. The oftenrepeated assertion that there is a direct connection between death and sin, and especially “sexual” sin, is a matter that theological educators cannot avoid in the era of HIV/AIDS. Beyond “Victim Theology”: Sex, Disease and Death I define “victim theology” as that so-called Christian teaching (since it uses biblical, theological and ethical language) that blinds its hearers 148 _______________________________________ 2 Tinyiko S. Maluleke, “The Challenge of HIV/AIDS for Theological Education in Africa: Towards an HIV/AIDS Sensitive Curriculum,” Missionalia 29/2 (2001): 138. 3 William H. McNeil, Plagues and Peoples (New York: Anchor Books, 1977), 15. to the hardship of this life, by focusing exclusively on the life to come, while shielding people from the reality and demands of the present life. Victim theology serves as a kind of sedative which insulates but does not cure the illness. Indeed, victim theology provides a set of rules and rituals to be observed, and hope in promises to be fulfilled in the next world.Almost five decades ago John Mbiti said that the church “finds itself in the situation of trying to exist without a theology.”4 It is my contention that it is not that the church had no theology, but that, in the era of HIV/AIDS, the church has been found to have a faulty theology, detached and unrelated to real life. Victim theology is revealed in statements such as ‘HIV/AIDS is a judgment of God for immoral living.’5 This common sentiment fails to account for the children who are born with HIV/AIDS infection, or those infected through...