AbstractThe 13th Kwame Bediako Memorial Lecture 2021 delivered by Rev. Dr. Femi B. Adeleye (ICI & ACI) on the topic “The Gospel and Christian Witness in the Public Sphere: Perspectives from the Thought of Kwame Bediako”

AbstractKwame Bediako of the Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture based in Akropong-Akwapim in Ghana, was a stalwart in the field of African Christianity and Theology. He was called home to glory in June 2008 at the age of 63 years. Converted from atheism whilst studying for a doctorate degree in French and African literature at the University of Bordeaux in France, Bediako embraced a conservative evangelical faith. He went on to do a second PhD in Theology under the tutelage of Andrew F. Walls in Aberdeen. Bediako returned to Ghana in 1984 to found the then Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Center for Mission Research and Applied Theology. Through that initiative, now a fully accredited tertiary theological educational institute, Bediako pioneered a new way of doing theology through his emphasis on mother-tongue hermeneutics, oral or grassroots theology, and the study of primal religions as the sub-structure of Christian expression in the majority Two Thirds World. These ideas are outlined in his major publications, Theology and Identity, Christianity in Africa, Jesus of Africa, and the many forceful and insightful articles scattered in local and international journals in religion and theology. For many years to come, although living in glory, Bediako's evangelical intellectual heritage will continue as a leading reference point for all those seeking to understand Africa's place in the history of world Christianity.

AbstractFilms & film materials (30-some items) stemming from my extensive documentary project on African Christianity, including 2 new releases & life-stories of…

AbstractExtra interview bites (unused) from Dr. Kwame Bediako for a documentary film project on African Christianity produced and directed by James Ault. Dr Bediako, founder of the Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Ghana (acighana.org), was one of modern Africa's leading theologians and students of church history and of culture and religion before he passed away in 2008. He was a lead consultant and on-camera commentator in this documentary film series, just completed, entitled “African Christianity Rising—Part 1: Stories from Ghana” and “Part 2: Stories from Zimbabwe.” His profound insights helped shape this project from the outset and assistance from his Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Akropong, Ghana, supported it throughout.

AbstractExtra interview bites from Dr. Kwame Bediako for a documentary film project on African Christianity produced and directed by James Ault. Dr Bediako, founder of the Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Ghana (acighana.org), was one of modern Africa's leading theologians and students of church history and of culture and religion before he passed away in 2008. He was a lead consultant and on-camera commentator in this documentary film series, just completed, entitled “African Christianity Rising—Part 1: Stories from Ghana” and “Part 2: Stories from Zimbabwe.” His profound insights helped shape this project from the outset and assistance from his Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Akropong, Ghana, supported it throughout.

AbstractA documentary carrying telling illustrations of some of Dr. Bediako’s profound insights on issues of culture, faith and church history, along with dramatic lessons from his own faith journey. This film also portrays his legacy in the ongoing exemplary educational work of his Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture in Akropong, Ghana

AbstractSeven leaders weigh in on the late Ghanaian scholar’s provocative legacy 20 years after his best-known book.

AbstractSept responsables chrétiens se penchent sur l’héritage persistant du théologien ghanéen décédé il y a seize ans.

Abstract31 pages

AbstractThis reference work is an introduction in English to the living tradition of Christian thought. It focuses on the broad sweep of ideas rather than factual detail, surveying all traditions and centuries but concentrating more on the present than the past.

AbstractUnpublished typescript. 17 pages A4.

AbstractUnpublished typescript. 5 pages A4.

AbstractUnpublished typescript. 7 pages A4.

AbstractFrom paper given at ACMC in September 1997; adapted from “What is the Gospel?” 1995/1997.

AbstractThis reference work is an introduction in English to the living tradition of Christian thought. It focuses on the broad sweep of ideas rather than factual detail, surveying all traditions and centuries but concentrating more on the present than the past.

AbstractUnpublished typescript. 15 pages A4, including endnotes.

AbstractUnpublished typescript. 10 pages A4, without endnotes.

AbstractThe first one-volume Bible commentary produced in Africa by African theologians to meet the needs of African pastors, students and lay leaders. It furnishes powerful and relevant insights into the biblical text that transcend Africa in their significance.

AbstractUnpublished manuscript, A5 format.

