Empire, Anti-Empire and FaithFactors for Christian mission in 21st

century Africa

Stuart C. Bate OMI

Introduction: Articulating an analytical lens of faith

• Empire and Religion (Literature review)–Empires use religion to achieve their goal of

domination and growth and–Religions use empire to perpetuate their own growth

and hegemony–Post enlightenment: Religion stifles human freedom

• Anti-empire and Religion–Biblical studies shows the anti-imperial nature of

much of the scriptures – Literature promoting the premise that theology

promotes liberation from the evil of controlling empires

Thesis: empire and anti-empire often coexist in societies. An analytical lens needs to see both together to provide a better understanding of human society and mission.

Important for issues of religion which resides in some form in both empire and anti-empire.

Five points to the thesis1. Historiography of empire and anti-empire mainly as it relates to Christianity.2. A social analysis of the nature of empire and anti-empire. 3. Role of religion in empire and anti-empire. 4 Application to Africa indicating two signs of empire/ anti-empire one past and one present. 5 A missiological response to the current empire/anti-empire paradigm in Africa and globally.

1. Historiography of Empire, anti-empire and Christianity. 1.1 Christianity, Empire and Anti-empire in the Scriptures and the early church• OT supportive of Empire• texts relating to the establishment of the

Jewish Kingdom and its restoration. • Texts of the messiah • Texts of David and the Kings

• OT anti-empire• Empires that oppress Israel (Egypt, Assyria,

Babylon): destructive of God’s people by placing them in captivity or ruling unjustly.

• NT Texts Supportive of Empire• God is supportive of human political institutions

(e.g. Mark 12 and Romans 13) (few texts only). • Kingdom of God is to come and the Church is its

sign. (many examples) • NT anti-empire• Jesus is before Pilate • Jesus critical of the Jewish authorities• Revelation is a “devastating attack on imperial

rule which is radical and uncompromising” (Carey H. 2008: 181).

• The New Testament “was written about and by politically powerless people” (Cobb §V)

• Apocryphal writings have anti-empire dimension.• “Acts of Paul and Tecla” :Paul accused of perverting

the city with “Artful and delusive teaching” • Thecla becomes a disciple and chooses chastity over

marriage to her fiancé. • Paul’s teaching criticised by her family and others as

a “disruption and perversion of the established order and Thecla’s refusal of marriage enacts that”

• “The Roman empire, especially insofar as it threatened and was threatened by Christians and their preaching and lifestyle, needed to be exposed” (Carruth 2011:146).

1.2 Christianity, Empire and Anti-empire from the Edict of Milan to the Reformation: Christendom

• 313 Edict of Milan: Constantine gives state recognition to Christianity

• 380 Theodosius I establishes the State Church of the Roman Empire (De Fide Catolica )

• Christendom gradually emerges• Initially, “the Church was in the empire not the

empire in the Church” (Control is with Empire officials; Pope and bishops given increasing powers)

• Barbarian invasions and occupations empowered the growth of Christendom: Tribal leaders convert to the Christianity they found whilst destroying the old empire and its power.

• By eighth century Charlemagne established political unity in the West and the Byzantine Empire held sway in the East so that until the 11th century there was a clear planting of Christendom in the political reality of what is today called Europe

• Church teaching increasingly stressed the priority of spiritual power over temporal power a view accepted as the medieval period continued. “Donation of Constantine” (ca 750–800)

• Power of the Church and papacy rose. “the exercise of papal jurisdiction became habitual” with temporal matters as well as spiritual ones being referred to it.

• “the papacy had become de facto the centre of a vast Christian nation” (Urquhart ). The situation until the reformation.

Signs of anti-empire• Groups emerged as a result of theological

differences but there was always a sociocultural local dimension to the antiempire resistance.

• The Donatists in North Africa; Nestorians in the east;• The Arians began in North Africa but spread to many

areas and became the biggest threat to Trinitarian Christianity.

• Bogomils: tenth century during the first Bulgarian empire; Religious dispute Manichean; sociocultural dispute against Greek language culture of the Byzantine church and to the introduction of the feudal system which robbed people of the control over their land.

