THE ECUMENICAL REVIEW

missed, and Christians in rural areas to this day still observe chisi instead of merging
the two. For them observance of traditional chisi is more important than that of Sun-
day.
Recreation is a major component of the day of chisi. Dances and other social
activities celebrating life are common features of the day of rest. For an ordinary
Christian living in the urban areas of Zimbabwe, both the traditional chisi and the bib-
lical day of rest have lost their meaning. For an unemployed person, every day is a day
of involuntary rest - a day full of boredom. For an employee, a day off from work is a
day that one spends doing personal errands. Hence celebrating life is not a conscious
religious activity. What then will an ordinary Zimbabwean make out of the celebration
of the biblical jubilee, which is not part of his or her religious practice?
"Turn to God - Rejoice in Hope", the theme of the WCC's eighth assembly, sug-
gests two things: repentance and celebration. As far as repentance is concerned, there
is a great deal of injustice caused by corrupt political systems on the continent of
Africa. This injustice experienced by the masses is a result of the unwillingness or
inability of those in authority to respect human dignity. Oppression by human beings
of their fellow human beings is sinful. The continent of Africa has a multitude of refu-
gees as well as landless and displaced persons. Some nations are ruled by military or
civilian dictators. Unless we as Christians continue to remind those in power of the
need to "turn to God", human suffering will continue. The present exercise of the
South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, after a tragic period of human
suffering due to apartheid, is a positive step towards repentance. Unless African
nations, regions and tribes who have been fighting each other ask for forgiveness,
there is no way Africa can expect to be peaceful. There are many areas of conflict
which can only be removed by forgiving each other once repentance has taken place.
Africans join the rest of worldwide Christianity in the celebration of the year of
the jubilee. They, like all other participants in the eighth assembly, need to focus their
joy on Jesus as the one who empowers his people to forgive each other. Africa needs
the jubilee especially as a time for self-examination. We as Africans need to ask our-
selves how our continent can overcome a series of endless problems - disease, starva-
tion, wars and political instability, homelessness and many others.
The year of the Lord's favour is a time of renewal, a time of sharing life as God's
gift. For us Africans this is the time to rediscover the needy in our communities. It is
the time to be self-reliant and to stop depending on handouts from outside. According
to the biblical practice of jubilee, slaves who had been dependent on their masters
were to become self-reliant, and that is very much needed in Africa. Jubilee will have
no meaning if Africa chooses to continue the old way of dependency.
What will an ordinary Zimbabwean or an ordinary African make out of the cele-
bration of the biblical jubilee which is not part of his or her religious vocabulary? We
are captives of our own religious, economic and racial systems and as such find it dif-
ficult to realize the gift God has given us through his son. However, the purpose of the
WCC jubilee celebration is to commemorate and re-enact the year of the Lord's
favour. Our task as Africans is to reaffirm Jesus as our liberator and redeemer. Fifty
years of the WCC's existence have made us aware of what a task it is to be God's peo-
ple. We rejoice and celebrate the small victories we have realized in growing together
as a church that confesses Jesus Christ as its Lord and Saviour. Like the synagogue
congregation which was amazed when the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in its ears,
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we too ought to be amazed that the WCC has remained faithful to the call to unity in
spite of all the difficulties encountered during the last fifty years.
The words of Isaiah regarding the year of the Lord's favour, which was inaugu-
rated by Jesus, still give strength, hope and courage to those who desire to participate
in this. Even though average church members in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa
may be unfamiliar with the biblical understanding of the jubilee, the mere fact that
Christians from around the world will gather in Harare should enable them to experi-
ence the grace of God in this unique assembly. The jubilee is the commemoration of a
life-giving event that involves where we are coming from, where we are now and
where we intend to go from here. It is not a mere recollection of past victories and
achievements, but also an opportunity to evaluate our failures, thereby reflecting both
joy and repentance. When Jesus proclaimed the year of the Lord's favour, he brought
this fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy to actuality in the life of men, women and children.
He was permanently present in their lives just as he is permanently present in our lives.
Jubilee as a time of sharing God's gift
When the Pharisees accused Jesus of violating the sabbath, Jesus defended himself
on humanitarian grounds. As far as they were concerned, Jesus was a false teacher
because his disciples failed to observe the sabbath law (Matt. 12:2). For the Pharisees
resting on the sabbath day was integral to the covenant. According to their religious
practice, the seventh day was the primary institution for keeping the covenant. In his
defence Jesus argued that if it was permitted to water one's animals on the sabbath or
rescue them if they fell into a hole, why should he not do something good like healing
a human being? (Luke 13:15; cf. Matt. 12:2). Even on the sabbath, the day of rest,
Jesus sought to share the gift of life with those in need. Although God blessed the sab-
bath and made it holy, he did not stop working but continued and remained active even
on sabbath day. In justifying his work of healing on the sabbath, Jesus called the atten-
tion of the Pharisees the need to re-examine their own religious practice. The sabbath
is a day of sharing God's time, a time to console and comfort each other. If the sabbath
is not a time to listen to each other's plight, then it ceases to be a time of divine activity.