AbstractFirst appeared in the January-July 1998 issue of Akrofi-Christaller Centre News, and later as Chapter 6: One Song in Many Tongues, paper for graduate seminar, Edinburgh, 1997, in Jesus and the Gospel in Africa.

AbstractUnpublished manuscript. 10 pages A5.

AbstractUnpublished typescript. 4 pages A4.

AbstractUnpublished typescript. 18 pages A4.

AbstractUnpublished manuscript/typescript. Manuscript 7 pages A5, typescript 7 pages A4.

AbstractUnpublished typescript. 12 pages A4.

AbstractDutch translation and extract of “Cry Jesus!” (1993).

Abstract3rd Payton lecture. Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, USA, October 2000

Abstract"Jesus and the Gospel in Africa collects writings by Kwame Bediako and is the best source for his insights into the Christ of present-day African history and the Jesus of African faith. Bediako shows how intimately bound together are such elements as the message of Jesus and the struggle to give birth to African democracy." --Book Jacket.

AbstractKwame Bediako (1945–2008) was an influential African Christian theologian. Bediako’s theological achievements have received a fair amount of scrutiny, but his work as an organizer, promoter, developer, and sustainer of Christian thinking is arguably at least as valuable as his ideas. This article surveys the scope of what Kwame Bediako achieved as a Christian intellectual entrepreneur, it examines how he did it, and it explains why such work is so important. This essay traces the development of the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission, and Culture, the formation of networks and resourcing initiatives for Christian thought in Africa and beyond, and Bediako’s methods as an intellectual agent. The strategic importance of these efforts is enormous. Bediako’s achievements should challenge others to do their part to strengthen the infrastructure of Christian thought, in Africa and worldwide.

AbstractThis review essay addresses the major themes of Ghanaian theologian Kwame Bediako’s thought, as presented in Tim Hartman, Kwame Bediako: African Theology for a World Christianity. Bediako advocated examining the traditional spirituality of African peoples, studying the Bible in vernacular languages, and asking how the person and work of Jesus Christ engage local cultures. He insisted that Western theology was not central and normative to the Christian faith, and that African theology provided a better model for the development of contextual theologies worldwide.

AbstractChapter 5: "Kwame Bediako and African Christian Identity", pp. 166-219.

AbstractHoward summed up Bediako’s volume by stating, “Theology and Identity…is significant in its scholarly contribution to African theology and in its key idea that African Tradition Religion (ATR) has more continuity, rather than discontinuity, with the gospel.”3 He posited, “The forest Bediako beckons us to venture into is interesting, but possibly dark and threatening. 

AbstractKwame Bediako is at the present one of the leading African theologians. This article attempts a systematic presentation of thevarious aspects of Bediako’s Christology, the major key to inter-preting his theology. Bediako writes as an African scholar and a Christian theolo-gian. For him, that implies a non-negotiable belief in the truth ofJesus Christ. He therefore never joins the debate over the historical Jesus versus the Christ of faith. He states that Jesus Christ is ahistorical reality and that the testimony of the Church to JesusChrist as true God and true man is a testimony to a given reality.

AbstractThis thesis presents a systematisation of the theology, and in particular the Christology, of Kwame Bediako. Bediako, an Akan scholar from Ghana, is referred to as one of the leading contemporary African theologians. In addition, the thesis shows how his personal religious experience and the context influence his theology. One of the concerns that have been confirmed in the study is that "the person matters". Therefore, before his theology is presented, the main points of Bediako''s life story are highlighted. Bediako is a global theologian, but it is the African context that he acknowledges as determining his theology. An extensive presentation of relevant historical spots, an outline of African traditional religions (ATR) and draft over African Christianity and theology is given. The Christology, as the interpretative key to Bediako''s theology, is dealt with at length, and a number of Christological epithets discussed. The most prominent African epithet for Bediako is Jesus as Ancestor. The ancestor epithet is taken from the Akan traditional religion, and Bediako wants to make Christ, the centre of Christianity, also the centre of an Akan expression of Christianity by replacing the ancestors with Christ. Built on the Akan concept of ancestorship Bediako develops a Christian concept of ancestorship. In addition to the Bible and ATR, the thesis identifies other sources for his theology, one of them being grassroots theology. The thesis also presents other elements of Bediako''s theology, like his focus on Christianity as a universal, a non-Western and an African religion and the primal outlook as an African contribution to Christianity. A characteristic of the method used in this thesis, is the process of a combining critical reading, interpretation and interviews with Bediako and others in his context. Finally, the theology of Bediako is seen in perspective, and I show that Bediako''s Christology, although specifically African, is also within the broad mainline Christological tradition.

