Jesus and the Gospel in Africa

Kwami is concerned to demonstrate the African-ness of Christianity. The opening article looks at the theological insights of Afua Kuma, an illiterate midwife who makes up songs of her experience of Jesus. He sees in her tying Jesus to ordinary human experiences of an ordinary African proof that "Christian faith is not a western religion abut an authentic African experience." While he is thoroughly evangelical in his insistence on the uniqueness of Christ (and this is part of his criticism of Pobee, for molding Christ in a way that seemed to diminish his uniqueness), he is probably more concerned with claiming Christ for Africa (which is also why he is critical of Pobee's articulation: by acknowledging the unique role and relationship of Christ in the Jewish community Christ can be transported meaningfully into his relationship to the African [or, more precisely, Akan, Igbu, etc.] community, rather than simply being identified with African terms that do not helpfully connect the African to Christ); this is revealed in his criticism for fellow evangelical Kato, who receives the harshest treatment of his dissertation, despite the similarity of their claims about Christ's uniqueness, as compared to Mbiti or, particularly, Iduwo: Kato rejects the African context and leaves Christianity vulnerable to attacks as a foreign religion.