Greenlight Theology Series 2009

_______________________________________________________________
Towards An African Christianity on the Eve of the African Synod:
The Contemporary Crisis of Faith, a Challenge for the Church in Africa
_______________________________________________________________
By Fr. Francis Duniya 1
**
Abstract:
The church must be the church, and she should be so via a renewed attention to the
‘Word’ of God. Faith itself is always the essential reform we need. Faith is always the
starting point for putting the institutions we ourselves created in the Church constantly to
the test. The challenge Christianity faces is how to embrace this spiritual renaissance
without crushing it, how to enrich it without polluting it, how to deepen it without
mutilating it. Whether the current religious awakening can be saved from its own worse
excesses depends on how it manages to relate itself to history, and to politics. I do not
have clear answers to current questions that confront our world and our Church today. I
do have questions, and as a matter of fact, I think that a man is known better by his
questions than by his answers.
***

Preliminary Remarks:
At the close of World War I, a soap manufacturer walking down the street with his pastor was
bemoaning the “failure” of Christianity. “After nineteen centuries of preaching and teaching
Christ, there is still so much evil in the world. I don’t see how you can go on preaching the
gospel.” “I don’t see how you can go on manufacturing soap”, retorted the Pastor. “Look at that
little urchin playing in the gutter. Neck and ears filthy. There is still so much dirt in the world.
Soap is such a failure.” “But”, countered the soap manufacturer, “if people will just apply the
soap, they will be clean.” “Yes”, concluded the Pastor, “and if men will but apply Christ to their
daily living, they will be clean.”2 In order words, for the Pastor, “Christianity has not been tried
and found wanting. It has been tried and found difficult and consequently many have ceased
3
trying. This is the point that the Epistle to Diogenes had expressed, in its own way, by saying
that “Christianity is to the world what the soul is to the body” 4. And St. Augustine is convinced
that to preach this “Christian virtue is to work for the happiness of mankind.” 5

1 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

Some of us are tempted to agree with J. Oswald Sanders, who noted that we form part of a
generation that worships power – military, intellectual, economic, scientific, etc. the concept of
6
power in various realms, often with questionable motivation. We find nowadays barriers and
road blocks everywhere, stopping us and hampering our progress. It would appear that no one is
able to control the present situation, neither the bishops nor the Holy Father – both of who,
however, are leading the fight for fidelity and unity in the face of storms from East and West,
North and South. Jesus alone can calm the storm; neither Peter nor the apostles could do so [cf.
Matt. 8; 23 – 27].7

The world is in complete state of flux. The Church sitting in Council, felt this. The introduction
to the ‘Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes,’ on ‘The Church in the Modern World’, briefly
describes this state of change, but that was in 1965. Since then, we have witnessed a mad
galloping urbanization during these three decades.8 Modern science and technology now master
the world in worldly way and with Nietzsche, leave heaven to sparrows and old women. In other
words, we are living in an age of technology and science that demands proof. Today it has
become almost a truism to call our time an age of anxiety.9 It is in this world of tension and
terror that Evely could write:

“Hopelessness gnaws at our era. Unfortunately the sad, bitter man of our times can draw no
consolidation from the witness which is offered to him by a Christianity that only too often has
turned his hope into caricature, an evasion, an alibi, a life insurance policy.” 10
With Thomas Merton, I do not have clear answers to current questions that confront our world
and our Church today. I do have questions, and as a matter of fact, I think that a man is known
better by his questions than by his answers.

The Contemporary Crisis of Faith:

11
“The present crisis” in the words of Yves Congar, “is a real one.” The present situation is
heavily marked by religious indifference, by a widespread mistrust regarding the real capacity of
reason to reach objective and universal truth, and by fresh problems and questions brought up by
scientific and technological discoveries. 12

2 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

More than a hundred years ago, Kierkegaard asked how it was even possible to be a Christian in
Christendom. He wondered how a man could say “Yes” to the Gospel when its message was so
13
obfuscated by its compromised involvement with European culture and bourgeois values.
Thomas J. J. Altizer, in “Toward a New Christianity”, asked the following questions: “How can
the Christian faith exist and be real in a world and history in which God is dead?” The problem is
that the old system of repression are still alive in our hearts and therefore in our institutions.
They are old and ugly, but they remain obstinately alive. However, radical theologians are united
in their insistence that faith must exist fully in the actuality of our history. They invite us to
abandon all nostalgia for the lost world of Christendom, and seek the Christ who is real here and
now for us. 14

