Today, we run the second theological piece in our two-part series focusing on the idea of reconstruction as a framework for the restoration of human dignity in Africa. Read the first piece here!
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By Felisberto Juliana Dumbo and Manuel de Jesus J. D. Brandão
INTRODUCTION
The Good News of Jesus written by John (10, 10) proclaims that all people are called to life in abundance. This is also a primary African value. Thus, living a life lavishly means first of all living with dignity. Although this value is proclaimed by the Gospel and by African cultural traditions, many African men and women still live the experience of denying a dignified life.
In view of this reality, there is an urgent need to rebuild the continent from the human person, valued in his/her dignity, listening to the call of the apostle Paul who says: “Renew your spirit and your mentality. Put on the new you” (Eph 4, 23-24).
HUMAN DIGNITY AND CHRISTIANITY
The term dignity designates awareness of one’s own value, that is, an essential or substantial value. Ontologically, every being, in nature, is worth what it is and not for a price or permutation.
In the theological view, the human person does not find his/her beginning and end in the self, that is why he/she is worth not only in an immanent way, but also in a transcendental way for his/her creator (cf. GS, n. 16). His/her dignity has its apogee in the veteran testamentary affirmation (cf. Gen 1:27) that treats man/woman as the image and likeness of God, that is, a uni-trinitarian God (CIC 1993:1700). This assertion reaches its clarification in the New Testament scripture in which Jesus presents himself as a giver of eternal life (cf. Jn 6, 40, 47; 11, 25-26), he identifies himself with each human being, thus elevating his dignity. Like Christ who gave himself to God for the love of each human person, denying himself, placing the other at the center of his existence, the Christian must empty his/her ego, that is, as a true kenotic experience.
Kenosis means divesting oneself out of love, renouncing oneself in order to give oneself totally, to ‘become one’ with others, to live the other, to allow the other to be fulfilled and, in a certain way, to at the same time, become fully themselves (Cambón 2001:33).
Therefore, human dignity calls for a relationship enlightened by the intra-Trinitarian relationship, where the true look at the other is only possible in the light of emptiness, which occurs when the person eradicates selfishness, puts on agape (Greek term in the New Testament referring to love, or charity). It also requires a responsible and free action that can be verified in the exercise and fulfilment of their own rights and duties respectively within society, where each right calls for a duty and vice versa (João XXIII 1963:34). Thus, the intra-Trinitarian relationship does not give space to imperialist relations.
THE SHOCK OF IMPERIALISM
The current world lives under imperialist policies from some powerful nations. Falsehood, racism, assimilation, the instrumentalization of the other and the creation of dependency for other peoples remain the line of action of powerful nations. Imperialism is the political egocentrism of a nation that maintains instrumental relations with other nations, in order to acquire goods and services for their satisfaction, accumulation, centralization, progression and consequent domination.
Politically, Africa has taken steps, being now again directed by its own leaders, having adopted the democratic system that seems to be the one that hurts human dignity the least. The current economy characterized by the capitalist system gives people the possibility and freedom to own private property and this is certainly a sign of progress for humanity. However, human beings still do not seem to be up to the task of this economic policy, which is why material goods have served more to enhance power of a few instead of the well-being of the people who produce them. Faced with all these challenges of integral reconstruction, the Church is called to liberate the humanity through her preaching.
THEOLOGICAL IMPULSES FOR A NEW AFRICA
A new Africa requires a theology that seeks to bring the Kingdom of God to the heart of the world and bring the world and its turbulence to the Kingdom of God. Such theology reminds us that to be an image and likeness of God means to carry the Trinity within itself. For, through the perichoretic conception, the integrity of man/woman is effected when the Trinitarian theme of the unity of divine Persons is experienced in the historical experience of man and woman. Humanity, as a consequence, takes on a new spiritual and social force, that is, where love becomes the existential link between humans and the divine, which by His grace will continue to shine within the world.
THE TRINITARY PERICORETIC PRINCIPLE AS A MODEL OF HUMAN DIGNITY
The Trinitarian perichoretic principle manifests in the unitary dimension where the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are in perfect and full communion, but without confusion. Due to its relational wealth, the Trinity can be a model and inspiration for the organization of society, the acceptance of the other, for respect, justice and the struggle for the dignity of human life. It gives us the possibility to love everything and everyone, because it embraces cosmology as part of itself since it is divine intention to save everything and everyone. In this sense, Trinitarian theology is not only related to the dogma of who God is, because as a model of human communion it also embraces ethics as the foundation of human reality where each one is called to give him/herself to the other like the Trinitarian people.
To think of the Trinity as a background and model of the dignity of the human person is to open horizons for the common good, for a communion between humans, which at least conceptually annihilates the tyranny of the exacerbated hierarchy that has been one of the cancers in human society and particularly in the African context where human suffering tends to get worse and worse.
