Dialogue between African Religion and other world religions has, regrettably, been a much neglected area in formal religious discourse in Africa to date. Moreover, up to now, the imperative of dialogue in the process of evangelism figures only peripherally - if at all - in the study of African Christian Theology. This book is probably the first deliberate, extensive and well-argued attempt by an African theologian to fill this unfortunate lacuna. How can Christian and African spiritualities interact with and enrich each other on the basis of mutual respect, without - as has historically been the case - the one necessarily seeking to eradicate the other? This is the fundamental question of dialogue discussed in the pages of this book. Dr. Laurenti Magesa is Senior Lecturer in African Theology at the Maryknoll Institute of African Studies and the Jesuit School of Theology, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.

The Routledge Companion to Christianity in Africa offers a multi-disciplinary analysis of the Christian tradition across the African continent and throughout a long historical span. The volume offers historical and thematic essays tracing the introduction of Christianity in Africa, as well as its growth, developments, and effects, including the lived experience of African Christians. Individual chapters address the themes of Christianity and gender, the development of African-initiated churches, the growth of Pentecostalism, and the influence of Christianity on issues of sexuality, music, and public health. This comprehensive volume will serve as a valuable overview and reference work for students and researchers worldwide.

The Jesus Dialogues is a unique book. There is no other book that uses this interesting dialogue method to contrast and compare such an extensive number of religions. In each chapter, Jesus sits down with both women and men religious founders and leaders and talks with them on an equal basis about religious perspectives, past and present. The book is a thorough overview of Christianity, compared and contrasted with eight other religions as well as selected indigenous religions. A final chapter deals with the "why" and "how" of interfaith dialogue, which is so needed in today's diverse and global society. This book reflects the author's six decades of study and teaching in the areas of Christianity and world religions. It is based on sound scholarship, worldwide travel, and experience in interfaith dialogue. The Jesus Dialogues demonstrates that there is truth and a way to ultimacy in all religions. At the same time, listening in on these conversations reveals significant differences among religions. These dialogues help one realize that Gandhi was right when he said that we must listen to all religions in order to obtain just a glimpse of the divine.

The fair and equitable distribution of wealth and the cultivation of proper attitudes toward material goods and economic development concern all religious traditions alike. In so far as the dynamics of the world market or the global economic system transcend the competency and control of any particular religion, dialogue between religions, as well as between religionists and economists becomes both possible and necessary. This volume brings together religious thinkers from various traditions as well as economists to reflect on the possibilities and the challenges of such dialogue.

"A disciplinary map for understanding African Catholicism today by engaging some of the most pressing and pertinent issues, topics, and conversations in diverse fields of studies in African Catholicism"--

This wide-ranging volume presents the most complete appraisal of modern African history to date. It assembles dozens of new and established scholars to tackle the questions and subjects that define the field, ranging from the economy, the two world wars, nationalism, decolonization, and postcolonial politics to religion, development, sexuality, and the African youth experience. Contributors are drawn from numerous fields in African studies, including art, music, literature, education, and anthropology. The themes they cover illustrate the depth of modern African history and the diversity and originality of lenses available for examining it. Older themes in the field have been treated to an engaging re-assessment, while new and emerging themes are situated as the book’s core strength. The result is a comprehensive, vital picture of where the field of modern African history stands today.

Throughout the last two decades, the modern dialogue movement has gained worldwide significance. The knowledge about its origins is, however, still very limited. This book presents a wide range of insights from eleven case studies into the early history of several important international interreligious/interfaith dialogue organizations that have shaped the modern development of interreligious dialogue from the late nineteenth century up to the present. Based on new archival research, they describe, on the one hand, how these actors put their ideals into practice and, on the other, how they faced many challenges as pioneers in the establishment of new interreligious/interfaith organizational structures. This book concludes with a comparison of those case studies, bringing to light new and broader historico-sociological understanding of the beginnings of international and multi-religious interreligious/interfaith dialogue organizations over more than one century. The World’s Parliament of Religions / 1893 The Religiöser Menschheitsbund / 1921 The World Congress of Faiths / 1933-1950 The Committee on the Church and the Jewish People of the World Council of Churches / 1961 The Temple of Understanding / 1968 The International Association for Religious Freedom / 1969 The World Conference on Religion and Peace / 1970 The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions / 1989-1991 The Oxford International Interfaith Centre / 1993 The United Religions Initiative / 2000 The Universal Peace Federation / 2005 Based on these analyses, the authors identify three distinct groups with sometimes-conflicting interests that are shaping the movement: individual religious virtuosi, countercultural activists, and representatives of religious institutions. Published in cooperation with the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious & Intercultural Dialogue, Vienna.

The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II, 1962-65) was distinctly different from other councils in one significant aspect. In all the areas it discussed, this council did not see itself as the end of a process, but rather as a beginning. It opened, not closed, doors--whether doctrinal or disciplinary--for ongoing reflection, for possibilities of ever-improving knowledge and understanding. Laurenti Magesa offers this book as a stimulus for African (Catholic) Christians to continue digging deeper into and benefiting from the spiritual treasures that the Council still contains. For the theologian or historian of Vatican II, some of the information may be quite familiar, but all of it is important if one is to grasp the scope, meaning, and implications of the Council for the Church and people of Africa.

Franciscan priest Placide Tempels’s 1946 book, Bantu Philosophy, introduced a new discourse about African thought and beliefs, questioning the universality of Western philosophy and establishing paradigms that continue to dominate discussion of the relationships between Africa and the West today. More than 75 years after the publication of this influential text, this volume brings together a wide range of contributors to examine the legacy and impact of Tempels’s work for the study of African philosophy and religion. Reflecting on whether Bantu Philosophy reinforces conflict or convergence between Africa and the West, and its reception within Africa, scholars from both African and Western institutions provide new perspectives on both Tempels’s ideas and ongoing debates in African philosophy and religion.

In Proverbs and the African Tree of Life Dorothy BEA Akoto-Abutiate juxtaposes chosen sayings from Proverbs and selected Ewe Folk proverbs using the agricultural metaphor of “grafting,” which she calls a “hermeneutic of grafting.” Though these two sets of sayings come from completely different cultural contexts, Akoto argues that folk sayings/proverbs, which abound in Africa, should be considered as an already mature, established tree on to which a piece of the biblical tree is spliced or engrafted to produce hybridized fruits that have uniquely different tastes than the fruits of each tree individually. This metaphorical grafting process allows the message of the Bible (in Proverbs) to be understood, imbibed and appropriated in Africa.