Historical Trajectories of Catholicism in Africa

The book masterfully knits together the various curves and routes traveled so far by the Catholic Church in Africa. From an African perspective, the book presents a general trajectory of Catholicism on the continent by highlighting some significant events and moments in the evolution of the Catholic Church in Africa. It equally profiles the Vatican's policy of indigenization as realized on the continent through the Africanization of the local episcopate. That policy prepared the way for the emergence of the local churches in Africa on the heels of the post-missionary phase that terminated with the convocation of the First African Synod of Bishops in 1994. Beyond the vicissitudes of the relatively recent past, the book boldly indicates the likely future shape and direction of African Catholicism. It contends that the future shape of the church in Africa may not be determined by a belabored inculturation, but instead by how the local churches concern themselves with concrete realities such as poverty, lack of opportunities, and ecological issues. It envisages a church that may not shy away from asserting itself within the mainstream ecclesiastical politics of global Catholicism where it must ""connect, compete and collaborate.""

Author: Valentine Ugochukwu Iheanacho
Publisher: Resource Publications (CA)
Published: 10/21/2021
Pages: 210
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.64lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.45d
ISBN13: 9781666731309
ISBN10: 1666731307
BISAC Categories:
- Religion | Christianity | Catholic
- Political Science | Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
- Religion | History

About the Author
Valentine Ugochukwu Iheanacho is a research fellow at the Department of Historical and Constructive Theology in the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Free State, Bloemfontein. He is the author of Maximum Illud and Benedict XV's Missionary Thinking: Prospects of a Local Church in Mission Territories (2015).