AbstractKwame Bediako was one of the great African theologians of his generation. Challenging the assumption that Christianity is a Western religion, he presented a non-Western foundation for theological reflection, expanded the Christian theological imagination, and offered a path forward for post-Christendom theologies. Kwame Bediako: African Theology for a World Christianity is the first full-length introduction to Bediako’s theology. It engages Bediako’s central concerns with identity – specifically what it means to be African and Christian in the aftermath of the failures of colonialism – the relationship of theology and culture, and the need of indigenous expressions of Christian faith for the health of theological reflection worldwide. Challenging stereotypical perceptions of African Christianity and pressing readers to interrogate their own theological convictions in light of cultural and societal presuppositions, this book examines the gift of Bediako’s work not just for Africa but for the world.

AbstractThe work of Ghanaian theologian Kwame Bediako seeks to identify and reappropriate the unique theological contributions of African Christianity for the shaping African Christianity identity. To do so, Bediako appeals to African culture and African traditional religion in order to assert distinctive indigenous emphases over and against the understandings of Christian identity foisted upon Africans by colonial European missionaries. In sum, this chapter argues that based on Bediako’s belief that God created Africans as human beings in the image of God, he claims that Jesus Christ is the cultural heritage of Africans just as much as Europeans. Bediako’s act of theological négritude then identifies a past for African Christians that articulates an African Christian identity based on a direct connection between Africans and God in Jesus Christ, not an identity mediated by Europeans.

AbstractIn this dissertation, I analyze the comprehensive work of Ghanaian theologian Kwame Bediako (1945-2008) and place the themes that arise—revelation, religion, and culture—in constructive dialogue with the mature Christology of Swiss-German theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) in his Church Dogmatics IV.3, §69. In doing so, the dissertation performs its major claim: I argue for the necessity of cross-cultural theological comparisons to navigate contemporary theological and religious questions, including the complex nature of Christianity in the world today.

AbstractTim Hartman's Theology after Colonization uses a comparative approach to examine two theologians, one from Europe and one from Africa, to gain insight into our contemporary theological situation. Hartman examines how the loss of cultural hegemony through rising pluralism and secularization has undermined the interconnection of the Christian faith with political power and how globalization undermined the expansive (and expanding) mindset of colonialization. Hartman engages Swiss-German theologian Karl Barth (1886–1968), whose work responded to the challenges of Christendom and the increasing secularization of Europe by articulating an early post-Christendom theology based on God's self-revelation in Jesus Christ, not on official institutional structures (including the church) or societal consensus. In a similar way, Ghanaian theologian Kwame Bediako (1945–2008) offered a post-colonial theology. He wrote from the perspective of the global South while the Christian faith was growing exponentially following the departure of Western missionaries from Africa. For Bediako, the infinite translatability of the gospel of Jesus Christ leads to the renewal of Christianity as a non-Western religion, not a product of colonialization. Many Western theologies find themselves unable to respond to increasing secularization and intensifying globalization because they are based on the very assumptions of uniformity and parochialism (sometimes called "orthodoxy") that are being challenged. Hartman claims Bediako and Barth can serve as helpful guides for contemporary theological reflection as the consensus surrounding this theological complex disintegrates further. Collectively, their work points the way toward contemporary theological reflection that is Christological, contextual, cultural, constructive, and collaborative. As one of the first books to examine the work of Bediako, this study will interest students and scholars of Christian theology, African studies, and postcolonial studies.

