 |
|
For 3000 years, until 1883, hemp was the world's largest agricultural crop, from which the majority of fabric, soap, paper, medicines, and oils were produced. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Christianity: past, present and future
Posted on Friday, August 12, 2005 (CDT) by Thoth
 An old man with a long, grey beard and pointy hat stands on a stepladder in the town square, haranguing the crowds. Is he some kind of lunatic? No – or at least, perhaps not.
He’s the Wizard, regarded by critics as a ‘living work of art’ and officially recognized as ‘national wizard’ by the Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Despite having been born and raised in England, the Wizard has successfully become one of New Zealand’s most recognizable and beloved figures, and his lectures – delivered outside the cathedral in Christchurch – are always popular attractions.
When not preaching his idiosyncratic politics or casting rain spells
(something that would no doubt infuriate Agobard of Lyons), the Wizard
is devoted – and, indeed, charged by the government – to devising ‘a
new and improved universe which puts New Zealand on top of the world
both physically and metaphysically’. The most well-known manifestation
of this is his world maps, which subvert traditional symbolism and
expectation by the simple method of being printed upside down, with the
south at the top.
On this scheme, all the recognizable landmasses
disappear, to be replaced by an unfamiliar world, one that seems to
have a lot more sea, and which is dominated by areas such as South
America and the Philippines. New Zealand, naturally, comes out on top.
Something like that is happening to Christianity today. Over the past
century, its centre of gravity has been slowly but undeniably shifting,
until the southern hemisphere has overtaken the northern in importance.
The religion originated in the Middle East and flourished in Europe
and, later, in North America.
But it is now waning in those areas.
Islam has long been the dominant religion in the Middle East, and
Europe is becoming increasingly secularized. Christianity remains very
strong in North America – but the religion is gathering pace in the
southern hemisphere, especially in Africa.
A century ago, nine per cent
of the continent was Christian; today it is 46 per cent. As the
religion grows and spreads, its character changes. We have seen
examples throughout my book of Christians adapting their faith to match
their situation and cultural background, and nowhere has that been more
striking than in Africa. In many ways, the African church hearkens back
to the early church far more than in other continents.
Whereas
Christians elsewhere are divided between conservative and liberal, most
African churches tend to be theologically conservative – holding to the
traditional doctrines, rather than trying to reinterpret or abandon
them to fit a modern worldview. At the same time, they have integrated
Christianity into a traditional African worldview, one where the
supernatural plays a major role.
It is sometimes supposed that
Christianity in Africa is simply a hangover of the imperialist age,
something that got imported and pasted over the indigenous culture. We
have already seen that the situation is not so simplistic – that there
was Christianity in Ethiopia, for example, over 1,500 years ago; and in
Congo it was indigenous people such as King Alfonso who were
enthusiastic about Christianity and sought to promote it.
And the
nature of African Christianity today also gives the lie to the notion
that it is simply a European import that doesn’t belong there.
Christianity in Africa is, typically, authentically African, combining
the worldview and the culture of traditional African religions with the
new beliefs of Christianity. In some parts of Africa, over 10 per cent
of the population still practise old, indigenous religions, and that
has a huge influence over how newer religions such as Islam and
Christianity are perceived and how they manifest themselves.
And this
means that a different kind of Christianity is developing and becoming
dominant. In the West, many Christian theologians have sought to find a
new way of thinking of Christianity – a non-supernatural way – in the
belief that the old ways are no longer appropriate; but in Africa, they
are not only surviving but thriving. Similar changes are taking place
in South America, where the old domination of the Catholic Church is no
longer as assured as it once was.
As in Africa, Protestantism, and in
particular the energetic, celebratory style of Pentecostalism, is
becoming more and more popular. And as the churches in the developing
nations become more vibrant, and those in Europe less, so the former
are increasingly dictating the future of Christianity. The largest
Anglican Church in the world, for example, is the one in Nigeria; and
this means that the African members of the Anglican Communion are more
and more able to exercise influence over the Anglican Church as a
whole.
That has been especially noticeable in recent debates over the
Church’s attitude to homosexuality, and the liberal approach of many
European and American Christians has sometimes been overruled by the
much more hard-line, conservative attitude of many Africans. And the
people who are filling the churches of Africa are different from the
faithful of the old world. In particular, they tend to be a lot poorer.
This means that African Christianity is not only doctrinally
conservative and open to the notions of the supernatural, but it is
especially concerned with this-world issues, with issues of poverty and
justice. We have already seen the role that African Christianity played
in opposing apartheid in South Africa, and Christian leaders in Africa
continue to take a prominent role in opposing what they regard as
abuses of power or injustice. Pius Ncube, for example, is the Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe.
He is one of the few public figures in the country to take a consistent
and vocal stand against the policies of Robert Mugabe, the
controversial Zimbabwean president. Throughout the 1980s and 90s,
Mugabe’s role oversaw a decided erosion of human rights: his political
opponents were silenced or even killed, creating an effective one-party
system.
In particular, Mugabe’s attempts to confiscate land from white
farmers and give it to black ones has received international
condemnation, as did his prosecution of his predecessor for ‘unnatural
sex acts’ – Mugabe’s term for homosexuality. But Mugabe refuses to
accept that his policies have led to food shortages and starvation in
Zimbabwe, and bitterly attacks Western governments that impose
sanctions on his regime. He also dismisses the condemnations from
church leaders, including Desmond Tutu in South Africa (‘an angry,
embittered little bishop’) and his own Pius Ncube (‘another Tutu who
thinks he is holy, but he is telling lies every day’).
Ncube was
educated by the Jesuits in Zimbabwe when it was still called Rhodesia,
after the English colonialist Cecil Rhodes. He returned to the country
in the 1970s and has repeatedly called for Robert Mugabe to stand down,
accusing him of wrecking the country’s economy and not caring whether
his people live or die. Naturally, Ncube lives a dangerous life as a
result, with government spies sitting in his church taking notes during
his sermons and sometimes warning him to stick purely to ‘religious’
subjects.
Much of the rest of the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe has
failed to speak out against the government, and as a result, Ncube has
become something of a marginalised figure; but the priests in his own
archdiocese have loyally stood by him. In 1960, the British Prime
Minister Harold Macmillan said in Cape Town: “The wind of change is
blowing through the continent.”
He was referring to the new
post-colonial situation in Africa, as former colonies regained their
independence. Today, the wind of change continues to blow, as many
African countries, just like Zimbabwe, continue to struggle with the
legacy of the imperialist era. At the same time, major problems such as
the Aids epidemic, endemic poverty and national debt remain to be
solved.
In these uncertain times, the growth and vitality of the
Christian churches throughout Africa can hardly fail to play a major
role in the years to come. Figures such as Desmond Tutu, Pius Ncube or
Janani Luwum (the Archbishop of Uganda, whose stand against the
dictator Idi Amin saw him arrested and murdered in 1977) represent the
growing voice that Christianity will undoubtedly continue to have in
African society and politics in the years to come.
Article Source
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No Comments Allowed for Anonymous, please register |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Christianity: past, present and future
by gaias-child on Saturday, August 13, 2005 (CDT)
(User Info | Send a Message) | | The isolation of Archbishop Ncube is down to Pope JP2. He cut the ground from under the feet of all priests practising the theology of liberation. Just one of his many sins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