• Bosnian church early middle ages: Religious dispute: Manichean. Socio cultural concern: a nationalistic reaction to Byzantium to the south and Catholics to the north.

• Cathars who were largely in southern France. • Many of these groups shared some gnostic and

dualist beliefs and the term Albigenses was applied to them by the Catholic Church which condemned them as heretical.

• The Waldensians are one of the few medieval ant-empire groups that have survived

• From 12th century sociocultural changes included increased urbanisation and emergence of merchants and artisans as Feudalism showed signs of decay. Many of the antiempire movements were in these new contexts and reflected the needs of people there.

• The biggest anti-empire movement was to come

in the “reformation”: a word which encapsulates anti-empire.

• Probably most famous anti-empire statement is Martin Luther’s 95 theses against indulgences

2. The Nature of Empire and Anti-empire 2.1 The Characteristics of Empire

• An empire is “supreme and extensive (political) domination” (OCD).

• one nation or tribe extends its power over many others through a process of military, economic and cultural force

• Power in empires crystallised in terms of a central figure, the emperor,• symbolised in superhuman, mythical and even

supernatural forms. • leads to the establishment of cults within the empire. • values which inform laws and behaviour are usually

attached to the symbol of the emperor figure • The symbolic emperor persona may continue: passed

down to subsequent leaders.

• Power is administered in empires through cultural elites • They control the movement of resources of the

domain by means of political, socio-economic, and cultural forces.

• Access to the means of production and the rewards of empire are focussed on the cultural elites and laws within the empire will generally work in their favour.

• Their role in the production and administration of the legal system ameliorates this access

• Empires are comprehensive in their control of power.

1. transcendent level: power is exercised through foundational myths, and the persona of the Emperor expressed in supernatural and superhuman language.

2. Cultural level: through inculcated values and ethics and their manifestation in law.

3. Structural control through political systems; socio-cultural structures end economic systems.

4. Population behaviour: control is coercive through the army, the police and other security agencies.

2.2 The Characteristics of Anti-empire• Anti-empire is a resistance to empire. • occurs when the power of empire is experienced as

oppressive, corrupt or destructive of their life. • Anti-empire may manifest itself in any or all of the

categories of power. • Resistance on the level of transcendence happens by

establishing new transcendent systems usually through religion.

• On the level of culture, values, ethics and law resistance takes the form of new beliefs values and laws proposed and adopted within the places they have hegemony.

• Resistance on the structural level occurs by advocating for, adopting and establishing new political systems, social structures and economic systems in the domains they control.

• Resistance on the level of behaviour in daily human life usually happens first within small groups who propose and adopt new lifestyles.

3. Religion and empireThe relationship between religion and empire is a dialectic of power and control. Three possibilities. 1. Empire controls religion 2. Religion controls the nature of empire. 3. Closer Power balance: control partially from empire

and partially from religion

3.1 Empire dominates religion which is supportive. Examples: • “Incas and Maya of ancient America to the great

and complex civilisations of China and India” (Carey H. 2008:185).

• Ottoman Empire, and Mogul India empires in which “Islam provided a powerful unifying ethos” (:185).

• Spanish, Portuguese, French empires were justified and supported by the promotion of Catholicism in their expansion into new territories (:186).

• Roman Empire from Caesar to Theodosius; The period of European colonialism by Holland, France and Britain in the nineteenth century; The Qini Empire in China

3.2 Religion dominates empire • Empires of religious fundamentalism. Religion

determines the fundamentals and the foundations of the empire.

Examples:• The early experience of Israel from Egypt to Promised

Land. Yahweh a tribal war god, David a warrior king, messianic expectation the centre of belief (Cobb §1).

• Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire and the some Islamic empires such as the Safavid in Iran “who established Shi’ism as a state religion and suppressed all other religious practices” (Carey H. 2008:: 185).