AbstractCet ouvrage offre aux lecteurs la première synthèse des fruits de la théologie évangélique en Afrique. Il en fait une présentation détaillée, depuis son émergence dans les années 1970 jusqu’à son existence autonome aujourd’hui. La théologie évangélique en Afrique prend naissance au sud du Sahara, dans un contexte où cohabitent les tendances et les sensibilités variées de la « théologie africaine ». C’est une théologie consciemment évangélique, qui enrichit par sa contribution le travail théologique du mouvement évangélique mondial. Dans cette présentation de l’évolution historique de la théologie évangélique en Afrique, l’ouvrage insiste en particulier sur les origines : le contexte missionnaire et missiologique du début des années 1970. L’auteur montre comment les congrès théologiques et missionnaires internationaux et africains, ainsi que leurs déclarations, ont eu un impact important sur le développement de la théologie évangélique en Afrique. Sont présentés en détail les travaux de plusieurs grands théologiens évangéliques africains, comme Byang Kato, Tokunboh Adeyemo, Tite Tiénou et Kwame Bediako. Leurs contributions soulignent l’importance de l’herméneutique, de la sotériologie et de la christologie pour la théologie évangélique en Afrique. Cette théologie est naturellement une théologie qui prend en considération l’intégralité des défis de la vie humaine sur ce continent. Elle se veut à la fois fidèle à la Bible, Parole de Dieu et autorité concernant la foi et la conduite, et pertinente dans le contexte africain. Detlef Kapteina, né en 1948, est marié et père de trois enfants. Il a étudié la théologie à Wuppertal et Göttingen en Allemagne. Il fut ensuite animateur de jeunesse de la Fédération baptiste allemande à Munich et, pendant dix ans, professeur de théologie en Sierra Leone (Afrique de l’Ouest). De retour en Allemagne, il s’est engagé dans l’implantation d’Églises en Bavière et a été responsable pour l’Afrique de la Mission baptiste européenne. En 1999, il a présenté cet ouvrage comme thèse de doctorat à la Faculté de théologie évangélique (ETF) de Louvain (Belgique). Après avoir été pasteur d’une Église baptiste à Schwäbisch Hall au Wurtemberg (Allemagne), il a été trois ans professeur de théologie et de missiologie à l’école biblique de Nanjoka, près de Mbesa, au sud de la Tanzanie. Revenu désormais en Allemagne, il voyage pour enseigner la missiologie en Europe et en Tanzanie, dans le cadre de la mission des Frères (Forum Wiedenest).

AbstractTo the extent that African theology's attempt at rehabilitating Africa's rich culture heritage and religious consciousness has been made as a self consciously Christian theological effort. It can be said to have been an endeavour to demonstrate the true character of African Christian identity Bediako 1992a:3)

