This section presents bibliographical articles on a range of topics in African theology and African Christianity. The articles help researchers and students to find their way around a quickly growing field. These articles cover more general texts on various topics, such as introductions, anthologies and existing bibliographies, and they bring publications together under particular areas of attention in these fields. The sub-sections may be organized differently – historically, geographically, thematically or otherwise – depending on what makes the most sense in a particular field.
A number of values shape how these articles are written. Articles cover both locally produced scholarship as well as publications from researchers outside the region – and of course from scholars who in various degrees and ways straddle both categories. We ask that authors try to include publications that are freely accessible on the internet as much as possible, so that students and scholars with no or limited access to academic libraries will be able to profit from at least a range of the resources mentioned. By encouraging this, and by choosing to be an Open Access resource itself, this Encyclopaedia wants to contribute to the democratisation of scholarship in a post-colonial world. It seeks to support and strengthen diverse forms of scholarship and voices from the margins of traditional academic centres both by making sources available and by making voices heard.
All articles also contain a section of ‘primary sources online’. This is an expression of the conviction that theologizing not only happens in academic texts, but that the lived theology of a community is in itself a form of ‘faith seeking understanding’. Such items are extremely diverse in character ranging from online sermons via artwork to policy documents. They are meant as illustrations that can be used in a teaching context since the range of possible materials is virtually inexhaustible.
These encyclopaedia articles are all refereed by specialists in the field. While some articles are commissioned by the editors we also invite potential authors to submit manuscripts to the editors. Guidelines for submission can be found here. If an author wants to propose an article, it is wise to consult with the managing editor as to whether the proposal fits the editorial policy of the encyclopaedia. As a first step, an author may want to begin to develop a corresponding bibliography. We hope that individual researchers and teams in the field of African theology and Christianity will consider the preparation of an article for the Bibliographical Encyclopaedia of African Theology and appropriate contributions as part of new research projects. We also want to publish articles as spin-offs of literature reviews that are part of PhD of post-doctoral projects; such articles may well be written jointly by junior researchers and their supervisors.
Theological sensitivities of the authors will influence the selection and organization of the resources listed. Yet, because these are encyclopaedia articles, both authors and editors have strived to make this resource usable for a range of readers that is as wide as possible, and have kept evaluations of the sources, and of the theological positions and developments they represent, to a minimum. Authors are encouraged to write more personal evaluations of the positions in a blog with the same title. These encyclopaedia articles are all linked to corresponding bibliographies elsewhere on this website. While the encyclopaedia articles are static and introduce a selection of resources, the bibliographies are intended to cover as many of the relevant sources as possible and keep growing as new articles are published. However, authors are encouraged to update their encyclopaedia articles every couple of years depending on the speed of developments in the field. Click here to visit the BEAT.
