African Inter-Religious Dialogue: Philosophy and Theology

By Leon Kabasele

This book, African Inter-religious Dialogue: Philosophy and Theology, my fifth, discusses many issues concerning African theology so Africans may understand their roots and consider them first. It discusses in depth philosophical aspects of African religion and the challenges that religious philosophy faces. In particular, this book discusses why many Africans leave their ancestral religion for other religions. Through an analysis of many religions in Africa, I have discovered that as a result of colonialism, many religions oppose each other even if they have the same structures, and that this has brought about religious and political conflict among followers of these religions. Therefore, my research and analysis seeks to expose the importance of dialogue between religions in Africa to bring about understanding among their followers. In the public sphere, religions should have an impact on the African countries in which theyre practised, and to do so, governments should authorise religions to take part in the political discourse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Nov 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491884478

Leon Kabasele

Dr. Leon Kabasele has done a lot of research on theology and philosophy, and he has written books on theology and philosophy, including Christian Philosophy: Understanding Racial Oppression, which delves into the issue of human rights in Africa. Those books will help those who study, research, and are interested in philosophy, theology, politics, and religion. He has selected the most important points to debate in his books. He became interested in researching human rights and other legal issues because of his life experience with matters of justice and his belief that, for one to understand theology, one must understand human rights. He has attended many conferences on theology and human rights, and he was selected to give a presentation at a conference in Bethlehem. He regularly attends conferences about Christianity, and he debates politics and theology with people from around the world, including India, Pakistan, and Africa.

Book preview

Contents

Author’s Background

Preface

Introduction

Part 1   The Main Theological Challenges Confronting Christianity in Africa Today

Part 2   An Understanding of the Christian Incarnation in the African Context

Part 3   Behind the Philosophy of Africa’s Voodoo

Part 4:   Dialogues of Theological Pluralism and Diversity in the Local African Churches

References

Author’s Background

I am Dr Evangelist Leon Kabasele, born in Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All my family was Muslim, but at ten years old, I received Lord Jesus Christ as my saviour. I felt terrible pain in my Christian life, for only God himself knows where he is taking me, for, according to Jeremiah 1: 5, ‘Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.’

Later, I was so sick and given three months to live. Everybody left me in the hospital – the churches and pastors and people who I used to help – but Jesus Christ never left me. When Jesus Christ himself healed me, and I recovered, I decided to serve the Lord Jesus Christ more vigilantly. I then took a master class in Bible study in London, studied Bible Hebrew through the University of Jerusalem for three years, I earned a Bachelor of Theology (BTh) degree in Ministerial Theology at University of Roehampton in London with a specialisation in Evangelism, and enrolled at Cambridge University with a view to completing a PhD. I have also studied Christian Counselling, and all my training has given me the title of doctor, and with my focus in the subject of Evangelism Strategies (strategies for church development), I am qualified to be called Dr Evangelist Leon Kabasele, but I still prefer to be called only Leon Kabasele.

I have done a lot of theology research and have written four books about God, including Christian Philosophy: Understanding Racial Oppression, which delves into the issue of human rights in Africa. I became interested in researching human rights and other legal issues because of my life experience with matters of justice and my belief that for one to understand theology, one must understand human rights and other matters of justice. I have attended many theology and human rights conferences, and I was selected to give a presentation at one conference in Bethlehem, where I discovered many new things. I also regularly engage in conferencing about Christian debate, politics, and theology over Skype with people around the world, including in India, Pakistan, and Africa

The books I have written contain my life story. When I was ill, Jesus visited me at my bedside, and I recovered unexpectedly speedily thanks to this spark and to my surgeons. I believe that if God had not used Job, many people in today’s world who suffer as I did would not understand their condition, and, therefore, my ministry as an evangelist has helped many people to understand this message and others about Jesus Christ, and each of my academic Christian books are intended to help people learn about Christianity.

My first book, Jesus Christ Is My God, explains that you are not alone. Your family may abandon you, your husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend may forsake you, but Jesus Christ will never let you go. Even when you’re in a hospital bed, he will be there with you.

My second book, Spiritual Development, discusses how you can develop both spiritually and physically, showing how all sixteen chapters of the book of Romans and the book of Philemon connect to your life today, I have a keen eye for etymology, and Spiritual Development offers finely detailed explanations of many of the original Hebrew and Greek terms in the Bible.

My third book, Christian Philosophy: Understanding Racial Oppression, discusses Christian philosophy, including ideas about creation and how this world functions in modern times, and the ideology of colonisation, revealing many secrets.

