AFRICA THE NEXT POWER: WITHOUT AFRICA AND PARTICIPATION OF AFRICA, NEITHER THE WEST, NOR THE EAST, WOULD MAKE SENSE (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

AFRICA THE NEXT POWER BY REV.JOHNSON MUGAMBI MUTIKWA There is a puzzling but exciting affinity between the African religious heritage and the way of life which the Old Testament presupposes and takes for granted. This affinity is evident throughout the continent, from Cape Town to Cairo and from Somalia to Senegal, from Port Sudan to Luanda, and from Beira to Casablanca. How can this affinity be explained? Missionary ethnography during the colonial period speculated that Africans must have copied their religious ideas from the Hebrews. See Williams 1930. However, the religious heritage of Upper Egypt is much older than that of the Mosaic Code. According to Genesis 12: 10-20, Abram migrated to Egypt when there was a famine in Canaan and lived there at the pleasure of Pharaoh. He left only when Pharaoh ordered his deportation. It can be expected that during his sojourn in Egypt Abram learned a great deal, through both default and example. The story of migration and settlement of the descendants of Abraham in Egypt is much more than a contrivance of fiction for entertainment or religious intrigue. It depicts an intimate and symbolic relationship between these peoples. The book of Exodus portrays Moses as a leader whose values were formed under Egyptian high culture. Having been brought up and educated as an Egyptian prince, Moses internalized the moral and religious values of his imperial Egyptian foster-parents before he became a liberator of his own ethnic community. The Exodus is the legendary story of a people whose ethos and ethic were formed in Africa. It is understandable, therefore, that during the hardships experienced in the Exodus across the wilderness of Sinai some of the migrants felt nostalgia for the bounteous life they had left behind in Egypt. See Exodus 16:1-3, 17:3. The indebtedness of the Hebrews to Africa is acknowledged throughout the Old Testament, from the perspectives of religion, economics, politics, military history, aesthetics, ethics, and kinship. Egypt is depicted as the country of refuge and bounty for Abraham and his descendants. Joseph, the son of Jacob, becomes the instrument for the rescue of his family from starvation. Eventually, the descendants of Abraham settle in Egypt, and the drama unfolds in the books of the Pentateuch. Likewise, the New Testament opens with Joseph, Mary and Jesus taking refuge in Egypt. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross of Jesus to Calvary. See Mark 15: 21; Like23:26. The Ethiopian noble is converted by Philip in Act 8: 26-40. St. Paul’s missionary journeys did not cover any part of Africa, but by the forth century the strongest Christian community was in Africa, as indicated by the defenders of faith who came from Alexandria was the home of Philo, one of the chief spokesmen of Judaism at the beginning of the Christian era. See Russel 1941:322ff. Whereas the sustained Old Testament with Africa begins with Joseph the son of Jacob going to Egypt as the forerunner of the rest of his family. See Genesis 37 to 47, the Aramaic interaction with Africa in the New Testament begins with Joseph the father of Jesus taking refuge in Egypt in order to save Jesus from Herod the Great. See Matthew 2:13-23. During the early church, Africa was the home of the most staunch defenders of the Christian faith. See Kwame Bediako1992. Interestingly, in the Old Testament Africa is depicted as the land of refuge, peace and plenty. Though it is later portrayed as the land of bondage, the prophetic tradition takes these two profiles as an indication of divine control over human history. The upbringing of Moses as a prince in the palace of Pharaoh complicates the profile of the sons of Jacob as an oppressed and exploited community in Egypt, showing the complexity of social and political relations in that society. See Exodus 2.