• Caliphates and Todays Islamic republic of Iran

3.3 A dialectic of Control“Christianity and Empires…often yoked together but the marriage has rarely been secure nor has its offspring been clearly the progeny of both parties” (Gascoigne 2008: 174). Examples• The modern period: • Religion promoted empire in the colonial period• “Missionaries provided a network [of] basic services

for a whole range of empire builders” (:168). • missionaries accused of being agents of cultural

imperialism and change amongst dominated peoples (:170-171).

• Conversely the collapse of the empire can promote religious growth. “Christianity has actually grown spectacularly with the collapse of empires. In Africa during from 1965 to 2000 number Christians grown from approximately 75 million to 351 million” (:174).

• Today’s global context is another example of the many times when power relations between religion and empire have been in flux within Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

4. Empire and its Theology 4.1 Theologies of Empire • Theologies of Empire are theologies of power. • What is the way power is conceived within religion and

how does this have an effect in the world. • Empire constructs theology in two ways.

1. It looks for theological symbols within religion that can be appropriated for the justification of its political and economic agendas.

2. It looks for cultural symbols of power within Empire that can be reconstructed theologically to promote the ideology and practice of empire which is expansionist, conquering, dominating.

• The goal here is to control resources for the benefit of the dominant elite.

Examples of 1st methoda. Christians of Empires appropriate Old Testament Yahweh,

a warrior God who gives support for military conquests….The Christian goal was to convert all people. This universalistic thrust, by the time of Charlemagne, justified the use of armies to extend the power of the Church (Cobb §§1 and II).

b. Schleiermacher used the three Christological categories of Priest, Prophet and King in colonialism “to endorse the progress of the so called ‘Christian nations’” (Rieger 2007: 15).

c. Theol. category “God’s chosen people” used by Christian colonisers of those they invaded who are considered to be in need of civilisation and Christianity. (Cf. Spanish theologian Sepulveda in 1544).

d. English justification of Empire often couched in terms of “the economics of Genesis with its insistence of rendering the earth fruitful” (Gascoigne 2008 164)

Examples of second method e. Images of Christ were shaped by Roman empire

culture of the Emperor: “Before Jesus the Christ ever existed…these were the titles of Caesar the Augustus: Divine; Son of God, God, and God from God; Lord redeemer and savior of the world” (Crossan 2008: 73)

f. Anselm’s theology of the atonement comes from the notion of honour and honour sacrifice in medieval noble culture. Only someone of sufficient rank could make the appropriate honour sacrifice.

c. Caesaropapism is a theological construct from local cultural symbols; in this case the emperor assumes authority over the church. This was the case in Byzantium and in Russia after Tsar Ivan (the terrible) in the 16th century and in Anglicanism after Henry VIII.

4.2 Theologies of Antiempire Theologies of anti-empire are theologies of resistance to domination. Two basic processes of theological construction by anti-empire groups. 1. Look for theological symbols/categories within their

religious narrative which are critical of the oppressive, exploitative and corrupt nature of power within the structures of empire.

2. Examine cultural values and practices within the antiempire context which are supportive of existence outside of empire and can be used to construct a theological narrative within their own belief system.

Examples of First method:• OT Prophetic books are strongly condemnatory of

Empires and can be used to construct theologies of resistance. E.g. Prophetic Theology in South Africa (Kairos Document)

• Black Theology used the Exodus story to interpret the context of Apartheid oppression: “In Black Theology salvation is first seen as liberation from oppression…the Exodus event lies at the centre, and is the sustenance, of the life of Israel” (Boesak 1977:18).

• Luke’s worldview portrays both Jewish and Roman officials as agents of the Roman emperor and thus under the domain of Satan. (Yamakazi-Ransome 2006:iv).

Examples of Second method:• The Maccabean revolt against Hellenes (Dan 12:1-4; 1

Macc 1-2) is a resistance to the triumphant Hellenization of Israel by a Jewish nation faithful to the law. The texts are a religious history of the perseverance of ancestral history against gentile infiltration and hegemony in Israel.

• African Indigenous Churches contain resistance elements. • to inequality, racism, deprivation, and oppres sion.

