African Journal of Philosophy and Religious Studies

African Journal of Philosophy and Religious Studies ISSN 1621-4587 Vol. 2 (3), pp. 001-009, March, 2016. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The theology of inculturation and the African church

Sussy Gumo Kurgat

Department of Religion, Theology and Philosophy, Maseno University, P.O Box 333-40105, Maseno, Kenya. E-mail:[email protected]. Tel: +254 722721436. Fax: +254 722721436

Accepted 22 December, 2015

Abstract

This paper investigated the theology of inculturation and the African Church. Specifically, the study set to examined the demand and relevance of inculturation for cultural development, assess inculturation message to Africa, determine the role of Small Christian Communities and examine the impact of inculturation in African Church. The study was based on both primary and secondary data collected for a period of two years. The study was principally qualitative in nature based on qualitative techniques of data analysis. The results of the study indicated that for an effective inculturation, facilitation of active local participation motivated and controlled from bottom-up approach through Small Christian Communities has been very crucial for a sustainable inculturation process. This approach has led to successful inculturation especially in areas of liturgy, moral theology, African leadership and the Church-as-family. The study recommended that to establish an authentic African Church, there is need to emphasize on the role of Small Christian Communities.

Key words: Theology, inculturation, christianity, catholic church, culture.