Much like America and Europe are today, Africa was once a glorious fount of Christian thought.
Before Christian scholarship reached overseas, Africa, particularly North Africa, was producing considerable theologians. These theologians shaped various doctrines into the present day, including the nature of grace and the Trinity. Augustine’s works have shaped Christian spirituality for centuries. Athanasius of Alexandria defended the full deity and humanity of Christ. Tertullian’s works helped explain the Trinity. Cyril of Alexandria defended the unity of Christ’s person. Origen helped establish biblical scholarship in the church. These are just but a few examples of how the African church contributed to Christian thought. Christianity in Africa back then was intellectually rigorous, so much so that we’re still being influenced by it today.
It’s All Very Different Today
By a quick glance at the African church today you’ll see that it’s growing. Rapidly. There is a church on almost every corner. There’s evangelistic zeal, an emphasis on communal life, and vibrant worship. But is the African church thinking? Why are so many churches marked by shallow doctrine? Why are so many church members ill-equipped to confront secularism or prosperity theology? How do we account for the profound cultural confusion and syncretism?
None of this is intended as an attack on the African church. I belong there. However, we need a wake-up call. For numerical growth without depth is unsustainable. Size isn’t a measure of health, not in spiritual matters.
Numerical growth without depth is unsustainable.
God commands Christians to love him with all their minds (Luke 10:27). This calls for an active and ardent engagement of the intellect towards the holy subject of God. It involves study. We need more reflection; loving God with our minds means seeking wisdom and a renewed perspective of both ourselves and the world. Christians must obey this commandment, making it our ambition to have a deep reverence for God, along with affection for him, and being committed to understanding truth. For all of this, the Bible is our guide. However, as far as I can tell, this commandment is largely ignored by the African church.
The African church has lost her leading voice in the realm of theology and thought. I suggest five reasons for this.
1. Anti-Intellectualism
You have probably encountered this age-old conflict before: the mistaken notion that intellectual rigour and authentic spirituality cannot coexist. Yet this supposed feud is built upon a false premise. And it’s gaining traction in the African church. Regrettably, under this banner, we’re seeing the rejection of formal theological training in favour of experiential, “Spirit-led” revelations. With the rise of self-appointed Christian leaders and teachers has come the abandonment of serious Bible study and Christian thinking. Much of African Christianity either implicitly believes or explicitly insists that intellectual endeavour quenches the Spirit. Thus our churches are more concerned with people’s needs than what God says in his word. Anti-intellectualism is rife.
Faith and intellect are not adversaries.
Yet, God’s command to love him with all of our mind stands. Faith and intellect are not adversaries; there is no nobler use of the mind than to contemplate the highest reality and the most glorious subject imaginable: God in all his glory.
2. Prosperity-Centred Spirituality
The galloping growth of the prosperity gospel in Africa has also minimised Christian thought. The evidence is plain; for breakthroughs, miracles and material success are all prized far beyond God’s truth. With this movement has come the erosion of key Christian doctrines, such as: perseverance amidst affliction; the necessity of suffering; and God’s providence. Those have all been replaced by faith seeking financial gain—the preaching and commitment to false promises instead of God’s.
The prosperity gospel cannot produce believers devoted to contemplation because all it produces are people devoted to themselves.
How can anyone be expected to think deeply about God or meditate meaningfully on his word when God is reduced to a means of personal gain? The prosperity gospel is both spiritually damaging and intellectually barren. Because it is a non-gospel, as Paul puts it in Galatians 1:6-7, it doesn’t cultivate serious Christian thinkers; it cannot produce men and women who devote themselves to serious contemplation because all it produces are people devoted to themselves and religious consumerism.
3. Weak Reading Culture
We’ve all heard the expression or something similar, “I only read for examinations.” Being a mark of the continent, it’s also a mark of the church in Africa. We’ve lost the intellectual stimulation and development that reading brings. We simply don’t love books; and the digital age has only made matters worse. Today we’d rather doomscroll TikTok and dedicate ourselves to online trends than pick up a book and think deeply. In fact, it’s now seen as a little odd to read while on public transport, which was once normal. Increasingly, therefore, our culture is shaped by entertainment rather than reflection.
The lack of reading in the African church has led to a lack of substance.
This is a major concern for the African church. Our minds haven’t been well trained or exercised. If we’re to produce serious Christian thinkers and writers, they must be disciplined students. Indispensable to this is reading. The lack of reading in the African church has led to a lack of substance.
4. A Crisis of Theological Production
Despite my previous point, Africans do engage Christian content. This is evident from the sheer amount of conferences, podcasts, books, YouTube channels, online sermons and theological debates that we import and enjoy from outside of Africa. But we’re primarily consumers in all of this; Africa isn’t contributing to theological dialogue or thought. Without suggesting there’s anything wrong with consuming theological work from abroad or filling our libraries with overseas contributions from elsewhere, a healthy church should work to produce and contribute to ongoing theological discussions.
Africa is gifted. Brilliant minds have stood in our pulpits. Therefore, the African church must cultivate writers and thinkers who can address African realities from a strong biblical grounding and with sound doctrine.
5. Redefining the Pastor
Historically the church has considered pastors as both shepherds and theologians. But there’s been a subtle drift from that, over the years.
Many pastors are today little more than entrepreneurial, motivational speakers.
Today, perhaps especially in Africa, we operate with a different definition of what makes a pastor. Driven both by the demands of the people and their own desires, instead of a shepherd or theologian, many pastors are now little more than entrepreneurial motivational speakers; they’re also often celebrities. In all of this, there’s little need for pastors to become students of the word. Trends determine their teaching. After all, it’s much easier to embrace what brings the crowds than it is to engage in robust thinking and tricks that’ll ensnare the crowds. The church cannot rise above her leaders. If the pastors will not be found in their studies, the church won’t either.
Towards the Recovery of Theological Thought in Africa
In my next article, I’ll propose some of the ways forward, how the African church might correct this theological decline and avoid complete demise. But I hope that the five factors explored above, along with those I’ve missed, serve as a catalyst to the beginnings of change. Taken together, if the African church is going to think deeply, we must rediscover reading while abandoning anti-intellectualism; instead of merely consuming Christian content from abroad, we must take up our role in contributing theologically; and, finally, we must beware of the teaching that makes us and our desires the centre of the Christian faith, while also insisting that our leaders be more than motivational speakers.
