Theologian works to adapt Church to African needs

His specialty is African theology; ask him to explain his field, and you'll get a crash course in cultural differences.

"There is a problem with Christianity in Africa, with all countries that don't have a specifically European culture," he lectured. "Christianity came to Africa from Europe and had a lot of European cultural elements. Africans had to take it as a package.

"This created a lot of problems. Africans are very exuberant, for example, but when Europeans came, we had to be like this." At that, he put his hands together in prayer, looking solemn. "At Baptism, we had to put aside our names [to take a Christian name], but many of our names are very religious."

He called African theology "a discernment": trying to separate the essentials of the Gospel from European add-ons. Father Magesa noted that even Jesus, when teaching the multitudes, used the language and images of the places He visited to help His listeners relate to His words. The priest wants to do the same. (KB)

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