In the Name of God ... the commoditization of faith
By Samuel Zalanga
The need for African Liberation Theology
Many
African Christian leaders [This is part of an extensive research
essay by Zalanga from his base in the United States titled ‘Nigeria
and the Political Economy of Backwardness: Contemporary Christianity
in Africa and Nigeria (2)’. Click here to read the entire piece]
treat liberation theology which stated in Latin America after the
Second Vatican Council Reform as an anathema. Indeed, many
Protestant churches treat the Catholic Church as not a true
representation of Christianity. Yet, few Protestant denominations
(e.g., Anabaptists) have a long tradition of teaching on social
justice as part of their theological teaching as the Catholic Church
has through its social teachings.
Most Protestant churches in Africa came into existence after the
reformation in Europe but Protestant African Christianity is just
like pre-reformation Christianity in terms of its structure and how
it treats the laity – very hierarchical. Protestants at one point
attacked the Catholic Church on the question of hierarchy but they
are as hierarchical, if not more, compared to Catholic Church in
this respect. Some leaders of Protestant churches are more difficult
to reach compared to when Jesus was living and traveling across
Palestine. At least we know from records that an ordinary woman was
able to come close to him and touch his garment after which she
received healing. Some denominational leaders have security guards.
Jesus, however, rebuked his disciples when they were chasing people
from coming close to him.
BInterestingly, across Africa, the Catholic Bishops have
demonstrated more courage in confronting dictatorial and
authoritarian governments than many other Protestant denominations
who are rushing to be recognized by people in office. Forget about
the “priesthood of all believers.” It is just a bait and switch
gimmick for many Protestant denominations. At least even in Germany
the Pietistic movement was a reaction to the attempt by Lutheranism
to condone social estates in the Church -- what Luther originally
seemed to have fought against. Some of the promises made by
Pentecostal ministers in Nigeria are more terrible than Johann
Tetzel’s campaign for the sell of indulgences in Germany in the 16th
century which Martin Luther reacted against. Tetzel said that as you
dropped the coin of purchase, a soul in purgatory moves out of
suffering. Today, many Pentecostal ministers in the U.S., Africa,
and Latin America do something that is functionally equivalent and
as sleazy as what Johann Tetzel did, if not more.
Moreover, the lifestyle of many Pentecostal ministers who have
private jets is the functional equivalent of the life of the
Renaissance Popes. Christianity among the great majority of
denominations in Nigeria and Africa has become domesticated and
bourgoeoisified. Its egalitarian principles have been siphoned out
of it. The message of Christ has been repackaged to fit the demands
of neoliberal consumer capitalism. The surprising thing is how the
ministers and their followers are gullible enough to believe that
such “down-sizing” of the broad and deep meaning of Christianity is
correct. They have learned little or nothing from Church history and
the mistakes of the past. Material wealth has become the best
indicator of one’s position in Christ.
Many Pentecostal churches have unwittingly developed common cause
with neoliberal capitalism and they have become the best
legitimizers and sanctifiers of greed as the new secular religion of
humanity under neoliberal hegemony. Yet, in medieval Christianity,
greed was one of the seven deadly sins (see for example Dante’s “The
Divine Comedy”). Today, the same greed is reframed as God’s material
blessings. In strict Christian social ethics, we do not need more
than what we reasonably need to live a decent life. But by
legitimizing greed, there is no upper limit to what decent life is.
This is one of the greatest distortions of Christian social ethics
since the reformation. This kind of theology in African and other
parts of the world put Christians on an escalator of material
consumption that has no end or upper limit since literally all the
riches of the world are claimed by such Christians because they are
children of God. It is a very egocentric spiritual constitution of
the human self.
Part of the resistance to liberation theology is that most Church
leaders in Africa who were trained in the West or beholden to
Western denominations do not have the courage to stand up to Western
theological hegemony, and Western church authorities who believe
that they are the only legitimate authorities qualified to confer
legitimacy to new theological thinking rooted in the existential
experience and challenges of people in the Global South. One must
quickly admit that there are many Western Church leaders and
theologians who recognize this problem and sympathize with the
struggle of Third World Christians in this respect, but they are
constrained and are a minority.
So also, in Africa, and Nigeria, we do have people who recognize
this problem and given the freedom they would spearhead a movement
to rectify the problem, but they are a minority and often perceived
as trouble makers or heretics. One must also clarify that asserting
this does not mean that African or Nigerian Christianity has nothing
to learn from the Western experience. On the contrary, this will be
wrong. There is much that African Christianity can learn from Church
history in the West, and there is much that Western Christianity can
learn from the Christianity of the Global South. What I am referring
to is a new reconfiguration of relationship in the Christian world.
