Initiation traditionnelle sara-kaba1 et foi chrétienne : conflits des authenticités ?

AUTEUR :  KONDJO DIDDY BROSSOLA

ABSTRACT

The present essay focuses on traditional African initiation with the following concern : how can a theological discourse in Africa, answer questions which some traditional and cultural practices raise about the human being. As an illustration, the author uses Sara-Kaba culture from southern Chad with which he is familiar. Traditional initiation, which is an educative structure meant to promote the socio-cultural integration of the individual among the adults of the village or the clan, raises many issues concerning its relevance and necessity for a Christian who wants to be authentically Christian. Traditional initiation is made up of a series of rites, instructions and resistance tests whose goal is the restructuration of the person at the social and political levels as well as at the religious level. Hence, it operates an essential transformation, not to say ontological, in the individual in order to institute him or her in a new social and political personality. For some Christians who are opposed to initiation, the latter is incompatible with Christian faith. For them, the challenge is : either initiation or Christian faith, one being understood as exclusive of the other. The fundamental question is whether in order to become truly and genuinely Christian, one must reject traditional initiation, inherited from the ancestors.