DEVELOPING THE PRINCIPLES OF THEOLOGICAL APPLICATION FOR AFRICA TODAY

DEVELOPING THE PRINCIPLES OF THEOLOGICAL APPLICATION FOR AFRICA TODAY.
By Rev Fr Kenneth Evurulobi (Catholic Diocese Of Aba, Abia State, Nigeria).

As a matter of fact, the thesis which this article seeks to develop was first of all contained in my farewell letter titled ‘If Providence Permits, 16th Nov., 2006’ to my Theology Professor and the Supervisor for my then proposed doctoral thesis “Creation And Evolution as Sustainable Issues of Growth and Development in Nigeria” Dr. Anacletus Nnamdi Odoemene in the Department Of Dogma at the Catholic Institute Of West Africa, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria . Unfortunately, foreigners and late comers to this debate considered my views a detraction of the fundamental truths of the Catholic Faith. Six years after, it is evidently clear that bias and selfishness, not real concern for the purity and security of the deposit of the faith, were at work in withdrawing my admission to the Doctoral Programme at the Institute and the influential attempts that have been made on my life and on the lives of my family members and associates. Recent events have highlighted the fact that today, the the sacred traditions and powerful institutions of the Catholic Faith have been consciously surrendered to the invading arsenals of Satanism as nurtured and propagated by Freemason. Against this development, it has to be unequivocally stated that it is either the Doctrinal Office has been reduced to a pebble throwing watchdog targeting sincerely dedicated but over zealously unguarded theologians like Hans Kuhn and the theologians of the Liberation School, or that Vatican is dinning and winning with the real enemies of the Church behind the thick Vatican blinds. Whichever way, one only hopes that the unfolding scenario does not throw up fake white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine chapel in the event of a conclave.

To understand the focus of the emerging thought, I deem it necessary and fit to refer to my defended theses for my Master’s “Trinity As Community: Its Implications For Christians In Aba Diocese Nigeria” and the one for my Licentiate “Rahner’s Auto-Trascendence: Its Relevance For The Prayer Life Of Christians In Aba Diocese Nigeria”. Summarily, I have tried to let these principles be accommodated within the following points.

a. In total condemnation of Karl Marx and the atheistic communist maxim, I am strongly convinced and hold unto the fact, with leechlike tenacity, that faith is not opium. Instead faith constitutes the whole structure of life in its totality. The spirit of this life is love, and its body is Hope.

b. The Truth of faith stands always in need of, and is willing to be investigated. For, as Socrates correctly pointed out, “an unexamined life is not worth living”.


c. In theological investigations, I have come to discover that, scandalously, faith has a two-fold function. It is the very object of investigation and also at the sametime, the one who investigates. It is only within this circle of faith that God can be discovered and then taken up as a primary theological concern. Remove faith from the investigation, it is no longer theology. Thus in theology, faith examines itself; tries to understand itself. St Anselm actually holds the true definition of theology - faith seeking understanding. Or, if we take it the other way round, theology is all about “self examination”. The most important and most rewarding of all examinations is the courage to face the SELF and examine it critically especially as regards the power of interest.

d. In as much as theology concerns God, it is more importantly and functionally concerned with the human person and his experience about his environment within a given community. The greatest theologian, I believe, is not he who wrote volumes of books and gave series of lectures only, but he who had the courage, even to his own shame and to the scandal of those around him, to let himself, his environment and his community be affected and transformed by the fruits of an investigated faith, not as a disinterested observer (otherwise it becomes some other discipline and not theology) but as one who is sincerely concerned and committed to that faith because it is his own and cannot do without it. To publish books and give lectures are all inclusive aspects of the game, but the Legacy of Christ is overwhelmingly monumental, and yet he never wrote down anything but was instead an itinerant preacher. Some powerful theologians today are found on the streets of the African Villages while so many lay readers are occupying theological seats in many of our theological institutes. By this I mean that theology is contextually applicable and must be applied. However, this contextual applicability is only a poisonous gas if it is not at the service of unity.

e. The transformation which Christ achieved in the church is normative and has the character of total finality. Hence, Divine Absolute Mystery is far more higher and deeper than any other mystery instituted by any nation, tribe, race, people, person, association, institution or, even Lucifer himself. This Divine Absolute Mystery whom Karl Rahner referred to as the “Discovered Unknown” is God. No one is God. No person has seen God. No person can claim to be God. The only person who is God is Christ. As God, the question whether He is man or woman, black or white, short or tall - all these are heretical and scandalous. As man, the most important and rewarding response is to find in him a perfect image of a father, a brother/sister, a true friend and indeed whatever an authentic human person is and can be. But if, beyond an ordinary but full fledged man whom Jesus Christ is we discover the Almighty God who cannot be separated from the man Jesus Christ, and yet we are not Christ because He is God, then the Blesssd Virgin Mary is an unchanging model for us. Like Mother Mary, every believer must be an authentic model . This is all the more true for a theologian or any member of the hierarchy. An unbeliever has no role or function to perform in the community of believers. This however is without prejudice to Karl Rahner’s idea of Anonymous Christians.

f. The ability to hold on, persistently and insistently, to the authenticity of the person of Jesus Christ despite the risk , danger, pain and the threat of death or failure is, I believe, the most effective and functional scale for measuring the level of success achieved in the course of the investigation of faith. The entire contents of the term “ Authenticity” here are borrowed from Benard Lonergan without reservations (cf Communication And Lonergan: Common Ground for Forging The NEW Age; ed by Thomas J. Farrell & Paul A. Soukup:: Sheed & Ward, 1993,p315).


g. My experience in the course of theological investigation has compelled me to adopt the norm spelt out below as a major paradigm, or rather, principle of theological application: While a process of total reversal against an incongruent and demon infested system is desirable but almost always impossible unless there is a conscious admission of and relapse to unpopular reactionary antecedents, the inauguration of a new culture that holds a promise for dialogue and a balance of tension and as well is open to fecundity and holds the key to development, is more important and rewarding.