I do not have space here to pursue the issue further.
Western domination of the non-Western world is not just economic but
also ideological and theological. There is in this respect a
division of labor: Westerners will produce knowledge about God or
Divinity and non-Westerners will either constitute “raw material”
for the theology or be “consumers” of the theology produced in the
West. The Western world has the role of “manufacturing” the theology
or producing the “product” and then “exporting” it. They are
presumably “gifted with the capacity to think and reflect.” The role
of Third World people is to consume. They presumably lack the
capacity to think and reflect. They are “children” in their
thinking. Interestingly, many Church leaders in Africa accept this
dubious arrangement that has no biblical foundation. The point is
not that there is nothing of value or that could be learned by Third
World people form Western theology, but this cannot happen without
historical, cultural and social contextualization. Africans like any
group of people have the right and the capacity to reflect and
develop their own theology and if they do so, it should not be
treated as inferior because it is not Western.
Latin American theologians in the Catholic tradition like their kin
in economics and political science who produced “Dependency Theory”
after serious reflections decided to produce an alternative theology
for their region. Latin American scholars at the United Nations
Economic Commission for Latin America at Santiago de Chile, decided
to critique the orthodoxy in Western development thinking about
Third World development as represented in modernization theory of
economic development and cultural change. Liberation theologians in
Latin America decided to produce a theology of liberation rooted in
their existential experiences and challenges, which are different
from that of the Western world. They borrowed ideas from the Western
experience as they thought fit and relevant to their experiences and
challenges as people instead of accepting imposed orthodox theology
from the Vatican, or elsewhere based exclusively on Western history
and experience.
Western experience or thinking is not universal. They were inspired
by some of the democratizing elements of Vatican II Council. They
combined Catholic Social Teaching with some relevant elements of
Marxist framework of the analysis of social structure and social
class, the life of Christ in the gospels and the existential
experience and challenges of their lives. Latin America has one of
the highest social inequalities because of the legacy of Spanish
colonial rule on areas such as land distribution and race relations.
Yet, orthodox Catholic theology after several hundred years has done
little to challenge or delegitimize such structures of injustice and
oppression in Latin America. Catholic theology condoned the
situation in the past.
The reader should not rush to conclude that Marx is incompatible
with Christianity because he was an atheist. Actually Marx’s
philosophy of history and eschatology is a secular application of
the Christian vision of humanity from creation, innocence, the fall,
the struggle, and redemption at the end. Hunter gatherer society for
Marx was like the state of creation and of relative innocence.
Slavery marked the fall of humanity, and the consequence of that
fall extends through feudalism and capitalism. But oppression under
capitalism is not the end of life for humanity. There is hope. The
revolution will bring social redemption. This vision of history even
though secular is more Christian than the philosophy of Ancient
Greece in terms of their vision of history.
What many Christians do not know is that theology in the Western
world which was later introduced to Africa is the application of the
conceptual categories of ancient Greek philosophy to understand God
or Divinity. But there is nothing biblical about the idea that one
can only understand God through the conceptual lens or categories of
the ancient Greeks. Note also that ancient Greek thinking /
philosophy is pagan, and not Christian. To insist on understanding
Divinity or God through ancient Greek conceptual categories only is
to endogenize cultural imperialism in the heart of Christianity. It
also amounts to converting a historical fact into a historical
necessity. It is a historical fact that Christian theology in the
West was significantly built on the pagan thought of ancient Greek
philosophers and the social structure of the Greeks (e.g., attitudes
towards slavery and women). But to take an inferential leap from
there and say this is the only way people can approach or understand
God or Divinity is to convert a historical fact into a necessity.
There is no basis for that.
Thomas Aquinas and Catholic theology was fundamentally shaped by the
work of pagan philosopher Aristotle; while Protestant theology owes
significantly to the work of Saint Augustine, who was in turn
fundamentally shaped by Neo-Platonist philosophy which can be traced
back to Plato, another pagan Greek philosopher.
If theology, which, is an integral part of contemporary Christianity
is rooted in the pagan thought of Ancient Greeks which is used to
understand God and Church doctrine that many Christians in Africa
take for granted, then what grounds do Church leaders in Africa have
to quickly dismiss the appropriation of insights from Marx’s ideas
by Liberation Theologians, while they continue to use pagan logic of
reasoning to make the case for understanding God and Christ?
