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CONTENTS
RECENSIONS
EDITORIAL
CONTENTS
Jean Noël Aletti, « Unbelief and faith in Luke 1:5-25: Why does Luke’s
account begin with unbelief ? »……………………………………………………. p.
*
Paul Béré, « Restaurer l’Alliance : la fonction de Jos 8,30-35 dans la
logique interne du livre »…………………………………………………………….. p.
*
Modeste SoMé, « Eglise-Famille-de-Dieu : De la nouvelle genèse d’un
concept ecclésiologique à l’époque contemporaine » ……………………… p.
*
Mathieu NdoMBA, « Relationalité sociale et exigences de la justice pour
l’émergence d’un ordre social juste »……………………………………………. p.
*
thérèse SAMAké, « La métaphore de la peur dans l’expérience de la mort
à soi : de la liberté illusoire de l’audace à la liberté effective de la peur »
………………………………………………………………………………………………… p.
RECENSIONS
Michael lANgloiS, Le texte de Josué 10 : Approche philologique, épigraphique et diachronique, Coll. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 252 ; Fribourg-Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011, 266 pages ; Bambi kiluNgA, Prééminence de Yhwh ou autonomie du prophète : Etude comparative et critique des confessions de Jérémie dans le texte hébreu et la « Septante », Coll. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 254 ; Fribourg-Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011, 216 pages ; e. MveNg – r. J. Z. WerBloWSky (dir.), Le congrès de Jérusalem sur l’Afrique noire et la Bible (24-30 avril 1972) / The Jerusalem Congress on Black Africa and the Bible (April 24-30, 1972), Yaoundé, Presses Universitaires de l’Université Catholique d’Afrique Centrale, 2013, 278 pages ; Marco MoerSchBAcher, Les laïcs dans une Église d’Afrique. L’oeuvre du Cardinal Malula (1917-1989), Paris, Karthala, 2012, 276 pages ; Maurice cheZA, Le deuxième Synode africain : Réconciliation, Justice et Paix, Paris, Karthala, 2013, 435 pages ; henriette dAgri diABAté, Le Sanvi : Un royaume akan (1701–1901). Préface de Marc Augé, Abidjan-Paris-Marseille, Editions du CERAPKarthala- IRD, 2013, deux volumes : volume 1 : 621 pages ; volume 2 : 617 pages ; Stan chu ilo, The Face of Africa : Looking Beyond the Shadows, Oregon, WIPF & Stock, 2012 (second edition), 471 pages.
EDITORIAL
S’il fallait en très peu de mots traduire Kanien, le titre de cette nouvelle revue, l’on reprendrait volontiers l’exclamation : Fiat lux ! Ce n’est point pour mimer l’acte divin de parole au commencement, mais pour traduire un voeu profond du corps enseignant de l’Institut de Théologie de la Compagnie. C’est en effet la matérialisation de notre désir de faire jaillir une étincelle de lumière dans l’espace africain du croire et du vivre ensemble, afin que le feu qui s’allumerait en engendre d’autres. Pour ce faire, nous avons choisi de créer ce lieu de rencontre. Ainsi, se communiquera le labeur silencieux, quotidien et de longue haleine des penseurs de l’acte de croire en toutes ses nuances et géométries. Car l’objet du « théologique » ne convoque pas que la rationalité théologique. Toute rationalité ne demeure-t-elle pas inquiète tant qu’elle n’en perçoit pas la lumière ? La furie meurtrière « au nom de Dieu » ne l’a que trop rappelé. Faire donc jaillir cette flamme est une gageure. Le feu prendra si exégètes, théologiens, philosophes, anthropologues, sociologues, etc., se donnaient la main ou se passaient plutôt le relais à l’heure de la multidisciplinarité. Ce n’est point sacrifier à la mode, mais honorer la complexité du réel. Ce numéro inaugural en donne le signal. Comment la bonne nouvelle à laquelle on invite à croire peut-elle s’annoncer en commençant par un récit de non-foi ? (J.-N. Aletti) Quelle place donner à la justice dans la quête de la réconciliation certaines pages dites violentes, voire sanglantes, des Ecritures ? (P. Béré) Si l’on attend du politique qu’il construise « un ordre social juste » (Africae munus n.22), quelle partition l’Eglise devrait-elle jouer pour que les humains vivent en harmonie ? (M. Ndomba) D’ailleurs, l’Eglise en Afrique se 6 veut « Famille de Dieu ». Pour mieux le comprendre ne faut-il pas en découvrir l’origine dans son passé composé ? (M. Somé) Autant de questions ont habité les recherches que nous publions. D’autres suivront. Nous ne cesserons pas de questionner et d’interroger aussi bien nous-mêmes que les autres. Nous ne laisserons nulle place où l’esprit critique ne passe et repasse. Les articles qui rendent compte de nos lectures indiquent, eux aussi, que la quête de la lumière passe également par l’écoute des autres. N’oublions pas l’ultime visée de tout cet effort : transformer notre regard sur nos vies et sur le monde en éclairant nos esprits ; soutenir l’audace de chemins inconnus pour que nous engagions nos énergies pour rendre cette terre un lieu de gloire pour Dieu. La revue Kanien sera attentive aux événements sociaux et ecclésiaux pour les décrypter et les traduire dans les catégories aussi bien de la raison tout court, que de celle confessante. En cette année de la foi, nous suivrons l’encyclique Lumen fidei qui vient d’allumer son étincelle ; Pacem in terris de Jean XXIII qui continue en son cinquantenaire (1963-2013) de produire ses fruits dont la canonisation imminente de son auteur par le Pape François, premier Jésuite à assumer cette charge dans l’Eglise.
