Vol. 7 (2019) - Issue 2

Vol. 7 (2019) - Issue 2

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

ABSTRACTS

Le récit de la bénédiction et ses enjeux dans le livre de la Genèse

Blessing is one of the major themes that runs through the book of Genesis. From the blessing of living beings after their creation (Gen 1:22,28) to the blessing Jacob grants to his sons before his death (Gen 49:28), it is closely linked to the project of life of the God of Genesis. This theme develops in the form of a narrative. While among human beings the blessing is threatened by covetousness, the fruit of which is the curse, God calls Abraham to become the instrument through which blessing will reach all the clans of the earth. From one generation to the next, divine blessing will be handed over, not without being serious threatened when it becomes itself the object of greed —it is the famous episode in which Jacob steals the blessing destined by Isaac to Esau his eldest son. It is the “journey” of the blessing between Gen 1 and 49 as well as the meaning that emerges from it that this article seeks to highlight.

Les traces d’interculturalité dans l’art visuel d’Engelbert Mveng

The marks of interculturality in the visual art of Engelbert Mveng can be read through the colors, symbols and motives used in his paintings: they are part of the codified language of African art. This language essentially reveals the struggle of life and death, leading up to the triumph of life. By identifying the meaning of those same colors, symbols and motives in different cultures of Central and West Africa, we find consistent interpretations. These marks, signs of interculturality, show the common vision of the fight for life, engaged by art in African cultural diversity. Such a study reinforces the contribution of art to intercultural dialogue.

La vérité historique sur Kimpa Vita

This article seeks to shed light on the figure of Kimpa Vita, considered as precursor in the liberation struggle of black Africa in the eighteenth-century Kongo Kingdom. The context is a very trying time for this kingdom. The encounter with the West has been experienced as a dramatic break, threatening the foundation of society. The introduction of a new religion and the slave trade were its causes. But at the heart of the disintegration of the Kingdom, voices like that of Kimpa were rising, calling to resist the European cultural and religious hegemony by proposing a way back to Kongo culture. Influenced by stereotypes about the black race dating back to antiquity for some, or driven by the desire for self-affirmation, under the influence of the “négritude” movement, for others, the historiography about the young Kongolese is divided between these two antagonistic trends. Only a rereading of this page of history, without passion and with the addition of new elements, makes it possible to come to a better understanding of the figure of Kimpa Vita and the significance of her action for the Christian faith in Black Africa. In truth, this young Kongolese invited the people of Kongo to resist and to fight for the recovery of the national political system disturbed by the foreign presence, which, by means of many intrigues, reduced the country to tatters.

Relecture des variations théologiques de Meinrad Hebga, SJ

The present essay suggests a re-reading of Meinrad Hebga’s intuitions in ecclesiology, or more precisely about what it means to be church in Africa in the postcolonial context. Meinrad Hebga’s theology is born in the African context. As a pioneer, he paves the way for a theological expression, which takes into account the challenges of a faith not lived by proxy but rather committed to reflect on culture, Church and suffering. Hebga focuses on the one side on the relationships between African local churches and their founding churches and on the other side on the issue of rootedness of the Gospel on the African soil. In his theologizing style, Hebga shows that pastoral ministry, namely the diaconia of the sick, nourishes and shapes the systematization of belief of which Jesus Christ in the cornerstone. Thus, it shows clearly how being Christian and African can be combined.

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