AFRICAN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY vol. 1, nº 1 (2024) 1–5
EDITORIAL
In memory of those who went before, in honor of those who follow behind Introducing African Christian Theology
Joshua Robert BARRON
Martin MUNYAO
ORCID: 0000-0002-9503-6799
ORCID: 0000-0003-3819-5619
ACTEA, Enoomatasiani, Kenya Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya Joshua.Barron@ACTEAweb.org mmunyao@daystar.ac.ke Describing the shift of World Christianity from the Global North to the Global South, Mark Noll posited that “as much as the new shape of Christianity in the world affects general world history, much more does it influence matters of Christian belief and practice.”1 Given global Christianity’s shift to the South, Christian beliefs and practices in recent decades have not been driven by Western Christian theology. Nearly thirty years ago, western scholars recognized that the majority of Christians on the face of the earth are found in Africa, Asia, and Latin America — and that “the proportion . . . grows annually.”2 Therefore, in retrospect and prospect, global Christianity is increasingly envisioned to be highly influenced by non-Western Christian theologies. For example, diaspora missiologists are consistently reminding us that the global church is thriving because of the movement of Africans across the world.3 Africans migrating to North America and Europe are planting churches in areas where traditional Christianity has been declining. It is, therefore, important to closely study and understand the African Christian theologies that are shaping world Christianity in a new way. African Christianity is not just shaping Christian belief (theology), but also practice (praxis). For example, what are the parameters of salvation? That is, is salvation only a matter for individuals, or is salvation also for larger groups? How does the world of spirits influence people’s daily lives? How should believers read the Bible? These and many other questions have implications for church growth and movement in foreign lands. In retrospect and prospect, God’s people are on the 1
Mark A. Noll, The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith, 33. 2 Andrew F. Walls, “Africa in Christian History: Retrospect and Prospect,” 85. This chapter was first presented as a lecture for an African Theological Fellowship forum in Accra, Ghana, in 1997. 3 E.g., see the work of Afe Adogame, Jehu J. Hanciles, and Harvey Kwiyani. Published with license by ACTEA © Joshua Robert Barron & Martin Munyao, 2024 | ISSN: 3006-1768 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.