ABSTRACTS
Unbelief and faith in luke 1:5-25 Why does luke’s account begin with unbelief ?
To begin a story always involves something arbitrary. Some authors prefer to comply with the order of events; others start from the most recent facts which they explain through what preceded. This allows them to draw insights from the events of the past. Luke’s account, following the models of his time, opens with birth narratives, right from the beginning !It is however strange that a story whose purpose is to proclaim the good news begins with a non-faith episode. One wonders why the narrator does not pass over in silence the non-faith of Zechariah. Did he want to create a contrast with the faith of Mary in the next episode? Was it to show that God’s will and power can overcome all human resistance? A convincing response requires that the episode be read with the tools of narrative analysis. The episodes of Luke 1–2 have already been subjected to many studies, but their narrative features were not satisfactorily recognized, as it will be shown later. Multiform Parallelisms and their Functions From Lk 1:5 to 4:13, the most obvious narrative technique is the synkrisis, in other words, comparison. During that time, this technique etudeS 1. See, for exemple, Parallel Lives of Plutarch (50-125 d.C.). On this point, Ch.TALBERT, Literary Patterns, Theological Themes and the Genre of Luke-Acts, (SBLMS 20; Missoula, MT 1974), 15-29, shows various parallelisms used by Luke in different sections or chapters in the Gospel or in Acts respectively, and between the two books,Luke and Acts, as well.8 was widespread1, and as such, Luke is not original. It suffices here to present all the elements of the technique already remarked because of their importance. Indeed, there are two sets of parallels between John the Baptist and Jesus. The first relates to the birth announcements made by the angel Gabriel to Zechariah and Mary, and the second to their realizations, i.e. the birth as such and the events that accompany them, as indicated in the following scheme:
Relationalité sociale et exigences de la justice pour l’émergence d’un ordre social juste
The Post-Synodal Exhortation Africae munus, in its Number 22, affirms that “the construction of a just social order is the responsibility of the political sphere. However, one of the tasks of the Church in Africa is to form consciences that are upright and receptive to the demands of justice, so that men and women grow up to be concerned about and capable of realizing this just social order through their responsible conduct”. This distinction clearly circumscribes the Church's major role in the construction of a just social order. For Africae munus, in fact, this specific role consists in forming consciences to the “demands of justice” necessary for the genesis of such an order. A question inevitably arises: what are these “demands of justice” to which the Church must form consciences in order to bring about a just social order in Africa? There are questions underlying this one: what do we mean by a “just social order”? What is a just society? This study aims to clarify the notion of “just social order”, in order to identify the “justice requirements” necessary for its emergence. The underlining argument of the reflection is that, if we consider the weight of African communalism in the understanding of social life, the just order in Africa would then refer to justice and equity, required by the different modes of social relationality within a political collectivity. This article identifies three modes of social relationality: commutative, institutional and civic. The requirements of justice relating to each of these modes become ipso facto requirements of justice for the construction of a just social order in Africa. The article is divided into four sections. The first section clarifies the notion of a “just social order”, showing how it relates to the notion of the common good and modes of social relationality. The other three sections deal with the demands for justice that emerge from
each mode of social relationality.
chacun des modes de relationalité sociale.