AbstractLa mission de la théologie africaine face à une situation socio-politique, culturo-économique catastrophique de l'Afrique, due essentiellement à la question de la spiritualité sociale, d'intelligence sociale et l'aliénation culturelle, est de redynamiser la mission chrétienne, stimuler la renaissance spirituelle africaine et défendre les pauvres et les opprimés, parce que Dieu est toujours du côté d'eux. En effet, l'homme africain et sa société peuvent toujours être au centre de l'engagement théologique et de l'église d'Afrique, pour l'évangélisation comme pour la promotion sociale. Parce que l'homme africain n'est pas seulement individu, il est aussi société et culture. De ce fait, L'église d'Afrique avec ses différentes formes de théologies, n'existe pas pour elle-même, mais pour annoncer la Bonne Nouvelle aux africains. Cependant, cette Bonne Nouvelle n'a aucune pertinence aux yeux des africains si elle tombe en dehors de l'essentiel de leur vie. En d'autres termes, une théologie africaine, quelle que soit sa forme, mais, sans promouvoir la libération totale spirituelle et physique de l'homme Africain et motiver la reconstruction de l'Afrique telle que prônée par Kä Mana n'a pas sa raison d'être. En plus, la théologie africaine peut également stimuler la vraie démocratisation des pays africaines comme principal enjeu de la pastorale théologique et politique des églises chrétiennes et religions traditionnelles africaines. Parce qu'au nom de la dignité de chaque personne, de l'amour de Dieu et l'amour du prochain, de la foi et du salut de tout homme, la théologie africaine ne peut négliger l'identité culturelle et anthropologique du terroir africain et le construit socioculturel inspiré de l'évangile. Cette théologie africaine peut également motiver la remise en question du néocolonialisme africain sous toutes ses formes. Dès lors, le résultat de cette étude peut aider le missiologue/théologien africain qui est l'église de Dieu à bien accomplir sa mission prophétique selon la vision de Dieu, dans le but de transformer spirituellement et physiquement l'Afrique, aussi reconstruirer positivement la société africaine. Evidemment, le développement intégral de l'homme africain, selon moi, suppose le respect de la dignité humaine qui ne peut se réaliser que dans la justice, la paix, l'auto-transformation personnelle, l'éthique et une inculturation personnifiante. Summary The mission of african theology facing African socio-polical, cultural and economic catastrophe that due mainly to social spirituality, social intelligence and cultural alienation, is to revitilise christian mission, stimulate spiritual african renaissance and to defend the poor and oppressed, people by whom God always stands. Of course, the african and their community should always be at the heart of the theological engagement and of the action of the African church concerning evangelism as well ass social promotion. For the African embodies both his or her society and culture. Therefore, the African church and all their different theologies do not exist for their on sake, but rather for the African people to whom they should bring the good news. This good news is not relevant for the Africans as long as it does not deal with their main concern. In other words, whatever the forms of African theology, as long as it overlooks the complete liberation of the Africans, freeing them spirituality, promoting their spiritual and physical liberation and motivating the reconstruction of Africa as promoted by Kä Mana here, it will serve no practical purpose. Besides, African theology has also to stimulate the democratisation of African countries as one of the targets of the African Christian churches and traditional religions. In the name of the dignity of each and every person, of the love of God and the love for the neighbour, that of faith and salvation of the humankind, African theology is not expected to neglect cultural and anthropological identity of the Africans terror and the sociocultural construct inspired by the Gospel. African theology can thus motivate the questioning of African neocolonialism in all its forms. The result of this study can help African missiologists and theologians that are the church of God to fulfil well the prophetic mission after the vision of God, so as to bring about spiritual and physical transformation, and positively reconstruct the African society. As for me, the integral development of the African supposes the respect of their human dignity that can be materialised through peace, justice, personal sel-transformation, ethics and personifying inculturation.

AbstractBook reviw of Christianity in Africa: the Renewal of a Non-Western Religion by Kwame Bediako

AbstractSome African Christians continue to rely on traditional spiritual powers as a means of addressing their spiritual insecurity. In their perception Christ is regarded as being foreign to African spirituality and treated accordingly with the gospel seen as a predominantly western phenomenon. This raises the question regarding their understanding of Christ’s incarnation. This article critically analyses the ancestral incarnational Christological model of Bediako as a response to the foreignness of Christ in African Christianity. Bediako’s ancestral incarnational Christological model is his enterprise of deforeignising Christ in African Christianity by treating Christ under the African traditional ancestral category. This article demonstrates various theological aspects (i.e. the uncompounded divine-human nature of Christ in the one eternal person of the Son of God) that Bediako brings together in order to configure his ancestral incarnational Christological framework in deforeignising Christ. In breaking away from Bediako’s ancestral incarnational Christological perspective, the article concludes by identifying the weaknesses associated with the proposed concept of Bediako, and then suggests that there is a need for an alternative biblical-theological model that best describes Christ’s complete identification with African Christians. This is done without diminishing the actuality of Christ as God incarnate, or encouraging syncretism in African Christianity, or reducing the validity of African contextual needs.

AbstractThis article examines four theologies of identity and community from Africa and their relevance in combating ethnocentrism in Africa. The article focuses on the works of Vincent Mulago, John S. Mbiti, Kwame Bediako, and J. N. K. Mugambi - the key proponents of the schools of thought that we examine. The themes of identity and community have practical implications. For example, a people’s perception of themselves and their communities (social identity) affects how they perceive and relate to others. Therefore, considering the challenge of ethnocentrism worldwide, the themes of identity and community must always be examined. This article has two major sections. Foremost, it explores the relationship of these concepts. Second, it examines and critiques African theologies of identity and community and their consequent theological implications for social cohesion of communities. Finally, it proposes a way forward utilizing contributions from each theologian.

AbstractA critical analysis of Kwame Bediako’s theology from a Frisian perspective.[1]  (1999) Introduction. One of the central themes in the theological work of Dr. Kwame Bediako, director of the Akrofi-C…