nature life The notion of respect for nature seeks to emphasize the concept of persons as living-in-plenitude, i.e. people have a fellow-feeling with each other and nature; consequently people pattern their life to cosmic rhythms.
Fiedler
etat (1996/1997:3) note "Such a model, is a typically African epistemology that connects the human being, not only to God, but to other human beings as well as the whole cosmos. The fruit of the
uMunthuepistemology is an authentic theology that fulfils the human spirit."
Ministry in Africa needs to take into consideration the African cultural context, its languages,
hymns and songs (sermons in music). Africans themselves must be advocates of ministry
cooked in the African pot, which aims to serve God through meeting the needs of the
underprivileged, in particular, in both rural and urban centres. Doing theology this way adds
meaning to the lives of African Christians, as their spirituality gets in touch with
on-the-ground reality. Chuba concludes his paper, Theology cooked in an African pot, thusly:
"Africans need a theology that will redeem them from the give me, teach me, and lead me mentality, especially at this stage of an independent Africa. That theology which is not cooked or at least not boiling in an African pot has its abode in an African pit."
Not all Africans, however, were content with the cultural context of the form of Christianity introduced by colonial-era missionaries. As Fiedler et al (1996/1997 :62) note
There is a general agreement among African theologians that African Independent Churches have taken a daring step of contextualizing or indigenizing the Church in Africa .... Consequently, they have produced a relevant theology for Africa. They have also succeeded in producing a ritual-oriented church, which appeals to the deep-seated emotions of African peoples, and thus satisfying their spirituality.
The African Independent Churches incorporate belief systems and Christian living to replace ancestor worship, divination prophecy, sacrifices, and other cultural aspects, without necessarily compromising the Gospel. But, because the missionaries did not adequately take into consideration the African beliefs and context, some African theology that arose may not be entirely reliable. One result is that much of the African way of doing things was con-sidered unChristian. To that degree, the missionaries did not-succeed in Gospel proclamation.
Fielder et at (1996/1997:67) comment "It should be noted that in their understanding of salvation, the Independent churches consider the whole person is in need of salvation. This includes the soul as well as the body."
1.8.3 DIFFERENT SUB-MOVEMENTS OF MINISTRy4
The holistic theory in discussion has been developed to take into consideration, hermeneutically, the practices of people, as they seek to make meaning of life. This is critical otherwise people cannot take God seriously, when they feel He is not concerned with their situations in life.
It was noted earlier that practical theology moves from practice to theory and back to practice.
It was further noted that what prompts such a movement is the fact that people come to theology with meaningful or theory-laden religious practices. Because of these practices, when a religious community hits a crisis, it then begins to ask questions about its meaningful practices. In order for this movement to happen, theology in general must be understood as a
fundamental practical theology. Browning (1991 :8) again argues that" ... theology as a whole is fundamental practical theology and [that] it has within it four sub-movements of descriptive theology, historical theology, systematic theology, and strategic practical theology."
Browning (1991:47-54) defines the four sub-movements as follows:
Historical theology: It asks what the normative texts that are already part of our effective history really imply for our praxis. It provides the traditional disciplines of biblical studies, church history, and the history of Christian thought.
Systematic theology: It tries to gain as comprehensive a view of the present as possible. It ex-amines the large, encompassing themes of our present practices and the vision latent in them.
Strategic practical theology: It refers to what is commonly understood as the church disciplines of religious education, pastoral care, preaching, liturgy, social ministries, and so forth. In this movement, questions are formed by the problems of life that impede our action.
Descriptive theology: It describes the contemporary theory-laden practices that give rise to the practical questions that generate all theological reflection. It is a horizon analysis; it attempts to analyse the horizon of cultural religious meanings surrounding religious and secular practices. This movement would be close to sociology if sociology were conceived hermeneutically.
Browning (1991 :55-56) asks four basic questions that drive the movement:
i. How do we understanding this concrete situation in which we must act?
11. What should be our praxis in this concrete situation?
iii. How do we critically defend the norms of our praxis in this concrete situation?
IV. What means, strategies, and rhetorics should be used in this concrete situation?
4 This issue was again referred to in the following sections of the dissertation: 3.5.2 Researching for congregations in Lilongwe city, 4.6 The causes of poverty, 4.9 The vocation of the urban church.
1.8.3.1 Five dimensions of practical reasoningS
Being a hermeneutical process, a holistic approach to ministry is interested in implementing five dimensions of practical reasoning. Browning (1991:71,105-106) proposes five dimen-sions, or levels, of all forms of practical thinking, whether explicitly religious or avowedly secular. These dimensions are helpful in enhancing critical discourse in pluralistic modem societies.
Visional level: