oa Een dal vol beenderen Een Afrikaanse visie op westers christendom

1Dit artikel is een bewerking van het door schrijfster dezes op 3 september 1996 te Utrecht gehouden openbaar college ter gelegenheid van de opening van het academisch jaar 1996-1997 door de Katholieke Theologische Universiteit te Utrecht en de Theologische Faculteit van de Universiteit Utrecht.

This article discusses the ideas which African Christians have of their Western counter-parts, notably in Western Europe, where African immigrants have recently founded congregations. African views of Christianity contain certain characteristics which Westerners tend to associate with traditional African religious beliefs. Western commentators often interpret the continuity between tradition and modernity in the spirituality of African Christians as a sign of fundamentalism. African Christians, in turn, are determined to evangelise Europe in order to turn what many see as the ‘valley of dry bones’ into a fertile garden.