They “insulate social groups which protect and assist their members in their confrontation with foreign en vironments" (Rounds 1982:77).

• They represent a resistance to white leadership and to colonial forms of worship by incorporating traditional African values and Cultural Practice into their Christianity (Villa-Vicencio 1988:35).

4.3 Resolution in a Theology of Authority• Authority as key theological category in empire/anti-

empire dialectic. • Theology of empire is a theology of persuasion like the

early gospel message which attracted the crowds. • Theology of resistance is a theology of confronting evil

as in the hard good news of the journey to Jerusalem and the passion.

• Both are a prelude to the paschal mystery which is the essence and centre of the good news is found in death and resurrection: a transformation to new life .

• After his resurrection Jesus says "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:18).

• Authority carries two components of power with it: the ability to exercise power and the consent of those over whom it is exercised.

• “ If the powerful will works through the freely consenting will of others in a common domain of reality, power assumes the force of authority.

• So long as authority serves the common good it is properly or ethically exercised. But if it is unfairly exercised for one person’s or a group’s advantage, then it is abused” (TAC: 15).

• Neither empires nor resisting groups of anti-empire exercise power in this way. Empires dominate and antiempire resists to preserve itself.

• Authority is only achieved through transformation.

5 The Specific Context of Africa5.1 The Church in Africa: Empire and anti-empireEarly Church:• Donatism as anti-empire response in early African

Christianity.• A reaction to the persecution of Christians in North

Africa by emperor Diocletian. • Donatists: “Numidian peasants and Carthaginian

lower classes” (Nthamburi 1981:216) • Catholics: more closely linked to the Roman world.• Donatism “an indigenous form of Christianity vis-à-vis

Catholicism (:218). • “a clash of civilization expressed in terms of religious

dogma” (:218).

Christian Colonial Empire• 15th c. Portuguese in Congo in the 15th century, • 17th c. Dutch in the Cape• 19th c. British, French, German and Belgian colonialism

spread everywhere in the sub-Saharan region.Anti-empire resistance• African Nationalist movements often led by Christian

leaders rained in mission schools • African indigenous churches as a reaction to the lack of

leadership possibility in traditional churches. • Theological category of “Zion” linked to land. • Mutendi’s Zion city as “a protective refuge where chiefs could

participate in the subtle resistance of their people to the infiltration of foreign influence without entirely jeopardising their positions in relation to the European Administration on whom they depended” (Daneel 1983:62).

New Empire in Africa today• 2010: RSA joins BRIC group of developing countries • 40% of the world population. • Massive economic growth since 2000 • Will become worlds biggest economic power group by

2037 • South Africa invited because of international profile and

the portal into Africa: the world’s fastest growing economic region.

• Six African countries in the world’s top ten fastest growing economies 2001-2010 (Angola, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Mozambique and Rwanda).

• BRICS countries currently have an anti-empire profile• model for poor countries, • lobby for fair international trade relations

currently biased in favour of first world countries. • recognise “the need to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs). • By middle of this century they may begin to take on

the nature of Empire.• leading to a massive change in the nature of the

world and increasing the danger for conflict.

5.2 African Christian Mission in a world of BRICS, Globalisation and 21st Century Information Technology• Empire and anti-empire in the emerging global

context, mean Christianity must evaluate its mission and priorities

• A missiology for transformation through authority founded on the paschal mystery is proposed as solution to the empire/antiempire paradigm.

• This missiology must respond to the socio-cultural, economic and religious trends emerging in the globalised networked world.

• Method• examine significant trends • propose priorities for mission as a response.

5.3 Sociocultural, Economic and Religious Trends in the Globalised Networked World Socio-Philosophical 1. continuing move of religion to the realm of the private.

a) religion increasingly dismissed by secular states governed by a grounding constitution like RSA.

b) marginalisation of religion as participant in the social debate about right and wrong in the society. (secularism paradigm).

2. the dismissal of transcendence and absolute truths as a source of morality in favour of postmodern glocalised pragmatic solutions. (metaphysics paradigm).