We need a new revolutionary theory, pertinent to the pressures of the times. Faced with a new
situation, the Church, in the words of Karl Rahner, “must march valiantly towards the new and
not yet experienced, to the outer limits; there where Christian doctrine and conscience can travel
no further. In the practical life of the Church today, the only fitting theology is a daring theology
15
. . . What is certain in this day and age is not the past but the future.” To deliver a nineteenth
century answer to a twentieth century dilemma is an obsolete task according to Harvey Cox.
What is needed, rather than a step backward, is a step ahead; a step into thinking theologically
about the issues that confront us in a modern society. Gibson Winter has described the style of
theological thinking we need if we are to take a step forward instead of a step backward. He calls
it “theological reflection.” It is coming to consciousness about the meaning of contemporary
events in the light of history. It is a way of taking responsibility, both for the reshaping of the
past and the constitution of the future. 16

When Christians have enough courage to “come out” of the present crippling structures, God
17
Himself will provide the new ones. This point is very relevant today for the Church and for
Christianity in general. If we subject men and women to structures and put them at the service of
those structures, instead of placing the structures at the service of man, and if we are unwilling to
do away with those structures when they prove hurtful to man; then we are going against Christ,
because Christ said clearly and definitely that “the Sabbath was made for man and not man for
18
the Sabbath.”]Mk. 2: 27] Principles are often “sticking to principles: can become just another

3 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

 19
way to avoid seeing persons. It can signify a relapse from God’s law. Dietrich Bonheoffer
said, “Principles are only tools in the hands of God, soon to be thrown away as unserviceable.”

The challenge Christianity faces is how to embrace this spiritual renaissance without crushing it,
how to enrich it without polluting it, how to deepen it without mutilating it. Whether the current
religious awakening can be saved from its own worse excesses depends on how it manages to
20
relate itself to history, and to politics. What is essential for this reform, as we have already
stated is a forward leap, a step which had been taken by Vatican II through its openness to the
outside world. The Church will certainly equip her theologically to confront a computed
twentieth century world. There is a common saying that ideas “ideas rule the world; but only
creative and innovative ideas can bring about revolutionary breakthroughs in any sector of life,
be it spiritual, political or social. Lending his voice on the need for openness, change and
renewal, for every generation, the Holy Father John Paul II stated that, “There is no profession,
job or work which does not require constant updating; if it is to remain current and effective.” 21
As such, we need courage to accept the questions of our time and seek answers from the arsenal
of faith. For this moment of crisis in our contemporary church, we view it as an invitation to
grow in faith.

Let The Church Be The Church in The World:

The Church must be the Church, and she should be so via a renewed attention to the ‘Word’ of
God. Faith itself, therefore, in all its greatness and fullness, is always the essential reform we
need. Faith is always the starting point for putting the institutions we ourselves created in the
Church constantly to the test. 22 Faith leads us “far, to boundless lands”, as the Psalmist tells us.

An old priest once said that we have told the people that faith is certain, for it depends on God.
And that is true, but we should also tell them faith is also dark, because we do not have any
vision of God in this life. That is why Sirach in his book would say to us, “my son, when you
come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials.” [Sir. 2.1]

John Sheet describes the whole process of Christian living as a process of overcoming temptation
in order that the total restoration in Christ might be accomplished [Eph. 1: 4 – 7]. It means that,

4 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

“The overcoming by faith of what corresponds only to what the eyes can see, or human reason
can penetrate; he overcoming by hope of tendencies to impatience and discouragement with the
ways of God; and the overcoming by charity of any compromise in our service of God.” 23

The men and women of our church today must be reminded that they are called to live by faith
and not by clear vision. Pope Paul VI, with keen theological intuition remarked that “what we do
don’t know about our faith is much more than what we know about it.” 24 Fr. Matthew Kukah in
his article “Was Jesus Born in Somalia?” insists on the fact that we must ask God for a faith that
is not questioning. An unquestioning faith is not merely an act of fatalism, nor is it a refusal to
take cognizance of human brilliance and ingenuity. On the contrary, it merely reaffirms our
belief in God and confirms our beliefs that no matter what, God’s foolishness is still much wiser
that human wisdom [1 Cor. 1: 25]. True faith means believing that everything happens for the
best. It is the courage to accept acceptance, and that acceptance that is to be accepted is God.
And “a God comprehended” in the words of Rudolf Otto, author of “The Idea of The Holy” is no
God. 25 That is why Martin Luther found in the words of St. Paul how the righteous shall live by
faith [Rom. 3: 28]. Like Martin Luther, Kierkegaard defines faith as insurance of one’s life into
the unknown. And without faith, it is impossible to please God [Heb. 11: 6].

