African Hermeneutics: The Current State - Theology In Africa

more towards political and anthropological concerns than theological. By this I
mean, that the real concern in the white/black debate is not theological content
per se but rather questions related to ethnicity and political history. For
example, Madipoane Masenya quite rightly asks the question what being
‘African’ really means (2002). Are there ethnical, political or any other
delimitations to being ‘African’? The very existence of this debate indicates that
there are, and these are predominantly political delimitations. Masenya
correctly pointed out that during the apartheid, “such definitions would not have
been necessary because everybody knew who an African was. Needless to
say, many non-Africans, including white South African scholars, did not want to
be designated African” (Ibid.). Even today, some white South Africans would be
very offended if they were referred to as ‘African’. In the absence of clear
criteria for deciding who can, or cannot, be ‘African’ though, it would be
impossible to make objective judgements on the debate. What is certain
though, is that serious generalisations like Masenya’s are not constructive in
anyway. Presupposing that all white people in South Africa were (are) racists
and in denial of their ‘African’ heritage, is very misguided. From personal
experience as a white South African male, the vast majority of my friends and
family would take offence at being called ‘European’. Regardless of the debate,
one cannot deny the contribution of ‘white’ scholarship in African theology.
Three of the five scholars profiled in chapter 2, for instance, are either white
South African or ‘western’. Where would African Feminism be without the work
of Prof. Fiorenza or liberation theology without the contribution of Prof. West?
There is no denying, that the work of these scholars has been an invaluable
contribution to African theology as a whole. It is worth mentioning that this tinge
of fanaticism is by no means a general feeling amongst black African scholars.
Dr John O. Akao (University of Ibadan, Nigeria), for example, believes that: "If a
Christian can adequately and objectively handle Islamic Studies, what prevents
a White scholar from adequately handling African Biblicism? Whites, like their
black counterparts, who were born and grew up in Africa with the proper
orientation, should be able to think like the Africans apart from the colour
differentia" (Boshoff 2002). Dr. Akao makes a valid point. Theology in Africa is
very diverse and it has been very hospitable towards a wide range of
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