Restaurer l’Alliance : la fonction de Jos 8,30-35 dans la logique interne du livre*
The present study examines the exegetically problematic function of Jos 8:30-35, because, according to a recent study, “The function of the passage in the context of MT has become an even more urgent question", and the exegetical solution I suggest, would enrich our study of conflict and reconciliation in Africa. Indeed, the story invites its audience to contemplate Joshua as an agent for “repairing” damaged relationships. Through the fault of one (Achan), the Covenant community suffers the agonies of defeat; through the virtue of one (Joshua), it regains its integrity. How does this happen? What does this “meaning” of the text “designate” for our audience today? These are just some of the concerns that this study will address along the way. After examining the problems we encounter when reading the text of Jos 8:30-35, and especially those raised by the place of this passage in the book of Joshua, This article intends to find a solution that emerges from the “internal logic” of the narrative, as opposed to the usual solutions, which seem to me to be based more on an “external logic”. This article will also highlight the way in which the problems have been approached in the study of this pericope in particular, and of the book in general.
Eglise-Famille-de-dieu :de la genèse d’un concept ecclésiologique à l’époque contemporaine
The expression “Church Family of God” is not attested expressis verbis in the Bible. It was first used in contemporary times in the preparatory outlines of the dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, where, after many explanations of its biblical and anthropological foundations, it was added to the list of classic images of the Church. Its theological or ecclesiological development in the Church of Africa began in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council in the 1970s. Over the two decades since then, theological reflection on the subject has seen major and significant advances. Nevertheless, given the recurrence of themes developed by the most representative authors of the theology of the Church as Family of God, it's clear that the mission entrusted to them by Pope John Paul II, namely to relate the concept of the Church as Family of God to traditional ecclesiological images, is far from being accomplished. Hence the need to return to the contemporary genesis of the concept, to its context of emergence, at the heart of the plurality of models, to make it possible to re-elaborate the theological discourse on the Church Family of God. To this end, this study proposes an initial investigation into the historical origins of the concept of the Church as Family of God, in our own time, beyond the expression itself. In this way, we hope to open up new perspectives that could revitalize ecclesiological reflection on the Church as Family of God.
La métaphore de la peur dans l’expérience de la mort à soi : de la liberté illusoire de l’audace à la liberté effective de la peur
A good experience, judged on the scale of public opinion, seems paradoxical under the prism of Hegel's philosophy. What kind of experience is it? The experience of death to self for the advent of freedom. If, in the logic of modernity, freedom is what is essential and inherent to man's nature, according to the Hegelian philosopher, its reality offers itself as a complexity that needs to be measured. The movement that precedes the advent of concrete freedom clearly shows that, in its necessary mode, what makes it what it is is essentially mediation, expressed in terms of a death-to-self. In other words, for the individual, access to true freedom comes on condition that he gives himself to be known, that he goes to the end of himself. This is why freedom will be seen here as that in which life and death are intertwined. This conception of freedom is not without foundation. The Phenomenology of Spirit, through the dialectical relationship of “domination and servitude”, provides us with a fundamental reason for this: to inscribe a reflection under this statement is not, we hope, to give in to a facility that would play on already “certified” commentaries by simply proceeding to repeat them, but rather to analyze the different identities and attitudes of the two consciousnesses in the face of death in Hegel's dialectic of “domination and servitude”. The task is to address the reality and meaning of freedom in the different figures represented by master and servant in the face of death. Such a demand displaces political and social questions, for the simple reason that no attitude is privileged in advance, nor can it give the slightest idea of authentic freedom or liberated identity: we must experience death for ourselves. The question then arises: if death-to-self is a path to freedom, does it leave a dynamic place for the individual's identity? Isn't the audacity of divesting oneself the will to maintain oneself, an anticipated flight from that for which one appears dominant?