In Christianity and philosophy, Etienne Gilson says, “We are told that it is faith which
constructed the Cathedrals of the Middle Ages. In the Old Testament as well as in the New
Testament, faith is man’s comprehensive “Yes” to God. 26 St. Francis Xavier, who converted the
East, is said to have spoken on many occasions in the language of the people he was trying to
convert without having learned a word of it. St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, a man of great faith is
said to have moved a mountain, not far, but just far enough to make room for the site of a new
church. The point of St. Gregory is that when he was dying, he asked how many pagans there
were left in his Cathedral city of Neo-Caesarea. And they told him “there are still seventeen”.
“Well, thank God”, he said, “When I came here, there were only seventeen Christians.” Also St.
Peter of Alcatara, a Franciscan and a Spaniard, was said to have walked across a river in full
flood and was quite surprised afterwards, when people reminded him that there wasn’t a bridge.

5 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

The above examples are meant to confirm the fact that “faith is the work of God.” 27 It is a free
gift from God to us his children. That is why in their profoundest understanding of God’s nature;
the rabbis insisted that faith itself was a gift. We Catholics too, believe that religious faith is a
gift which cannot be imposed forcibly on those who do not have it. The Christian message after
all, is based on faith. It is a religion that we can know something, but we cannot know
everything. The author of the book of Job uses this debate to register his protest against the
prevailing understanding of God’s ways with human beings. Faith is patience with its lamp lit;
since God is greater when He is small. The tension between theology and practice is part of our
daily life and must be endured in faith before Christians and non-Christians. 28

The reformation, which is necessary in all epochs, does not consist in always, being able to
remodel “our church as we like, in our power to invent it, but in the fact that we keep clearing
away what we have constructed to make way for the purest light which comes from above and
29
which is an explosion of the purest liberty at the same time. St. Thomas Aquinas is extremely
clear when he affirms that, “faith is as it were habitus of theology, that is, its permanent principle
30
of operation, and that the whole of theology is order to nourishing the faith [of the faithful].”
The path of renewal for the individual, for the Church as a whole and for the human world, opens
up from this focal point of faith. 31

32
Faith goes beyond the evidence of history though it does not necessarily contradict it.
Medieval scholastics boldly stated that, “faith and reason can never contradict one another.” To
conclude our discussion on this area, we would like to note down two important points;
[i] Christianity is not an administration;
[ii] Western man has “discovered’ that the Church is not a democracy. For a Church
which abides by the decisions of a majority becomes a purely man-made Church. It is reduced to
the level of feasibility and plausibility in that it is the result of its own actions and its own
intuitions and opinions. An opinion here replaces faith. The Church at this point in the language
of Cardinal Josef Ratzinger “has quickly withdrawn into the sphere of the empirical and faded
33
away, like the ideal Church of dreams.” In order words, the faith of the Church at this very
stage does disappear like smoke in the wind, because it has no real foundation. As such, let the
Church be the Church, nothing else, nothing more, but nothing less.

6 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

Towards and African Solution:
Prospects and Possibilities of an African Church on the Eve of the African Synod

What are the demands upon the Christian Community in Africa, in terms of its obedience to the
Gospel within the context of rapid change? In this question, the Christian Community – the
Church in the biblical sense of the term is the subject matter. The sense of the question in brief,
is: “What should be the Church’s modus vivendi and what should be it modus operandi of
obedience to the gospel within the context of, and in reference to, the complex phenomena of
rapid social change which characterize contemporary Africa. Ultimately, the answer to this
question is to give content to that categorical statement of Oxford, 1937: “Let the Church be the
Church.” This content can be given only in terms of the concrete situation in which the Church
finds itself, or, to put it slightly in a different way, through an enquiry on how the Church can be
the Church in its interaction with the world – the world in which the Church finds itself and
which is found in the Church. 34

The Church’s evangelical work would not be complete if it does not take account of the
unceasing interplay of the Gospel and of man’s concrete life, both personal and social. The
Church must be a polis within the polis, living within the political community but neither
identical with it nor slavishly loyal to it. The Church must be a pilgrim band that has no earthly
home, but seeks “another city” whose King is not Caesar. 35

