Vol. 7 (2019) - Issue 1

Vol. 7 (2019) - Issue 1

March 28, 2024 2024-04-02 21:02

ABSTRACTS

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

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.

Rites de passage et significations du bosquet initiatique africain

Le présent article s’intéresse aux rites de passage, plus particulièrement à l’initiation comme phase de croissance et de maturation humaine. L’auteur en dégage les significations anthropologique, sociologique et même théologique. Pour ce faire, il puise aux sources de sa propre culture et de son expérience non sans s’appuyer sur les écrits du théologien congolais Oscar Bimwenyi-Kweshi. En tant que processus, l’initiation africaine s’effectue à travers les différents rites jalonnant la trajectoire existentielle de l’homme africain. Elle commence par la naissance et l’imposition du nom. En effet, cette dernière constitue, pour les hommes avertis, un rite de passage de l’anonymat à l’identification individuelle dans la société. L’initiation n’introduit pas seulement à la compréhension renouvelée de soi et du monde, mais elle se donne aussi comme un instant fondateur, un moment d’institution et d’articulation des significations majeures, constitutives de la culture profonde d’un peuple. C’est en ce sens que l’auteur parle, avec Oscar Bimwenyi-Kweshi, de l’initiation comme lieu topologique, mais aussi comme promontoire à partir duquel un peuple dit son monde et son horizon paradigmatique, comme lieu épistémologique de production du sens, et enfin comme lieu théologique où Dieu rencontre
les mortels.

Enjeux politiques du dialogue interreligieux

Is religion a source of conflict and tension or of peace and harmonious living-together? Etymologically, religion is opening up to the other who is different from me in order to establish collaborative relationships. In this light, it is evident that the plurality of religions is the foundation of interreligious dialogue. Religious pluralism in Cameroon is traditional-identity, missionary-communitarian and Pentecostal-institutional. Three types of religious dialogues go on in these religions: day-to-day dialogue, collaborative action and dialogue of religious experience. Recurrent themes in the dialogues include promoting living-together, fostering religious freedom, reinforcing citizenship, etc. In order for religious diversity to be an asset in Cameroon the principles of secularity and distinctiveness should be respected. Albeit religions have specific differences interreligious dialogue should fulfil its prophetic function, which is the building of humanity in conjunction with the Cameroonian context.

XOF West African CFA franc
EUR Euro