African Theology conceptualized by non-African voices: An African Intercultural Theology engagement with Parratt, Stinton and Hock

When African Theology emerged, scholars interested in understanding Africa’s indigenous theological appropriations of Christianity offered definitions that were descriptive, prescriptive and that sought to differentiate the new field from earlier missionary and colonial categorizations of African Christian beliefs. Whereas African and western theologians are hardly agreed about what elements are constitutive of “African Theology,” and despite its contested history, new trends have gathered pace among western scholars that are questioning who qualifies to speak for the subject matter. In this new dispensation, scholars are more open to allow African sources, African voices and African experiences of lived religion to speak for what counts as legitimate African Theology serving the African churches. Without addressing questions of definition, historiography and sources, this paper analyses the conceptualizations of African Theology by three non-African voices – John Parratt, Diane Stinton and Klaus Hock – all of whom lived and worked in Africa, with a view to understanding how their embrace of this methodology allowed African sources to take centre stage in their assessment of African Theology. The paper concludes that by breaking away from the west’s hegemonic dominance of Christian theology, these scholars opted for analytical methodologies that enable African Theology to bring the allure of its unique contributions to the agenda of intercultural theology and World Christianity.