Author Archives: scarrier

Team 6 Question 1

Posted on by under global christianity

The European nations first saw Africa as a place for cheap natural resources in the colonial era. Many Africans working for colonists were often worked under such awful conditions, this led to the Belgium government to take control and try to atone for their wrongs. Many Christian believers thought it was their job to bring new ideas such as hard work, literacy, time consciousness, democracy and self-discipline to the people of Africa (pg. 49). The missionaries and government relationship was purely beneficial, the government would help the missionaries only when it advanced the colonial cause. William Wade Harris was an African evangelist, who preached the gospel along the African coast. He required the people to burn their fetishes and to become monogamous. It is believed that Harris had converted one hundred thousand Africans to Christianity.After reading and interpreting the Bible for themselves they found that the way missionary churches preached was not biblical and left to start their own congregations. In the late 1800s, African Independent or African Initiated Churches (AIC) began to grow and had great influence amongst the people. Western missionaries brought both devastation and construction. They built schools, hospitals, shared the gospel and moderated the rule of colonists. The postcolonial period began in about 1960s and remains continuous to today. Due to political independence African Christianity thrived in leadership and style. John Gatu, the general secretary or the Presbyterian Chruch in East Africa, changed African Christianity by saying that African Christians could decide how they wanted the African Church to be. Pentecostalism grew popular among the African culture, first focusing on the gifts of the Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and healing, then later the focused changed to the message of prosperity and deliverance from demons (pg.53).

In the West, the theology of Christianity is to talk about God or Christian truth for all people in all times and places. Whereas in Africa the point of theology is to help Christians reflect on who they are supposed to be as followers of Jesus in the cultural situation God has out them in. The local cultures of Africa have a huge impact on the way they view Christianity, one big difference is the idea of ubuntu. Ubuntu is the idea that all humans are dependent and responsible for each other, everyone is interconnected. Although the word ubuntu is not used everywhere in Africa, the idea or perception of ubuntu is. Africans believe that everyone should live as a community, they are to bring up one another as brothers and sisters. This view of thinking is good as long as they believe it applies to all of humanity. As soon as it applies to only a certain group of people it becomes a way to demean other groups of people.

I think the Western Christianity could learn many different things from African Christianity. Western Christianity is very firm in the ways of religion and can be easily offended and not willing to accept new ideas in Christianity. In Western Christianity, worship has become a very structured environment. For example, a lot of churches have a set amount of time and a certain amount of songs that can not be disturbed, everything has to be timed exactly. I believe that this leaves is no room for God to move through the room. African Christianity’s worship is joyful, free and exuberant, it is a celebration of God and His presence withing the community (pg. 62). Western Christianity could also learn from the concept of ubuntu, they can start to rely on others in the community of Christianity, instead of isolating themselves out.

Team 6 Question 2

Posted on by under great awakening

The Great Awakening was a schism between two sides, the Old Side and the New Side. The Old side insisted on following the strict teachings of Westminster, where as the New Side believed it was all about the experience of redeeming grace. Jonathan Edwards, a pastor in  Northampton, sermons preached on the need for an experience of conviction of sin and of divine forgiveness.(pg.288) Edwards invited George Whitefield to preach at his church, where Edwards was thought to have wept during Whitefield’s message. This evoked many other traditions, such as Anglicans, Presbyterians and Congregationalist, to change the way they preached. The new way caused people to feel a need to weep for repentance, shout for joy and even faint because of the overwhelming presence. Other people saw these acts as undermining the seriousness that worship is supposed to be and thought that the leaders were more focused on emotion rather than study and devotion. The Awakening eventually become more favorable to the Baptists and Methodists ways. Infant baptism was no longer seen as probable and was rejected from the church. Instead new ideas of human rights and government began to surface among the people. 

In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathan Edwards explains that they are all sinners and will be judged by God in unpleasant and painful ways. Edwards believes that men think they know how to avoid perishing in hell and they will be okay by themselves, without God.He describes people as wicked and already lost to sin because it is in the world. God is under no limiting force when punishing those who have sinned.  Each metaphor used by Edwards reflects how horrible sinners are in the eyes of God. Edwards considerers that there is no room for pride in the eyes of God, that they must be transformed completely through the awakening. Edwards explains that Jesus stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to sinners, pleading with those who are doomed to convert, to accept the saving grace of Him.

Edwards compares the sinner to a spider about to be thrown into a fire in order to highlight the repulsiveness of sin and the danger that the sinner is in. This metaphor gives an image that a sinner, weighed down by sin, has no more chance of avoiding hell than a spider’s web has of stopping a rock. Another vivid rhetoric is “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked…” This quotes intended effect was to show fear and timidness, Edwards goal was to make the congregation feel insignificant, which would ultimately lead them to change their life through the acceptance of God

 

 

Team 6: Question 1

Posted on by under reformation

One man set out on a journey in order to seek redemption for his sins, but instead challenged the views and  beliefs of everyone around him. Martin Luther became one of the most influential theologians of the 15th and 16th century. He challenged the common principles and beliefs of Roman Catholicism, which ultimately led to a revolution known as the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s most notable writing was the Ninety-five Theses, which caused a pandemonium of his era.

Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany where he lived with his mother and father. His life was not an easy one, his parents believed strongly in unpleasantly rough punishments. Luther’s father was a miner who wanted better for his son, so he made sure to put Luther in the best schools, so he could become a lawyer. Luther did not become a lawyer instead he became a monk. His father was not pleased with this change of course but eventually forgave his son.The strictness of Luther’s upbringing was thought to be the reason of his depression and anxiety. These events caused him to seek a greater purpose in life, one that he found within the church.

In 1505 Luther experienced a life changing event. While he was traveling he became caught in a thunderstorm. Although the exact events of what happened are not known the situation changed Luther’s life. Filled with fear of what was to come after death, Luther promised to St. Anne that he would abandon his father’s dream of him becoming a lawyer and would instead dedicate his life as a monk. Luther joined the church as an obedient servant of God, with the thought of salvation, in his mind. He was a dedicated monk who would go beyond what other monks did in order to feel worthy of God’s love. He viewed God as a severe judge, just like his father and teachers.

Martin Luther’s study of mysticism made him realize that he did not need to know all and every one of his sins, all he had to do was love God. This view of God was not easy for Luther and he soon realized he did not feel love for God but instead hate. After his confessor appointed him to teach scripture at the University of Wittenberg, he soon realized what the gospel really was teaching. Luther concluded, from the verse Romans 1:17, that God wants to give you His righteousness and goodness. This new meaning replaced Luther’s hatred to God with love. As he went to Rome he saw the corrupt power that Pope Leo X had and saw all the indulgences the pope endeavored in. Luther wrote Ninety-five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, which talked against the profit that was designed by powerful people.

The church was not pleased with Luther’s new ideas and wanted to put a stop to it soon before it spread, but it was too late. The printing press spread copies all throughout Germany in both latin and german. This caused the pope to seek help in order to silence and deal with Luther. Luther’s teachings were seen as heresy which started a feud between the church and Martin Luther’s followers.

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