African Spirituality

A Paradigmatic Study of Selected Christological Perspectives with Relevance to African Christianity

Abstract

Specific Christological models help define the spirituality of African peoples. A Christianity that creates meaning for any people must be integrated anthropologically. This study investigates some selected Christological models that helped shape the spirituality of Africa and its integration in the Christian faith. Spirituality has a definitive role in defining African people. The socio-cultural life of Africa is the foundation that Africans relate to other spiritualities; therefore, both the corporeal and the divine are inseparable in the hermeneutical, anthropological narrative of Africans. Some aspects of African Christological models are consistent with Scripture and these functional Christologies unveil a culture of pragmatic relevance in ever-changing societies. Although critiques on the lack of missional contextualization of Christianity are overwhelming in academia, nevertheless, a study of some of these perspectives makes Christ the center of the history of African spirituality and interpretation, which makes Christianity interactive and relevant to the development of the African society.