Understanding Christianity in the history of African religion: An engagement with theological and anthropological perspectives in the pursuit of interdisciplinary dialogue

Verbum et Ecclesia

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Understanding Christianity in the history of African religion: An engagement with theological and anthropological perspectives in the pursuit of interdisciplinary dialogue
 
Creator M, Retief
 
Subject Theology; Anthropology; History; Cultural Studies anthropology of Christianity, theology, African indigenous Christianity, missiology, teleology
Description There is ample ground and good motives for interdisciplinary engagement between theology and the ‘new’ anthropology of Christianity. Theologians can learn much about the character of the church in all its plurality from the often insightful descriptions of anthropologists who have recently started to take a strong interest in Christianity. On the other hand, theologians can help anthropologists come to more complex understandings of the meaning of Christianity. Concerning contrasting anthropological perspectives of anti-essentialism and culture theory regarding the nature of Christianity, this article suggested that the work of missiologists, such as Andrew Walls, might usefully aid the progression of the debate and referred to the historical interplay and conflict between Christianity and indigenous knowledge in southern Africa by way of illustrating this point. The argument pursued in this article hinges on the prioritising of an interdisciplinary approach in theological studies, a cause which Prof. Julian Müller has long championed. Therefore, this contribution sought to honour his legacy by illustrating a further avenue of interdisciplinary engagement.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2014-08-06
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Historical Inquiry; Literary Analysis
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ve.v35i2.874
 
Source Verbum et Ecclesia; Vol 35, No 2 (2014); 9 pages 2074-7705 1609-9982
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/874/1944 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/874/1945 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/874/1946 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/874/1943
 
Coverage africa late modernity —
Rights Copyright (c) 2014 Retief M https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT