Knowing, believing, living in Africa : a practical theology perspective of the past, present and future

Abstract

The new democratic era in South Africa brought Western cultural influences forcefully into public and private living domains. This dichotomy deformed African cultures in many ways (Bujo & Muya 2003). Local communities were previously “public people” living and worshipping in transformative hermeneutical communities. This scenario has changed and drove local communities steadily into private spaces. The task of practical theology is to question what the undergirding epistemology and beliefs for this shift are and to reinterpret it in the light of the gospel. The impact of Western culture on the African traditional villages is telling in so far as traditional African values and practices are being lost at the expense of Western ideology, technology, media, etcetera (Bujo & Muya 2003). We argue that the former dominant monodisciplinary approach of practical theology contributed to a growing private individualist worldview. Practical theology has since developed into an interdisciplinary approach. This newfound reciprocity in the social sciences led to constructive change in church and society (Dingemans 1996). Practical theology in Africa has to deal with an individualised, pluralistic world and tendencies of discontinuity, uncertainty, violence and destruction. In South Africa it is called upon to redress the dichotomies and defaults of Western and African cultures, respectively.