Trinitarian communion presents itself as a kind of antidote to suffering, humiliation, oppression and opens paths of hope and perspective for historical and anthropological reconstruction. The divine world and the human world fit in their totality, because, ontologically, man/woman bears the Trinitarian image. Therefore, the experience that humans acquire through the total being of love in the Person of the Trinity must be integrated into immanence. For it is the very mystery of one and triune God that makes the Third Person the energetic force that moves and unifies all the parts destroyed by human egoism. If the “Most Holy Trinity was revealed, it is because it is a mystery of salvation, otherwise it would not be” (Farias 2011:133). In this path, human dignity is sought when there is a deep relationship between human beings and their Creator in order to obtain the experience of love to integrate into immanent reality.
In this way, African society is called to be the sacrament of the Trinity for a more just and more harmonious society, where everyone is respected and included in the whole government panorama. “By taking his/her own life seriously, up to its limits and consequences, man/woman is already on the path that can lead him/her to the encounter with the true God, which the history of salvation announces” (Farias 2012:90). For this reason, every Christian must try to understand his/her social perichoresis, and live with others in unity, but accepting the diversity between them. Because “man/woman, even if taken individually, never lose in mass and the Church, even in its totality, is always a community in which one is worth all and all as one, as the ecclesiological theme of the mystical body of Christ illustrates and defends” (Farias 2011:131).
Thus, “with the Good News, God intervenes in African history, in favor of all African peoples” (Matumona 2008:95), especially the afflicted, the poor, the ever and without a voice and helps to create a new space of hope “the space of intimate filial trust that Christ makes possible” (Farias 2011:30). As Mugambi said, “the mystery of Jesus focused on social transformation that could facilitate the inauguration of the Kingdom of God” (Mugambi 1995:95). Theologically speaking, “the Kingdom of God is even before us and represents a challenge for us to amend our ways” (Mugambi 1995:95). Being an image and likeness of God and identified ontologically with the second Person of the Most Holy Trinity means changing the structure that motivates social and individual sin, and aligning to Christ who encourages us morally in the search for the common good.
Thus, an African Theology of Reconstruction has the mission of finding the balance between the academy and the pastoral, so that the church in Africa can face contemporary challenges, helping the people of God to wander to the Truth. It must also: encourage the creation of solid spiritualties; the option both for cultural values and for the Gospel itself. It must produce more contextual reflections accessible to the people, so that they can illuminate the existential concerns regarding life. It must dialogue with other sciences and organize scientific and pastoral ideas for a new theological focus. It has to consider “the demands that are current for African society: it must be a theology that analyses economic and political problems, to look for solutions that offer new spiritualties towards a society that needs a new evangelization” (Matumona 2008:97).
CONCLUSION
Respect for human dignity is a fundamental value for the realization of the Kingdom of God in the world and its fulfilment in eternity. However, although the Creator has effective means for observing this value on the African continent, many people still cry out to assert their dignity. Therefore, local pastors, theologians and Christians, must uphold the value of the greatest commandment of love for God and neighbour, capable of overcoming selfishness and building a new Africa.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
Cambón, E 2001. The social model trinity: what do Trinitarian relationships mean in life in society? Rome: New City.
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (CIC) 1993. Petrópolis: Voices; São Paulo: Loyola, Ave Maria.
Farias, J, J 2001. Anthropology and grace. Lisbon: Universidade Católica Editora.
_______________2012. From uncertainty to hope: an essay on a narrative soteriology. A theological reinterpretation of the reason for the Incarnation. Lisbon: Universidade Católica Editora.
John XXIII, Pope 1963. Pacis in terris: the peace of all peoples on the basis of truth, justice, charity and freedom. Available at: <http://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_11041963_pacem.html>. Accessed on: 12 jun. 2020.
Massongele, G. K 2016. Imperialism: from the world to the colonization of Congo. Palmas: Federal University of Tocantis.
Matumona, M 2008. African theology of reconstruction as a new epistemological paradigm. Lisbon: Rome.
Mugambi, J 1995. From liberation to reconstruction: african christian theology after the cold war. Nairobi: East African Education Publishers.
VVAA, 2013. Dictionary of the Portuguese language. Porto: Porto Editora.
About the Authors
Felisberto Juliana Dumbo, angolan a dehonian religious. Studied philosophy at Catholic University of Angola-UCAN and studied theology at Saint Joseph Theological Institute (SJTI). Email address: felisbertodumbo58@gmail.com
Manuel de Jesus J. D. Brandão, born in Angola. Studied Theology at Catholic University of Angola-UCAN. Email address: ohomendehoje2@gmail.com