Between fragments and fullness: Worshipping in the in-between spaces of Africa

Abstract

In this article the aesthetical practical theological notion of fragment, as introduced by the German Practical Theologian Henning Luther, was brought into dialogue with the African understanding of fullness, as articulated for instance in the concept Ubunye [we are one]. In the light of this, some basic tensions of worshipping in Africa were profiled, id est the dynamic interaction between individuality and communality, between the already and the not yet (present and future), between identity as being and identity as becoming, et cetera. The article concluded with some suggestions concerning worship in Africa as a space of paradox.

Keywords

• aesthetics
• fragment
• fullness
• worship
• Africa