510 - Common Ground: Christianity, African Religion and Philosophy

Common Ground: Christianity, African Religion and Philosophy

By Emmanuel K. Twesigye

New York, Peter Lang, 1987. 227 Pp. $31.00.

The author of this significant work, Emmanuel K. Twesigye, is an Anglican theologian from Uganda, residing in the United States where he teaches at Fisk University, Nashville. The book is an expansion of his previously published dissertation: Anonymous Christianity and Human Existence in Africa: A Study Based on Karl Rahner's Philosophical Theology.

Twesigye takes Rahner's " anonymous Christianity" as his theoretical starting point and attempts to show that it is valid for the interpretation of African traditional religion. His central thesis is that "God's creative and redemptive activities are merely just two moments in time and space of the same free, divine, universal, single, historical, and continuous process of creation." He argues that this redemptive and fulfilling process was efficaciously at work in pre-Christian and pre-colonial Africa just as it was at work in Old Testament Israel. In this sense, Twesigye continues alongside the common thesis among African theologians that African traditional religion is a praeparatio evangelica. He tries to strike a balance between, on the one hand, acceptance of African traditional religion in its own right as an autonomous religion, an authentic avenue for God's own divine revelation of himself and salvation for the African people, and, on the other hand, the Christian theological idea that African religion was just a praeparatio evangelica. He is right in admitting that this is a difficult task to accomplish. In spite of their objectivity or even phenomenological empathy for African traditional religion, the background of most African Christians ultimately beclouds their interpretation of African traditional faith.

Perhaps, the author's most important contribution in this work is that he attempts to expand the scope of African theology to include a serious engagement with thorny issues such as the faith of African ancestors who died before the gospel was brought to Africa, and the status of the large population of African Muslims who remain outside the Christian fold. Ultimately, a major contribution to African Christian theology is that he allows for religious pluralism and dialogue with African traditional religion and Islam. The basis of this dialogue is found in Karl Ralmer's unconditional love for one's neighbor, irrespective of his or her creed, race, and color.

Jacob K. Olupona, Awolowo University, ILE-IFE, Nigeria