Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator S.J.

From Nicaea to Africa: Legacy, Inspiration, and Cultural Contextualization of Theology

This article explores the connection between the Council of Nicaea and the church in Africa through two main perspectives: geography and the contributions of African theologians as well as theological and christological developments. The first part highlights Africa’s geographical and cultural significance to Nicaea, examining the involvement of African theologians in the council’s outcomes. The second, more detailed section analyzes how themes rooted in Nicaea have continued to influence African Christianity even as modern theological discussions do not explicitly and consistently reference the council. Taken together, these sections trace the enduring impact of Nicaea on the evolution of African theological thought.

Between Ecclesiology and Ethics: Promoting a Culture of Protection and Care in Church and Society

How does political theology, with its eschatologically themed commitment to both
critique and constructive transformation of the social, economic, and political in the
light of the Gospel, break through to a distressed Western polis focused on the
immediate and the short-term, with almost no sense of a “future”? I suggest discipleshipas-performance and a temporal and sacramental “natural theology of desire,” in tune
with the revelation of the grace of God in Christ in time, as ways of addressing this
conundrum and seconding Pope Francis’s insight that “time is greater than space.”

“AFTER ALL, AFRICA IS LARGELY A NONLITERATE CONTINENT”: THE RECEPTION OF VATICAN II IN AFRICA

The article examines critical factors that determined the impact, reception, and implementation of Vatican II in Africa. Drawing on historical accounts, the author identifies and analyzes personalities, contexts, and issues that conditioned and shaped Africa’s participation in the council. Looking back 50 years, he argues that while the continent’s participation was negligible, shaped by a

Caritas in Veritate and Africa’s Burden of (Under)Development

Providing a critical reading of Pope Benedict’s Caritas in veritate from an African perspective, the note examines several key issues in the encyclical to determine their relevance to the situation of development and underdevelopment in Africa. The note also points out some omissions and troubling situations regarding the role of women in development and the

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