Language, Literature, Prayer, and Music Repertoires as Sources of African Christian Spirituality and Values

Abstract

Every interreligious encounter produces a cross-fertilization of ideas and values. To what extent is the Christian-African indigenous religious encounter mutually impacting? And what aspects of the African worldview make it receptive to Christianity? This article addresses these questions by engaging the underexplored phenomena of African literature, music, and prayer as sources of African values and spirituality, as well as of Christian theology. Through in-depth interviews, focused group discussions, participant-observation, along with archival data and African literary works, it argues that the wealth of African metaphors and values therein richly express African spirituality, values, and Christian theology.