My fourth book, How to Pray: The 12 Top Secrets of Prayer and Concentration, is designed to develops the way we think of prayer and aid in proper prayer orientation, to remedy the fact that although we need to pray about many issues before we can make decisions, people sometimes make decisions without consulting God, and, therefore, many of these decisions and fail. I discuss prayer in terms of concentration, how to start prayers and how to end them.

This book, African Inter-religious Dialogue: Philosophy and Theology, my fifth, discusses many issues concerning African theology so Africans may understand their roots and consider them first. It discusses in depth philosophical aspects of African religion and the challenges that religious philosophy faces. In particular, this book discusses why many Africans leave their ancestral religion for other religions.

Preface

Many authors have written books about discovering Africa and about the black theology, especially South Africa’s apartheid, and although theirs provide good insights, this book takes a different approach. With love for readers, I intend to give them answers concerning African philosophy and theology. After reading many different theology and philosophy books as I performed research for this book, I became eager to know more about challenges facing Africa. As my reading expanded to incorporate more African points of view, I was scared to do further research on certain philosophies, especially voodoo, as I thought I had to be initiated into those practices before talking about them in detail. But because voodoo was one of the cases I wished to discuss in depth, I did do further research, and I finally understood that I didn’t need to be initiated into voodoo before to talking about it after all.

I’ve enjoyed observing many African traditions in the course of my research, and my research has taught me many new things, including that many Africans themselves do not fully understand what they really need to know. In particular, throughout this book, I discuss and challenged many issues which Africans used to consider taboo.

Readers will be satisfied to discover points about African philosophy and theology without travelling to Africa and interviewing African families themselves. I’ve also included many issues that are open to debate in this text, and I hope that you’ll think about these issues and form your own opinion about them in your own time.

This book was written in London, England, and over the course of three years, I performed research, collecting and analysing written information and interviewing many wise African people. Through this research, I discovered that many Africans leave their ancestral religions and join other orders for many reasons, and this book discusses those reasons and also several reasons why such traditions hold back Christianity. I also provide my understanding of the doctrines of religions native to Africa and how the ancestors of today’s African people trusted their gods.

Introduction

There are many challenges facing theologians considering questions of Christianity in Africa today, with each context providing its own challenges. The main theological challenges that this book discusses are feminism, racial justice, black theology, and voodoo, and chapters that follow will incorporate ideas from different theologians to show how these challenges can be overcome.

The differing cultural beliefs and practices among Africans leads to complex issues in society and can cause conflicts and challenge some interpretations of the Bible. These predicaments affect people’s lives, beyond their form of worship. For example, in cultures that practise polygamy, women’s rights are restricted. This book will compare these people’s views to the monogamist viewpoint and discuss how these opposing viewpoints challenge Christianity. Racial justice, with people’s rights often restricted based on race, is another example of an issue confronting African religious communities, with Christianity confronting this issue in many areas of people’s lives. I purport that Christians must have a dialogue with members of other religions in Africa regarding these issues, as Christianity is not the only religion that preaches belief in God. This dialogue concerning important theological issues can be cast in biblical terms.

The environmental crisis and the poverty it creates and the history of what brought it about is another critical issue that will be discussed from a theological perspective in this book.

Further, we’ll explore the differing understanding of the Bible between proponents of black theology and Western society along with where this differing philosophy came from, how it is used to manipulate black communities, and how this manipulation helps churches to increase their membership numbers. Most modern African religions have been replaced by Western religions, and many Africans complain that their cultures have been subverted and that their voodoo has been exploited for Western museums. Further, adherents of traditional African philosophies are decreasing because people do not want to follow their accentors’ ways out of envy for members of foreign religions. This book discusses such psychological influences along with African expressions of the theology of liberation as a result of Western control and conflict between Western and native religions. Such conflict has led to terrible civil war, and especially in small African villages, African people still struggle to reconcile their interpretation of Western philosophy with their ancestors’ beliefs.

In this book, I discuss stories of conflict brought about by Western replacement of African religions with Christianity and the divisions this replacement created for one particular African village in DR Congo and other countries. I also discuss African voodoo, in terms of the moral action that can be taken by Africans, with the view that it would be better for Africa if we were to look at the best way to save many souls rather that to rely on exclusionary philosophy.

The conflict between native religious practices such as voodoo and Western religious practices is one which the missionaries left behind, and only the missionaries can repair this mistake, because they are the sources Africa’s religions as they exist today. I discuss this idea but