Africa: Yesterday and Today

In ancient times, people could be enslaved by wicked kings, cruel tyrants and sadistic emperors.
Africa has suffered more humiliation that other continents. In the time of old Greek and Roman
Empires, Moors were known as slaves. In the 16 th century, the Western powers renewed their
interest in Africa principally as a quarry for slaves. It has been calculated that about 30 million
slaves were transported to the New World. It was usual to depict them as typical idolaters.
Sources of the period repeatedly declared that they were absolutely ignorant of God, that they
lived like beasts, they were lecherous [lustful]. Thieves and liars, and they ate like animals. 36

7 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

Unchanging views on seven decades of the Protestant mission in Ghana, collected by H. W.
Mobley, can hardly lack validity, and they can point a lesson for Catholic missionaries too.
Missionaries kept their distance from the people, living for preference in hilltop residences;
universal brotherhood in Christ was indeed preached, but in practice aid was given with a
paternalistic and superior air, so that black people suffered in an intangible way from their
colour. African tradition was condemned without being studied and Christianity simply
suppressed the African religions. 37

In an open letter to the Pope, New People Magazine complained to the Holy Father, John Paul II
thus: “Holy Father, we were enslaved and colonized by Lisbon, London and Paris. We are now
brutalized by Washington and the faceless bureaucratic world powers residing in New York and
Geneva. In spite of all this, the promise of total liberation brought by Christ is taking roots in
our hearts. Will this promise now wither and dry under the stern indifferent gaze of a Church
behaving like a step-mother rather than a Mother. . . If the Church will not be with us as an
understanding and loving Mother, to whom will we turn? To the African Independent Churches?
To the New American Sects of the Bible Belts? To Islam? Many of our sisters and brothers have
already done so, many more will follow them, if they find in these religious sects a more merciful
God, a community more rooted in our traditions; if they find a better response to our spiritual
and material needs [cf. New People Magazine, ‘An African Synod Without Africa: Open Letter
to the Pope’, 12 May 1993 edition].

To be able to face the innumerable problems that are still present, as “ a tumultuous history has
left a heritage of under-development, ethnic rivalry and conflicts”, the Pope John Paul II said
during his tenth trip to the African continent, asked for a new style of international cooperation
based on inter-dependence and not on subjection. The Pope also wished to draw attention of the
developed countries to the problem of this continent after the sad episodes of exploitation and
slavery, “the nations of Africa have the right to expect a disinterested help which will ensure an
authentic independence, so that they can construct once and for all their own future in their own
way.” 38

8 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

Christians live precisely at the points of tensions and disagreement of suspicion and intolerance
and indifference. In our Christian society, we find social injustice, terrible religious and tribal
clashes, organized crime and uncontrolled capitalism. It is impossible to defend the faith whose
watchword is love and whose emblem is a man upon a Cross, by a policy of destruction. In
modern times, in democratic as well as in totalitarian countries, we are enslaved by experts, who
can, if we allow them, control every detail of our lives.

On the Eve of the African Synod: Our Expectations

We eagerly look forward to the day when an African Synod will declare thus: “It has seemed
good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no other burden on you beyond these necessary rules. . .
[Acts 15: 28].” New People Magazine in their open letter to the Pope hopes that the message of
the Synod would be that of hope for the African people. In the words of Vatican Council II, “the
future of humanity lies in the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming
generations with reasons for living and hoping [GS. 13].”

The call for a Latin American, African and Asian theology ought not to provoke a storm today.
Long ago, Paul VI permitted us in Uganda in 1969 to preach the gospel in an African language
that is understandable to our fellow Africans when he said, “From now on, you Africans are your
own missionaries.” Father Arrupe formulated it as follows to Jesuits in Duala, “The first page of
the story of the evangelization of Africa was written almost exclusively by non-Africans; the
second page, present-day events, is written in collaboration; the third page, on the future, will be
very largely written by Africans alone.” 39

In Africa, contestation made its first appearance in a book published as long ago as 1956, and
then a sensation, in which thirteen African priests advanced some criticisms of the Church as
40
colonial and western oriented. Errique Dussel, the Argentine theologian likes to quote the
famous dictum of the Indian Cardinal Paracatti, “The Catholic Church is neither Latin, nor
Greek, nor Slav; but Universal. Unless the Church can show itself Indian in India, and Chinese in
China, and Japanese in Japan, she will never reveal her authentically Catholic Character.”