Socio-ethical3. increasing prioritising of materialist concerns to the

detriment of ethical behaviour and concern for the exploited. (justice paradigm).

4. The marginalised in society develop anti-empire resistance identities, advocating either engagement with violence or withdrawal into dependency driven glee states: substance abuse or religious experiences of euphoria outside daily life.

(resistance coping paradigm).

Socio-economic5. A growing gap, globally, between rich and middle class

on the one hand and the poor on the other.a) Rich and Middle have access to information

technology for capital, financial, political and media control goals. The poor do not

b) The Poor will be increasingly intranational nature rather than international

(solidarity paradigm)6. Unemployment will be the primary sign of the poor.

Lack of access to human development will be one of its principal causes. (development paradigm).

Socio-Religious Religion will take on a number of characteristics. 7. anti-empire groups of fundamentalist believers creating

resistance identities and using violence8. growth of consumer religion offering religious products

based on personal needs prioritising immediate gratification rather than permanent commitment (co-option by empire).

9. growing anomie concerning traditional forms of religion no longer meeting religious needs of people today linked with an on-going search for meaning in life in human self fulfilment rather than in the transcendent.

(All reflect the spirituality paradigm: search for authentic spirituality in life today.)

It is my contention that the secularism paradigm, the metaphysics paradigm, the justice paradigm, the resistance coping paradigm, the solidarity paradigm, the development paradigm, and the spirituality paradigm must be addressed within an authentic missiology for the future in developing countries in Africa.

The paradigm within which such a missiology should be constructed is that of transformational authority in the sense argued for above.

5.4 Mission and Ministry in a Globalised Networked AfricaMissiological response to these trends must provide a vision and strategies to respond to this emerging culture. It should address the following eight goals:

Socio-philosophical1. Promote transcendence against secularism (transformation response to the secularism paradigm).2. Articulate the role of Religion in Society today (transformation response to the metaphysics paradigm)

 

Socio-ethical3. Promote transformation identities against resistance anti-empire identities (transformation response to the resistance coping paradigm).4. Promote morality against selfishness (transformation response to the justice and secularism paradigms) 

Socio-economic5. Promote local mission to the unemployed (transformation response to the justice paradigm).6. Promote Human development amongst the poor (transformation response to the development paradigm). 

Evangelical 7. Promote authentic conversion (transformation response to the spirituality paradigm).8. Promote Authentic Religious experience (transformation response to the spirituality paradigm).

Socio-philosophical1. Promote transcendence against secularism (a transformation response to the secularism paradigm). • Today social power analysed only in terms of the

political, the economic and the cultural (Stackhouse). • Theology is relegated to the domain of culture. This is weak for two reasons:1. The power of religion is growing in the world 2. “These three levels of social power do not take account

of what transcends them” (Stackhouse 3:5). • Foundational ethical values must come from

transcendental norms which are always rooted in the religious

(This is an argument of transformational authority).

Socio-philosophical2. The role of Religion in Society (a transformation response to the metaphysics paradigm).2004 Dialogue Habermas/Ratzinger• Habermas concedes that values such as human dignity, morality

of consciousness and democracy are the legacy of “the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love…up to this day there is no alternative to it” (Habermas 2002:151).

• The continues existence of Religion in secularised environment must betaken serious “as a cognitive challenge”

• Ratzinger asks the question: How can the question of the ethical foundation of law be resolved? • Not through majority will as majority has imposed injustice

on the minority.• Not on norms coming from the modern period alone since

Islam has a different set and China sees human rights as a Western invention to be looked at critically

• Both religion and reason have to be doubted since both have led to violence

• But is European secularization in fact an exceptional development to be corrected (Tehran Scholar) (anti-empire?)

• Ratzinger concludes:• Only an analysis of power and law in terms of religion and

reason can identify an ethic to inform law. • There is “a necessary relatedness between reason and faith

and between reason and religion, which are called to purify and help one another” (:78). (check quote)

• Discussion towards a solution needs to take place within the intercultural context of the world today “in the attempt at a polyphonic relatedness, in which they themselves are receptive to the essential complementarity of reason and faith” (:79)

• Thus the urgent need for theologians to participate in the debate about transcendent moral norms in all societies.

