Canter Bridge

South African institutions exert an inordinate influence over the African continent, often for good and occasionally for ill. If this is true in the economic and political arenas, it is doubly the case when one considers Christian theology and the preparation of an emerging generation of African Christian leaders. When it comes to influence, the center of gravity of this enormous continent swings low and slightly to the west.

Enter the South African Baptist Journal of Theology, a periodical not nearly as parochial as its title might suggest. As I write this review, I have before me volumes 13 (2004) and 14 (2005). The first of these is themed ‘1 & 2 Peter’, the second ‘Theology and ministry in Africa’.

Arguably, no other institution on the continent outside the Anglican Communion could produce such a rich mine of thoughtful material. The Baptist Union of Southern (note: not South, though the ‘-ern’ is as much aspirational as realized) Africa publishes this journal, with an editorial board representative of academic and ecclesiastical bases that include Cape Town Baptist Seminary, Baptist Theological College (Randburg), Kimberly Baptist Church, Cornerstone Christian College, the University of Stellenbosch, Claremont Baptist Church, and the National Union of Educators. The contributors, of course, represent a much wider network of like-minded Southern African (or Southern-Africa-based) Christian thinkers.

The journal is a small-margined, densely-packed, rigidly-style-sheeted trove of information and material. The impression that results is that the journal’s sponsors sense a certain urgency in presenting African points of view upon the subjects touched and that youth is no barrier to participation in the soirée. As a result, the quality of the material varies considerably, a potential liability that is doubtless compensated by the opportunity for younger contributors to find their respective voices in the company of more veteran researchers and opinion-makers.

The life and work of the local church receives particular emphasis, this in a context that is shaped by though hardly limited to the pressing matters of AIDS, gender in traditional societies, the development of an African expository preaching style, the reverencing of ancestors, honor and shame, and related topics.

There is a paucity of high-level philosophical reflection and a certain bias that favors praxis over reflection. This observation ought not be taken as a criticism, since the very production of a journal that reflects upon these issues betokens the existence of a community of Christian thinkers who have seen the value of reflection and labored against considerable odds to produce an ecclesial organ that fosters such.

As a North American with ministry interests in Africa, I find myself taken aback and moved to admiration by the sheer quantity of helpful material that is gathered between these covers. If I were a practitioner of pastoral ministry in Africa—particularly southern Africa—it seems clear that this would be journal whose every new number would be eagerly awaited, avidly read, and often reopened for consultation.

It is a truism that the future of Christianity—indeed, perhaps its most lively present—lies in the south and east. The South African Baptist Journal of Theology raises hopes for the quality of thoughtful leadership that will be the partial and significant stewards of that movement.