A Response to Dr. Claudia Jahnel’s Critical Concepts in the Study of African Theologies

Abstract

African theology, as Claudia Jahnel of the African Theologies Network perceives it, constitutes a conceptual map whose boundaries comprise critical concepts. These concepts include ghosts, conversion, feminism and Islam, to mention just four. This response to Jahnel’s “Critical Concepts in the Study of African Theologies” appreciates the Network African Theologies’ initiative to bring together black African and White European theologians to explore methodologies of African theologies. This timely collaboration goes a long way towards deconstructing white European biases against black Africans not only in material or political terms, but also in mental or theological terms. In other words, the European-African collaboration brings the conceptual African theological map closer to reality. However, the Network African Theologies needs to ensure that it does not succumb, albeit inadvertently, to the usual power imbalances between white Europe and black Africa in this commendable task.