Socio-ethical3. Promote transformation identities against resistance anti-empire identities (transformation response to resistance-coping paradigm).

Two current Anti-empire responses to globalisation:• Engagement through violence • Withdrawal into dependency driven glee states in drugs

or religion (resistance coping paradigm).

Mission: Promote coherent, comprehensive transformation identity for humanity in the globalised information age.

Missionary Vision: • Salvation through confronting evil, facing the

consequences in suffering and death and transformation through the power of God to resurrection

(A statement of transformational authority).

Missiology: local theologies that address issues and problems that result from global systems. • E.g.: theologies of liberation, healing,

development, feminism, ecology.

Ministries: create group based missionary activities (virtual or physical) around such theological responses in order to establish Christian identities.

4. Promote morality against selfishness (transformation response to the justice and solidarity paradigms).-Global empire Prioritises materialist concerns over ethical behaviour -Christian mission must advocate for a global Christian ethic of justice and solidarity.-Current issues:1. Financial Crisis: Bankers get bailouts and bonuses whilst

ordinary people endure austerity to pay for it2. The gap between rich and poor is increasing at

breakneck speed globally 3. Rapid social transformation causing a breakdown in

social cohesiveness and group based value systems. 4. People see themselves marginalised: self-preservation

and self-interest predominates. and sociocultural self-determination.

5. In RSA. 1994 liberation a model for transformation in political freedom, economic growth.However 1-5 manifest here:a) Previously hidden social contexts of

marginalisation and suffering are more visible. b) Increasing evidence of the moral breakdown of

social structures where people are secure threatening the quality of human life

c) New groupings emerging promoting their own interests

d) The poor are increasingly marginalised by this process.

Missiological Response

Vision 1Theological category of Solidarity (Cf John Paul II ). “In a world divided and beset by every type of conflict, the conviction is growing of a radical interdependence and consequently of the need for a solidarity which will take up interdependence and transfer it to the moral plane”. (SRS §26).

Missionary Activity• The exercise of solidarity within each society is valid

when its members recognize one another as persons. • Those who are more influential with a greater share of

goods and common services, should feel responsible for the weaker and share with them.

• Those who are weaker, for their part, in the same spirit of solidarity, should not adopt a purely passive attitude or one that is destructive of the social fabric, but, while claiming their legitimate rights, should do what they can for the good of all.

• The intermediate groups, in their turn, should not selfishly insist on their particular interests, but respect the interests of others. (SRS §39).

• “The root mission of the churches is to work to inform the moral sensibilities of market societies so that the respect and enhancement of the integrity of life are basic to the self-understanding and ethos of a society” (Schweiker 2000:138).

Missionary Vision 2“In the South African context the significance of such a moral vision is widely recognised” (Conradie 2011:6). • The focus should be on the social level since this is where

the problem resides.• In such a context the promotion of moral values and

moral regeneration becomes paramount.

Socio-economic5. Promote local mission to the unemployed (a transformation response to the justice paradigm).

Missionary VisionIntrastate unemployment a major signifier of poverty in globalisation

Mission to Unemployed a major aspect of mission to the poor.

Missionary Activity1. Provide cost effective uses of electronic access to the

network to provide:a) Develop free sources of information, and skills

training for the unemployed b) ways to set up small scale local businesses.

2. Promote activity on the physical and structural levels.a) Physical level: food, shelter, and hope.b) Structural level: help people improve social

infrastructure to improve the quality of life of the marginalized: (e.g. cooperation between Catholics and communists in Kerala, India in literacy campaigns, health care and housing (Morar 2002: 99-105; 156-159).

c) Church organisations cooperate with other organisations for social upliftment of the poor.

3. Advocacy: Global cooperation for an international

order that can respond to the deleterious effects of the emerging global empire including unbridled capitalism and the rise of globalised crime.

