Evangelical Christianity and African culture : a critical assessment of the salvific significance of the cross of Christ in Shona culture
Year: 2007
Type: dissertation
Abstract: ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research investigates the salvific significance of the Cross of Christ in Shona culture from an evangelical perspective. It explores the typology of positions in evangelical Christianity and identifies the cross of Christ as one of its central tenets. The meaning of the cross is described and explained using diverse metaphors found in the Old and New Testaments. This research argues that the key metaphors used are drawn from the immediate context in which the understanding of the cross is sought because metaphors work within cultures where a shared encyclopedia can be assumed. The application is therefore that each culture and generation needs to contextually find ways of conceptualising and communicating the cross of of Christ. It is in the process of doing this that the Cross of Christ will have transformational impact in a given culture. The immediate context of this research is Shona culture and this culture is explored by looking at its typology of themes. Here the research identifies the ancestor motif as key to understanding Shona culture and religion as well as making sense of the Cross of Christ and its salvific siginificance. The reasearch argues that both the person and work of Christ, in particular what he accomplished on the cross, must be understood, expressed and accepted from an African (Shona) perspective if evangelical Christianity is to have any meaningful and transformational impact. The research therefore argues that the Christian calling is a cultural task. Christians are called to a cultural context and to fulfill this calling, Christians should neither take flight from the world of culture nor simply affirm it but engage it creatively as co-workers with God. The task of the church as a community of believers is therefore to bring about community transformation by affirming what can and should be affirmed in Shona culture and confronting what can and must be confronted. The understanding in this regard is that God acts redemptively towards reality through the church and he therefore uses Christians to bring about liberation, wholeness and soundness to communities when we trust in him. This can only happen when the evangelical understanding of the cross of Christ and its saving significance includes within it a· commitment to the world and to the task of bringing healing grace to the poor, starving and oppressed.
Author: Victor Nakah
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2126721640