Our celebration in Harare will be without meaning if the concept of sabbath as
sacred time is absent. The eighth assembly jubilee will bring together Christians from
all continents of the world. Some will come from troubled parts of the world which
have experienced natural disasters like earthquakes, floods and droughts; others from
politically devastated regions ravaged by wars. There will be poor and rich, young and
old, black and white, men and women - all sharing God's precious gift of time
together.
As a biblical practice, jubilee was conceived as God's gift. Sometimes we feel
good about spending a few hours in community service, as if it were our time we were
giving to the needy. When Jesus healed on the sabbath, he treated it as God's gift for
God's people (Luke 13). The sabbath and the year of the jubilee were times of freeing
people from pain and hunger, oppression and diseases. In Harare we will do well to
remember that jubilee as a year of the Lord's favour is a time of reconciliation, a time
to seek ways that lead to peace, a time to do justice, a time to love and not to hate, a
time to give and not to take, a time to listen and not to speak, a time to accept others as
they are. We will take time to remember what God has done, is doing and will con-
tinue to do to us as his people.
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To address a cosmopolitan community like the WCC about time makes me feel
uneasy. As an African, I was reared in a culture that has time, often plenty of it.
Phrases like "I don't have the time for that" were unknown to me as I was growing up.
In traditional Africa you entertain people as long as they are prepared to stay. This
type of generosity of time is always highly esteemed in the community. Even when
visiting a patient in hospital, one will spend as much time as possible with him or her.
Having travelled and lived in the West, I have since discovered that time is a
scarce commodity for many people. To say to someone that you have no time today or
tomorrow or this whole week is not wrong; to indicate to a friend that he or she has
overstayed his or her time is not considered rude, but a civilized way for one to keep
time.
Our concept of time influences our religious practice regarding the rest of the sab-
bath or jubilee year. We need not view time as something mysterious or detached from
us like a commodity. It is part of us and in us and around us. Every year, month, day,
hour, minute is given to us, and our response is to make it sabbath, that is, holy, by
sharing it with one another. What is holy is not privatized but shared with others.
When the WCC assembly meets in Harare, we will be fully aware that we live in a
world that does not set much store by sharing. How shall we celebrate the jubilee as a
year of God's favour when we live in a world that does not share God's resources?
Ours is a secularized world in which the concept of holiness is confined to a few
things. Poverty and starvation are some of the consequences that arise in a world that
does not believe in sharing God's gift to humanity. The eighth assembly will have to
deal with the problem of not sharing God's gifts.
I am not trying to suggest that Africans will always have time regardless of the sit-
uation. They certainly do not. What they do have is a cultural understanding of time
for everything (Eccl. 3:1-8). Indeed, the celebration of the jubilee at the eighth assem-
bly offers us an opportunity to relive the gospel and to proclaim before all the message
of liberation, joy and grace with courage and humility. While Africans will express
their joy through drumbeat, rattles, dances and songs, those from other parts of the
world will likewise express their joy of the year of the Lord's favour according to their
culture. This intercultural dimension will make the jubilee of the WCC assembly a
creative and unique event.
The eighth assembly jubilee will provide a learning opportunity for the people of
God. Jubilee as a biblical theme has not featured prominently in the church's liturgical
calendar, and yet it is a central dimension, in which the incarnation of the Son of God
fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. Since many Christians have little or no experience of
a jubilee celebration, the WCC assembly can be seen as a learning opportunity. Just as
the sabbath is a day of rest, so we can learn through the eighth assembly jubilee how
to keep the jubilee in our personal activities and in our congregations. We can con-
tinue to remember the holy time God gives us as a gift. We need to open ourselves to
each other and to the world so that the Holy Spirit may open the way in which God
alone will lead us to live a fulfilled and meaningful life.
The missionary element in jubilee
With his announcement of the year of the Lord's favour at the synagogue in Naz-
areth, Jesus proclaimed his missionary programme. He made it known to a rural peo-
ple who were barely surviving economically.
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Why did Jesus choose such an insignificant community? Nazareth was indeed a
small town of little importance. The reaction of Nathanael enables us to understand
the general attitude people had towards this isolated Galilean village: "Can anything
good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). Nazareth was at the bottom of religious
importance in Israel. Jerusalem yes, but not Nazareth! While situated in a rich agricul-
tural region, the land in the first century was mostly in the hands of foreign occupiers
who succeeded through their political and economic connections in dispossessing the
local peasant fanners.