6. Promote Human development (a transformation response to the development paradigm).

Mission Vision: A crucial time for Development in Africa1. A renewed commitment to human development.

a) Africa countries to become emerging developing countries (Cf. BRICS)

b) An opportunity for collaboration between African governments and Churches in the setting up of development programmes for the poor to help them participate in the growth that will come.

2. Populorum Progressio (Paul VI) prefigures the Millennium Development Goals:

“preferential op tion for the poor” and “permanent task and commitment of the Church”.

(Holy See Mission to UN)

Missionary Activity1. The promotion of human development programmes

amongst the poor is a key manifestation of human solidarity. a) Skills training; rural development programmes; b) informal settlement development programmes in

urban areas (prime centres of unemployment) c) Adult education programmes (literacy, health care,

housing (add to word text also)

2. Development programmes financed from within by the rich. (solidarity paradigm)a) Promote Intra-country solidarity for development b) “no progress toward complete development of

people without the simultaneous development of all humanity in the spirit of solidarity” (PP §43).

c) evangelisation of the rich regarding human solidarity is a prime activity of the mission for human development.

Evangelical 7. A Church which promotes conversion (a transformation response to the spirituality paradigm).A new context and new human needs requires an openness to conversion by Christians• A renewed conversion to Jesus Christ present in the people

of this world today. • Conversion happens when we find a treasure hidden in a field. • Conversion reveals God in the poor of our new context. • Conversion moves us away from former, familiar and even

self-centred practices towards providing hope and transformation within the new globalised and networked world.

• God communicates this to us because conversion always comes from God.

• Conversion happens within culture as discipleship of “‘act locally’ – once one has reflected “globally”. (Conradie 2011:6).

• Conversion requires a search for new spiritualities to respond to this time. • Requires a cultural understanding of groups in our

context order to develop missiological and liturgical approaches appropriate to their social space.

• In the past these were found in Black theology, Feminist theology, liberation theology and approaches to inculturation. (Bellagamba 1992:2)

• The Church in Africa will need to respond to the challenge of cultural change brought about by the inpact of globalisation, information technology and development challenges.

8. Promote Authentic Religious experience (a transformation response to the spirituality paradigm).

In a globalised networked world immediate experience will be prioritised over learned behaviour. • For Christianity this implies the increasing importance of

personal religious experience. • Prioritises Evangelisation over Catechesis in mission. • People will want knowledge about their faith

(catechesis) after experiencing God’s presence through religious experience (evangelisation).  

Religious experience a “megatrend:…thirsting for the divine’ Bellagamba (1992:3)

• Danger of inauthentic “religious experience” containing psychosocial manipulation.

• Demands a missiology of religious experience with insights from psychology, anthropology and the theology of spiritual discernment.

• To facilitate authentic approaches to evangelisation helping people to experience the presence of God in their lives and reorientate their lives to him without emotional manipulation by practitioners.

• Popular Catholicism will grow as a means of mission: • increasing growth in the importance of Shrines,

Pilgrimage centres, retreat centres and Mass religious revival events as some of the strategies for Church mission.

These matters raise the question of Liturgy and worship. • In the Catholic Tradition these are at the centre of

evangelisation and Christian expression. • Liturgy and Catechetics are two sides one process of

insertion into Christianity and Christian living. • In Protestant tradition, Conradie (2011) suggests the

response of Christianity to a globalised world “is a liturgical vision through which Christians may learn to look at God’s world through God’s eyes” (:7). • This re-grounds the Mission of the church in the

Mission of God.

Effective liturgy should allow people the opportunity to be carried through a ritual process accessing the experience of transcendence.

• The liturgical renewal of Vatican II moved the Church into the modern age but often removed symbols of transcendence that helped people in their relationship with God.

• One role of worship in the life of the community must be to celebrate an authentic experience of the presence of God.

• The recent approved new English Translation and the restoration of the Rite of Pius V (check) are attempts to redress this is the Catholic tradition.

Conclusion