9 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

The Christian experience, understood as Catholic, is open to universality; it does not choose only
one culture in which it is to be incarnated, every culture is worthy of the salvation won by Jesus
Christ and of having that salvation proclaimed within it. As St. Irenaeus said, “Where the Church
is, there is the Spirit of God, and where the spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace.”
And to crown it all, St. Justin the Martyr claimed that “everything good that has been said, no
matter by whom, is Christian.” 41

In a conversation with Buhlmann Walbert, an Indian Jesuit did say that “we are not going to go
on chewing over the medieval and European theology we were taught in the seminaries. That
kind of teaching destroyed our self-confidence and all our creativity. They made us into parrots.
Now, we have learned to express ourselves, to create a theology to suit our own problems, that is
to say, the reality of our 500 million non-Christians, the poor and hungry, those for whom Christ
cannot be a dogmatic formula in Aristotelian Thomistic terminology but must be an answer to
their problems. Our problems are not inter-communion with Protestants but how we can practice
a communio in sacris with our Hindu friends, since that is the only genuine form of
42
communication. Almost in the same tune, during the Fourth Plenary Assemble of the
Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa [AECAWA]; speaking on Christianity and
Islam in dialogue, the AECAWA Bishops had this to say, “Our search for dialogue with Islam is
motivated by several factors. Our Church finds itself in a multi-religious society. In their daily
lives, our faithful have to relate at all levels with Muslims and adherents of the Traditional
African religions. It is therefore necessary that we find or devise ways and means of living in
peaceful co-existence with our brothers and sisters who do not follow our religion. It is our view
that Christians and Muslims must be free to practice their religion without hindrance.” 43

Africa of the Future:

Referring to the changes in the African Continent [during his tenth trip to Black Continent], John
Paul II offered some criteria on the building of the future, because “the winds of change demand
new economic and political structures which truly respect the human rights and dignity of the
human person. To the Sudanese government in Khartoum, the Holy Father emphasized on the
importance of religions and he insisted that religion cannot be an excuse for injustice and
violence. “The only struggle worthy of man is the moral struggle against disorder passions,

10 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

hatred and violence. The strict respect for the rights to religious freedom ‘constitutes the basis
for peaceful existence.’” 44

On the question of minorities in the African continent, the Pope feels that it constitutes the
touchstone that shows that a society is morally mature. The right to one’s own language, culture,
and traditions, which the state is obliged to respect. In a multi-cultural and multi-racial country,
as are many Africans countries, “a strategy of confrontation can never bring peace and progress.”
In the Africa of the future, the Pope teaches that “there should be no room for schemes that seek
to build a national unity by obliging minorities to assimilate either the religion or the culture of
the majority.” And with a remark which is a fruit of the European experience he said, “False
unity only leads to tragedy.” 45 Early in January 1st 1989, John Paul II in L’Osservatore Romano
reminded the faithful in his message on the World Day of Peace that to build peace, we must
46
respect minorities. The world can only experience true peace and progress if minority groups
are respected world-wide. So if we want peace, we should respect minorities in our various
communities and be just to them. This is because the message of Christ does not favour the
discrimination of some over others or the curtailment of their rights, the same holds true for the
Church that exits because of this message.

Conclusion:
It is not everything that is going wrong in the African continent. The scholar C. J. Blecher asserts
that, “All the indications suggest that our times, so heavy with threats will give rise to purer
47
religion.” Under the pressure of such circumstances, the native Christians should react in
harmony with the whole body of their clergy and find an “African Solution” in the best sense.
This we firmly believe can inspire new civilizations and bring not only empires to their knees,
but dictatorial regimes to bow down before the Crucified Christ. The problem is that the Church
has got money too easily and built too many buildings, but she lacks gurus. It is therefore the
task of the Church to challenge the present sinful social structures in the African continent and
call them to repentance and conversion. 48

The activist priest in Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, comforts the inhabitants of the ‘Black
Continent’ with the following words, “The house cleaning has just begun. God is with us, so

11 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

don’t lose courage. The hour is coming when we will be able to advance together.” So may we
like St. Augustine of Hippo, surrender our past to God’s mercy, the present to His love and the
bleak future to His divine providence.

