Alongside One Another: African Catholicism and Ecumenism in Africa
(2022) Handbook of African Catholicism — ISBN: [9781626984745], published
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- Abstract
- Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redin- tegratio (UR), marked the official endorsement of Catholic participation in ecumenism, but it is quite doubtful if it had any impact in Africa at the time it was issued on November 21, 1964. The council was convoked (1962–1965) at a time when most African countries were struggling with both politi- cal and religious emancipation.1 Ecumenism in African Catholicism, as a result, has been shaped by the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, particularly by certain theological principles of ecumenism. Yet how these principles have been appropriated contextually in response to Africa’s historical, cultural, and sociopolitical realities is open to diverse theological interpretations.2 In examining the approaches of the Catholic Church in Africa to ecumenism and theological development in African ecumenism, this chapter historically explores the various ecumenical prac- tices, methods, as well as dispositions, that can be discovered in the faith and witnesses of African Catholics and churches. Central to our concern here is to raise the question of the possibility of “receptive ecumenism” as a principle of ecumeni- cal learning that can guide churches of Africa in faith and action for and in developing ecumenical theologies in African Christianity. The chapter also looks into the future of ecumen- ism in Africa through historical developments in the application of the teaching of Vatican II on ecu- menism, beginning in Vatican II and extending into the papacy of Pope Francis. The chapter will par- ticularly explore, in this regard, a version of inter- cultural hermeneutics that could offer an approach to doing ecumenical theology with a spirituality of openness. The chapter concludes by articulating some challenges facing the development and prac- tices of ecumenism in African Catholicism. The objective is to provide both an overview and a more focused attention to ecumenism in Africa, in the hope of realizing the ecumenical mission of socially transforming the continent through the collabora- tive efforts of all the churches in Africa.
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Okpaleke, I. P. (2022). Alongside One Another: African Catholicism and Ecumenism in Africa. In Chu Ilo , Stan (ed.), Handbook of African Catholicism. Stan Chu Ilo. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/245943