If pagan thought can be used or consecrated as heralding the gospel
without making Christians become pagan because they use it, why
can’t Marxist framework of social analysis be consecrated and used
by Liberation Theologians? The choice ultimately boils down to using
ideas or conceptual categories derived from some pagan thinkers or a
person who is an atheist but accepted Christian philosophy of
history. Moreover, Marx’s also borrowed some ideas from Ancient
Greek thinking, since he was influenced by Hegel and Hegel in turn
was influenced by Plato. The issue is far more complicated than most
African Christians would want to admit. Understanding this should
not undermine their faith but open up greater opportunity for
authentic Christian expression that is not beholden to Western
cultural dictates.
I do not have the space here to explain the elements of Liberation
Theology, i.e., what distinguishes it from the bourgeoisified and
domesticated Christianity that is mistaken for the egalitarian and
subversive message of Christ in the context of Roman imperialism in
Palestine during the time of Christ. But anyone truly interested in
that can contact me privately. Note also that the Western world
reacted vigorously (both the Vatican and Protestants) against
Liberation Theology because during the cold war era, it provided an
inspiration to Leftist governments in Latin America, and presumably,
for some naïve and gullible Christians, capitalism is of God, Christ
died for it, while communism is for Satan.
This kind of understanding is clearly rooted in a lack of thorough
grasp of modernity since capitalism, communism, and socialism are
rooted in enlightenment thinking. They all believe they have
discovered universal rules for running human society that are based
on reason and “scientific principles” that apply irrespective of the
power of DIVINITY. The only problem is they discovered different
universal laws or principles. So the debate between capitalism and
communism is functionally equivalent to a quarrel between two people
who claim their flavor of ice cream is fundamentally unique and
superior (i.e., vanilla or strawberry). In reality, both ice creams
were produced using the same raw material; it was only made
different by flavoring. With the current economic crisis and moral
quagmire under neoliberal market fundamentalism, we know that
capitalism is as well a problem as communism.
I hope that African Christians will develop the courage to think
deeply and develop a theology that while rooted in their existential
realities and challenges as Africans, feels free to borrow from
other Christian experiences in the world. They should not be
intimidated by Western dominance. They must be prepared to be deep
thinkers in humility and inspired by the teachings of Christ.
Religion is a fundamental realm of human consciousness and the
foundation of the worldview and culture of a people. Anyone who
controls that also controls a people’s worldview and their culture.
Most Western Christian denominations would not want to see Africans
develop their own alternative foundation of theological reasoning
because the cultural implications of that is phenomenal in terms of
continued Western domination, and the spiritual puppets in Africa
who just assume Western Christianity in the normative standard for
all Christianity.
Conclusion: In the political economy of backwardness (1), I
focused on the analysis of Islam in Northern Nigeria and how
compared to Malaysia, Islam in Northern Nigeria is less prepared to
deal with the complexities of the modern world. I made it clear that
Malaysia is not free from her own challenges but that Muslim country
has fared better than Northern Nigeria. The Northern Nigerian elites
are afraid of promoting and embracing desirable and egalitarian
change because it would either sweep them away or diminish their
privileges. Often religion is used to justify the status quo even
though it could be used to promote desirable change. We cannot
continue to use Scripture as defense. We have to examine the human
beings and institutions that mediate our experience with the
Scriptures.
In this installment of the political economy of backwardness, I have
demonstrated how Christianity is characterized by the same situation
in many respects as I did with Islam in Northern Nigeria. The
theological discourses and approaches to Christian practices are
somewhat like pre-reformation Christianity. Many elites of the
churches or denominations are more interested in maintaining the
status quo rather than promoting social transformation. Many of the
social problems in the broader Nigerian society are reproduced in
the Church which affects the capacity of many church leaders to play
a prophetic role in society. They are afraid of change through
empowering the laity. They are very hierarchical when even in the
managerial literature the idea of “learning organization” has been
introduced as a way of reducing hierarchy in organizations so that
the organization can be more responsive to its clients and
employees. There has been little or no such kind of creativity in
many church denominations in Nigeria. Things remain the same for
decades.
