Reformation & African Christianity: Mapping the Transitional Movement of African Christianity from the Margin of Classical Reformation to the Centre of Modern Reformation

Abstract

Celebrating the five hundred years of reformation, there is the need to reengage the missionary character of the reformation and its significant impact on African Christianity because African Christianity at the moment appears to house the reformational ideals of the Christian faith. In particular, the paper engages the significant movement of African Christianity from the margins of the reformation to the center of global Christianity, and the attending missionary and cultural politics which invigorate this important missionary enterprise. Similarly, the paper describes the missionary quest of the reformers to contextualize Christianity within the different cultural domains, and the importance of this missiological endeavour for modern African Christianity. Consequently, the study underscores emerging salient patterns in the praxis and expressions of African Christianity, which resonate with the specific trends and trajectories of the reformation, and its indebtedness to this important heritage.

Keywords

• missions
• reformation
• african christianity
• contextualization
• global christianity