Jesus chose Nazareth perhaps because it was the town of his childhood and he
knew the concerns and hopes of his people, who were poor, landless and oppressed.
This community like the rest of the nation was waiting for the advent of the Messiah -
Son of David. The Messiah was expected to bring a new era of freedom, especially
from the foreign domination of the Roman empire.
Nazareth was a poor town on the periphery of a nation that consisted mostly of
poor people. Yet the people of Nazareth were his people, people Jesus could trust,
people who had seen him grow. They were to be the first to hear the prophecy fulfilled
in their ears. Having made the good news known in his home town, Jesus' final desti-
nation was Jerusalem, the city of David. There the world would hear him proclaim the
year of the Lord's favour on the cross.
Nazareth as a starting point of Jesus' missionary work is intriguing to me as an
African. It serves as a reminder to those among today's would-be missionaries who,
unlike Jesus, would rather start their missionary vocation far away from their home
towns or countries, leaving behind their own community ignorant of the good news.
The jubilee assembly will meet in Harare, a very insignificant city like Nazareth.
It is not a centre of influence on a global level. One may hope that the eighth assembly
delegates will conceive of themselves as that small community in Nazareth and that
from Harare will come a strong missionary statement proclaiming the continued mis-
sion of Jesus to all centres of the world.
475
Christian Witness
ataTimeof
African Renaissance
John W, de Gruchy
"Afro-pessimism" is a widespread ailment historically rooted in a fear of "darkest
Africa". Today it is not so much a fear of the unknown as it is a prejudiced assessment
of reality, distorted by selected media images and racial stereotypes. Some of the rea-
sons given by the West for its pessimism about Africa are as characteristic of other
contexts and continents as they are of Africa. Ethnic violence, war-mongering, politi-
cal corruption and economic mismanagement have been endemic to the history of
Europe, and much of it was exported to Africa along with colonialism and imperial-
ism. While Africa has its own geographical and historical peculiarities, as a continent
of peoples and nations it is no different from anywhere else. The fact is, "Afro-pessi-
mism" provides a rationale for the West to forget the role which European powers
played in the subjugation of the continent and the destruction of its economy through
the raping of its raw materials. Today, "Afro-pessimism" too often qualifies and some-
times undermines the participation of the West in the development and reconstruction
of Africa.
Most Africah leaders today acknowledge that many mistakes have been made
since the 1960s when colonial rule ended. They acknowledge that there is substance to
the perceptions which fuel "Afro-pessimism", and that Africa can no longer simply
blame colonialism or apartheid for every failure or ill. But they equally reject the
assumption that Africa is an unmitigated disaster area inevitably trapped in a down-
ward spiral of ethnic war, economic mismanagement, corrupt dictatorships and grind-
ing poverty. Of course, Africa's poverty makes the situation in much of the continent
particularly grave, highlighting the iniquity of the huge financial debt with which
many of its countries are now burdened. It also places African leaders in a major
dilemma. How can they seek much-needed economic investment without falling prey
to an economic neo-colonialism which would reinforce Africa's dependency?
Despite "Afro-pessimism" - and without denying the harsh realities which
confront Africa at the end of this century - there is nevertheless considerable hope
John de Gruchy is Robert Selby Taylor professor of Christian studies and director of the Research Institute
on Christianity in South Africa, University of Cape Town.
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CHRISTIAN WITNESS AT A TIME OF AFRICAN RENAISSANCE
among African leaders concerning the future of the continent, and a growing determi-
nation to ensure that the new millennium will herald its renaissance. These convic-
tions have been strongly expressed in recent months in various speeches and
interviews given by Thabo Mbeki, the vice-president of South Africa. Africa, Mbeki
argues, is entering a period of renaissance which is not only important for its own
future but also of global significance. His convictions are visionary yet expressed in
more sober terms than those which characterized the rhetoric of many leaders of Afri-
can liberation. Mbeki is a political realist who is fully aware of the enormous prob-
leins and challenges facing the continent. He recognizes that the transition to
democracy, though widespread, is by no means complete, and that there is no easy
road to social stability and transformation. Yet he remains convinced that the present
generation of Africans, given the right kind of support from the rest of the world, has
the will and the capacity to transform the continent.
Christians, called to live in hope of God's transformation of the whole of reality,
should respond warmly to Mbeki's convictions. But the ecumenical church in Africa,
in all its variety and complexity, dare not applaud such a vision from the sidelines. Just
as the ecumenical church played an important role in the struggle for liberation and in
some instances functioned as the midwife of democratic transition,' so it is now called
to participate in the renewal of Africa. In doing so the church has, as always, the com-
plementary roles of priest and prophet. As priestly community its unique contribution
will be the moral, cultural and spiritual transformation of the continent, as well as the
healing of its past memories and the reconciliation of communities and nations divided
by ethnicity and war. Without this, the heralded renaissance will remain a dream along-
side the many political plans which litter the past. As prophetic community the church
must continuously test the vision of African renaissance, and especially its implemen-
tation, against the more radical vision of the reign of God with its insistence on justice,
compassion and the humanization of life. If the church is to fulfil its calling and make
a difference it dare not become the lackey of the politicians and their programmes.