Given the pervasive influence of religion in the Nigerian society,
the country runs the risk of stagnating forever because most of the
human beings and institutions mediating the practice and experience
of the religions have contaminated and vitiated whatever ideals are
in the Holy Scriptures of the religions. The reader may not be happy
with my observations and conclusion but instead of being angry at
me, I encourage the reader to challenge himself or herself to do an
investigation of the empirical validity of my observations. Look at
the past history of the two religions, their expansion and their
track record in “transforming” Nigerian society through their social
ethics. Has there been improvement or not?
Indeed, as Nigerians are becoming more religious, they are
developing greater capacity to dehumanize each other and commit
atrocious acts against fellow citizens as expressed through
religious violence and bureaucratic violence as manifested by acts
of omission or commission. How many people in your village or town
question the integrity of their sons or daughters who use money
earned through corruption to build expensive houses, live
extravagant lifestyle, support large number of sycophants, or buy
political influence? How many times has your church or religion
condemned prejudice and hate? How many times did your Church or
religion make you feel that you deserve or own the whole world
because of your faith, to the detriment of others? All these are in
some respects idolatry in the name of religion because your religion
encourages you to ignore all of diverse creation and just focus on
yourself. It may serve some therapeutic purpose if you need some
reinforcement, but as Rhinehold Niebuhr argues, when humans
constitute themselves into the center of the universe equating their
beliefs and everything about them with the Almighty God, that is
IDOLATRY.
Just see yourself as a mortal being trying to understand the Divine
and in doing so you will be constrained by your culture and social
location. I know you will find this difficult to imagine and accept
the implication. But just imagine you were born and raised in a
Hindu family in the state of Kerala in India, or the house of an
Orthodox Rabbi in Tel Aviv. What is likely to be your religion if
you were raised in such an environment? Often people keep the faith
of their parents because they are socialized to believe when they
have nothing in their minds to help them decipher what is happening.
Moreover when they convert to another religion, although all
religions have a theology of conversion, they would find it
illuminating to look at the social science literature on conversion.
If they did so, they would come to realize that conversion to
another religion is not a random event. There is an underlying
pattern to it.
In both religions, we need great thinkers who can help us through
this mess with humility, sincerity and spiritual guidance. Do not
assume that I presume modernity is a panacea to our problems.
Religion is a necessary part of the human experience. Even if one
does not believe in the Islamic or Christian faiths, he or she will
still have a source of ultimate meaning in existence and life, which
is what religions try to answer. We cannot ignore modernity but we
should not also just succumb to its false promises. Reason, science
and rationality can play meaningful role when combined with religion
in social transformation in so far as science, reason or rationality
are not trying to constitute themselves into some kind of idolatry
or idolatrous practice. If they are guided by religious ethics, they
can serve humanity well.
But if religion will play such an important role, then religion has
to prove through its institutions, leaders and believers that it has
what it takes to transcend science, reason, and rationality to
justify the role of providing supervisory role. This suggests that
we need not only men and women of integrity, deep spiritual
sensibility, calling, and humility in charge of our religious
institutions. Also, we need some of the best minds in the country in
this area. In many denominations, ministerial work is what people
pursue as a last resort. Whether one is religious or not, if he or
she is interested in the social transformation of life in Africa for
the better, they cannot ignore the importance of faith and religion
in people’s lives.
For religious leaders who are working hard to live out the values of
their faith and have the spiritual and material welfare of the least
members of their congregations at heart, they can be rest assured
that their dedication is not in vain. Similarly, for those that have
been marginalized, demoted or disgraced because of their courage to
question their superiors, your courage is not in vain. You represent
the best spirit of integrity. For those religious leaders that use
religion to oppress the masses, promote malice among the people,
enrich or aggrandize themselves at the expenses of the poor
believers, the blood of the suffering people is on your heads
because your have jettisoned your prophetic role. The people of
Nigeria deserve better. In the next five weeks, I will focus on
other major issues that are central to explaining Nigeria’s
political economy of backwardness.
Dr Samuel Zalanga is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota; where he also teaches graduate courses in Master of Arts programs in Organizational Leadership and Gerontology. Zalanga received his B.A. And M.A. Degrees in Sociology from Bayero University, and the University of Jos, respectively, in Northern Nigeria. He completed his Ph.D.in Sociology at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Zalanga lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia while engaged in research for his dissertation, He has published numerous articles in scholarly periodicals, and is a frequent presenter at professional conferences. He is the Associate Editor of the African sections of the Journal of Third World Studies (JTWS) at Bethel University. He writes for Baobab - Africa People & Economy magazine as a social analyst and member of the Editorial Think Tank. Here can be reached privately via szalanga7994@msn.com
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