12 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

Endnotes:

1
Late Fr. Francis Duniya, [Ph. D, Moral Theology] was acting Rector St. Augustine’s Major Seminary Jos Plateau
State Nigeria 1994 – 1995. He died on 22nd January 1998 at the St. Gerald’s Hospital Kakuri Kaduna while Parish
Priest of St. Andrew’s Kaduna. This article was originally presented at the ‘National Association of Catholic
Theology Students’ [NACATHS] Theology Week at the St. Augustine’s Major Seminary Jos from 23rd – 27th
February 1994. It is published in the internet posthumously on the 10th anniversary of his death with the hope that it
will continue to inspire his students, many of whom are priests now including other African theologians, to continue
theological contributions for the growth of the African theology and Church. This was his contribution fifteen years
ago. If you have comments or observations concerning this article, please send them to: Fr. Victor C. Yakubu:
viccheny@chendekemen.com.
2
H. Leo Eddleman, The Teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5 – 7, Nashville, Tennessee, Convention Press, 1955, p. 5.
3
Ibid. p. 1.
4
Leo Cristiani, Why We Believe, London: Burns & Oats, 1959, p. 39.
5
Ibid. p. 42.
6
J. Oswald Sanders, Paul the Leader, Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1983, p. 161.
7
Yves Congar, Challenge to the Church: The Case of Archbishop Lefebvre, Dublin: Veritas Publications, 1976, p.
66.
8
Ibid. pp.55 – 66.
9
Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be, Glasgow: Collins, 1952, p. 44.
10
Juan Arias, The God I Don’t Believe In [Translated by Paul Barrett], Dublin: The Mercier Press, 1973, p. 168.
11
Yves Congar, op. cit., p. 50.
12
Pastores Dabo Vobis, n. 51.
13
Harvey Cox, Secular City, New York: The Macmillan Company 1965, p. 90.
14
Harvey Cox, The Feast of Fools, New York: Harper and Row Publishers 1967, p. 121.
15
Leonardo Boff, in his controversial book; Church: Charism and Power Liberation Theology and the Institutional
Church. [Translated by John W. Diercksmeier], New York: Cross Road 1992, p. 58.
16
Harvey Cox, Secular City, op. cit., p. 254.
17
Ibid. 236.
18
Juan Arias, Give Christ Back to Us. [Translated by Paul Barrett], Dublin: The Mercier Press, 1974, pp. 40 – 41.
19
Harvey Cox, op. cit., p. 215.
20
Harvey Cox, The Feast of Fools, op. cit., p. 112.
21
Pastores Dabo Vobis, n. 70.
22
Cardinal Ratzinger, See Interpress: An International News Bulletin, False and True Reform in the Church, Lagos,
October 18 1991, Vol. 1, n. 41, p. 163.
23
John Navone, Triumph Through Failure: A Theology of the Cross, Homebush: The St. Paul Publications, 1984, p.
80.

13 Greenlight Theology Series 2009

24
Juan Arias, The God I Don’t Believe In, op. cit., 142.
25
Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy [Translated by John W. Harvey], London: Oxford University Press, 1923, p. 25.
26
Karl Peschke, Christian Ethics, Alcester: C. Goodliffe Neale, 1985, vol. II, p. 8.
27
Romano Guardini, The Life of Faith, London: Newman Press, 1961, p. 34.
28
Walbert Buhlmann, The Coming of the Third Church, Maryknoll 1976, p. 233.
29
Cardinal Ratzinger, loc. Cit., p. 162.
30
Pastores Dabo Vobis n. 53.
31
Cardinal Ratzinger, loc. Cit., 164.
32
John Navone, op. cit., p. 42.
33
Cardinal Ratzinger, loc. Cit., 162.
34
Africa in Translation: The Challenge and the Christian Response, Published by All Africa Churches Conference
in Society, Division of Studies, World Council of Churches Geneva, 1962, pp. 75 – 76.
35
Harvey Cox, op. cit., p. 95.
36
Walbert Buhlmann, op. cit., pp. 150 – 151.
37
Ibid. pp. 170 – 171.
38
Diego Contreras, Interpress: International News Bulletin, Africa of the Future, loc. Cit., vol. III, n. 17/93, April
26, 1993, p. 3.
39
Walbert Buhlmann, op. cit., pp. 284 & 291.
40
Ibid. p. 211.
41
Leonardo Boff, op. cit., pp. 94, 105 & 115.
42
Walbert Buhlmann, op. cit., p. 291.
43
Christian/Muslim Relations in Nigeria: The Stand of the Catholic Bishops, The Association of the Episcopal
Conferences of Anglophone West Africa [AECAWA], pp. 10 – 11.
44
Diego Contreras, loc. Cit., p. 3.
45
Loc. Cit., p. 3
46
John Paul II, L’Osservatore Romano, “To Build Peace Respect Minorities”, January 1, 1989.
47
Walbert Buhlmann, op. cit., p. 305.
48
Ibid. pp. 364 & 374.

14 Greenlight Theology Series 2009