The potential significance of the church in Africa in this regard, is reinforced by
the widespread observation, supported by statistics, that Africa is rapidly becoming
the Christian continent. Whatever the faults and failures of the 19th-century mission-
ary movement, it undoubtedly succeeded in planting Christianity in many parts of
sub-Saharan Africa. The nurturing and growth of Christian faith, community and wit-
ness subsequently became the responsibility and task of African Christians and
churches. In the process, Christianity has penetrated African culture and, in turn,
become indigenous. Exceptions to this prove the more general rule. Refusing to suc-
cumb to the acids of European modernity and secularism, African Christianity affirms
the wholeness of life, the vibrancy of faith, the sociality of human existence and the
healing power of the gospel. Where Christianity in Africa, whether white or black,
remains an outpost of European identity and culture, it is now an anachronism without
a future.
Christianity has of course long been an African indigenous religion. The process
began in Egypt within the first decades of the Christian movement and rapidly spread
across North Africa, as well as down into Nubia and Ethiopia.^ Centuries before the
evangelization or Christianization of Europe was accomplished, African Christianity
had reached maturity. In doing so it had a remarkable impact on the future shape of
Christianity in Europe and elsewhere. The contemporary movement of missionaries
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going from Africa to re-evangelize Europe was predated centuries ago by the wide-
spread influence of Coptic monasticism on Celtic Christianity and subsequently more
widely on Europe.' So the possibility that Africa may become the Christian continent,
or that it may fulfil a crucial role in turning the dream of African renaissance into real-
ity, has historical precedent.
Yet we should reflect more critically on the claim that Africa will be the Christian
continent of the future. Even if the statistical forecasts are reasonably accurate, what
can such an assertion possibly mean? Perhaps Africa will have the greatest concentra-
tion of people who claim to be Christian. But does that make Africa a Christian conti-
nent - any more than the dominance of Christianity in North America makes that
continent Christian? Is there not a danger that such talk reflects a triumphalism that
leads to a complacency, which has never been healthy for the life of the church or
society? It is unlikely to be different in Africa. What is far more important is whether
African Christianity as a majority or minority religion faithfully reflects the reign of
God and witnesses to the gospel in ways which enable the just and peaceful transfor-
mation of the continent.
With this in mind we must not only face the realities which confront Africa but
also the realities of African Christianity. In celebrating its achievements, we should
also reflect on its weaknesses, and so ponder its future with sharper discernment. Pre-
cisely at this moment of its world-historical significance, African Christianity needs to
take account of the dangers lurking in its midst which can so easily subvert expecta-
tions. In this regard it is sobering to recall the rapid demise of the church of North
Africa in the 7th century. Why did that ancient church, with its great leaders, Augus-
tine among them, go into such rapid decline? The matter has been widely discussed
and we need not go into detail here. Undoubtedly it had to do with the rise and spread
of Arab power and Islamic faith. But it also had to do with internal problems within
the church, epitomized by the Donatist schism, which tore the church apart. It is also
true that the church failed to penetrate sufficiently deeply into Berber culture. The
church in North Africa imploded, albeit under pressure from without. If such histori-
cal memories teach us anything, it is that well-founded expectations can be con-
founded by unexpected historical twists and turns.
We need a much more nuanced analysis of the church in Africa than can be pro-
vided by overly confident rhetoric combined with statistics. After all, the church situa-
tion is so complex and confusing that it is perhaps far more accurate to speak about
"African Christianities" rather than African Christianity. At one level its amazing
range of diversity - from Coptic and Catholic through Anglican and Protestant to a
vast number of African-initiated churches - is part of the strength of African Chris-
tianity. Perhaps denominationalism as a category of ecclesial analysis does not quite
fit this amazing array of church community, liturgy and life with all its vitality and
growth. Yet how does this diversity, with all its contradictions and conflicts, relate to
the claim that Africa will be the Christian continent of the future? Given the diversity
of Christianity (especially in relation to the relative unity of Islam and the all-perva-
siveness of African traditional religions), what sense can we make of the claim?
Where are the coherence of faith and purpose, the shared vision of and solidarity in
witness to the reign of God, the common commitment to evangelism and the transfor-
mation of unjust social orders, the mutual striving to ensure that Christianity over-
comes its colonial past and becomes truly indigenous?
478