Parallels of the European Church Reformation and the church reformation in Africa : the cultural dichotomy and reflection

Abstract

History shows us that ‘there is no smoke without fire’. The reformation in Europe was not deemed to be schism; reformers cited a number of reasons why the church needed reforming. The South African situation does not appear to have been viewed in the same line simply because what happened in South Africa occurred in an inside the context which could neither authenticate nor validate the reformation. The formation of the African Independent Churches in Africa reflected the same type of historical events within the Protestant Churches as occurred in the Catholic Church in the 16th century. As in Europe, the cultural context played a major role in the reformation of the church which was influenced mainly by the Renaissance.