| Acknowledgments | ix |
| Introduction | 1 |
| Part 1 | The Current Experience | 5 |
| 1. | Inculturation in Kenya: Is It Happening? | 9 |
| Research Procedure | 9 |
| Conceptualizations of Inculturation in the Catholic Church | 10 |
| Understanding of Inculturation in the AICs | 13 |
| Process of Inculturation | 16 |
| What Areas Need Inculturating? | 17 |
| Women in the Church | 29 |
| Church and Development | 29 |
| Unity in Diversity | 31 |
| Understanding of the Bible | 33 |
| African Theology | 34 |
| 2. | Inculturation in Tanzania: Taking Popular Spirituality Seriously | 36 |
| Introduction | 36 |
| Conceptualizations of Inculturation | 37 |
| Process and Praxis of Inculturation | 40 |
| Ethical Dimensions of Official Inculturation | 44 |
| Challenges and Problems | 48 |
| Constructive Imagination: Praxis of Inculturation among Ordinary Christians | 52 |
| Concluding Remarks | 61 |
| 3. | Inculturation in Uganda: Appreciating New Ways of Being Church | 62 |
| Introduction | 62 |
| Scope of Research | 62 |
| Understanding of Inculturation | 63 |
| Facilitating Inculturation | 65 |
| The Purpose of Inculturation | 67 |
| African Theology, Church as a Family, and Dialogue | 68 |
| Church Unity and Development | 70 |
| The Liturgy | 71 |
| Instruments and Symbols | 72 |
| Morality | 73 |
| The Bible | 74 |
| Recommendations and Observations | 75 |
| 4. | Where Are We? Learning from the Data | 77 |
| The Practice of the Faith | 77 |
| Worship/Liturgy | 79 |
| Healing and Deliverance | 81 |
| Symbols, Leadership Structures and Gender Issues | 82 |
| The Bible | 84 |
| Ecumenism | 84 |
| Theology | 85 |
| Part 2 | The Experience at the Beginning | 87 |
| 5. | Old Testament Foundations | 89 |
| Israel and the Nations | 90 |
| Change and Growth through Praxis and Experience | 92 |
| Divine Inspiration in the Old Testament | 94 |
| The Hebrew Bible, History and Myth | 96 |
| Africa and the Old Testament | 99 |
| 6. | Christianity in History: Early Beginnings | 103 |
| Jesus in Historical Christianity | 103 |
| Appropriating the Faith in New Testament Times | 106 |
| Africa and the New Testament | 109 |
| Interpreting the New Testament in Africa | 111 |
| 7. | Fine-tuning Structures and Doctrine: The Patristic Period | 113 |
| Development of Church Structure | 113 |
| Struggles about Doctrine | 117 |
| The African Contribution | 119 |
| 8. | The Age In-Between: Philosophers and Reformers | 123 |
| Thomas Aquinas, Scholasticism and the Enlightenment | 123 |
| Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue | 125 |
| The African Situation | 127 |
| 9. | The Church in Mission: The Cultural Dynamics of Encounter | 133 |
| The Original Missionary Impulse | 133 |
| Mission in Modern Times | 134 |
| Questions for Mission Today | 136 |
| The Practice of Mission | 139 |
| The Shape of the Encounter | 143 |
| Inculturation and Its Implications | 144 |
| The Function of Inculturation | 145 |
| Inculturation as Conversion | 148 |
| Inculturation and Identity | 149 |
| Inculturation and Imagination | 153 |
| Inculturation Is Always with Us | 154 |
| 10. | Ways of Imagining and Imaging the Holy | 156 |
| Christian Narratives of Revelation and Inculturation | 156 |
| Quest for Personal Voice/Agency | 159 |
| The African Palaver | 160 |
| The Bible as Paradigm | 163 |
| Life as the Sacred "Text" of Revelation | 168 |
| 11. | African Constructive Imagination: Review of Literature | 171 |
| Theology in a New Key | 171 |
| The Urgency of the Process | 174 |
| Methods and Strategies of Inculturation | 175 |
| A Home-Grown Product | 177 |
| Critiquing African Religion Constructively | 180 |
| Peace and Reconciliation | 181 |
| Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue | 183 |
| Official Church Perspectives | 185 |
| Conclusion | 188 |
| Part 3 | A Look to the Future | 189 |
| 12. | Practical Models of the Church | 191 |
| Sources and Resources for "Planned" Inculturation | 192 |
| What Is Spirituality? | 197 |
| The Power of Ritual Celebration | 202 |
| Ritual Words and Actions | 215 |
| Sacred Images | 221 |
| The Seven Sacraments | 225 |
| Other Sacraments in Life | 230 |
| 13. | Christian Initiatives toward New Rites in Africa | 234 |
| African Initiated Churches | 234 |
| Experimentation in the Catholic Church | 237 |
| Conclusion | 246 |
| 14. | Some Pastoral Dimensions | 247 |
| Self-Identity of the African Church | 248 |
| Some Pastoral Questions | 252 |
| Searching for Unity in Diversity | 257 |
| 15. | Concluding Remarks | 264 |
| African in the Twenty-First Century | 264 |
| Systemic Racism | 267 |
| Aspects of Liminality of the Church | 268 |
| Bibliography | 273 |
| Index | 281 |
