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Revelation, Religion, and Culture in Kwame Bediako and Karl Barth

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Revelation, Religion, and Culture in Kwame Bediako and Karl Barth Revelation, Religion, and Culture in Kwame Bediako and Karl Barth Timothy M. Hartman Charlottesville, Virginia Bachelor’s of Arts, Stanford University, 1995 Master’s of Divinity, Princeton Theological Seminary, 2000 Master’s of Arts, University of Virginia, 2012 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Religious Studies University of Virginia May 2014 © Timothy M. Hartman 2. Table of Contents Abstract………..………………………………………………………………………….4 Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………….5 Preface…………………………………………………………………………………….6 Chapter 1: Bediako, Barth, and Theology in the Twentieth Century……………………………..9 I. Bediako: An African in Europe and the World II. Barth: A European in Switzerland and Germany III. Shared Inheritances A. Ancients and Moderns B. The Blumhardts IV. Mutual Suspicion V. Three Themes: Revelation, Religion, and Culture VI. The Shape of the Argument Chapter 2: Kwame Bediako: An Act of Theological Négritude……………………….…………59 I. Questions of Identity A. French theses i. Négritude et Surréalisme ii. L’Univers Interieur de Tchicaya U Tam’si B. Towards an African Christian Identity C. “Relevance without Syncretism” D. History: Twin Heritage of African Christianity II. Revelation, Religion, and Culture A. Revelation: Infinite Translatability of the gospel B. Religion: Continuity of Christianity with African Traditional Religion C. Culture: i. Indigeneity of Christianity in Africa ii. Primal Imagination as the Substructure of African Christianity III. A Theology of Ancestors: Interrelationship of Revelation, Religion, and Culture IV. Constructive Questions A. Religious Pluralism B. Re-making a non-Western religion C. World Christianity(-ies) 3. Chapter 3: Karl Barth: The Ongoing Prophetic Activity of Jesus Christ……………………..127 I. The Prophetic Office of Jesus Christ A. Church Dogmatics IV.3, §69 B. Prophecy, History, and Narrative II. Revelation A. All Revelation is Self-Revelation: Imagery of Light B. Revelation is for all people: History/Worldview C. Revelation is ongoing III. Culture A. Parables of the Kingdom B. “Secular” and “Periphery” IV. Religion A. Revelation vs. Projection B. Person vs. Principle: Reading I.2, §17 in light of IV.3, §69 V. Implications Chapter 4: Two Christocentric Theologies………………………………………………………187 I. The Universality of Christ A. Bediako: Universality through Christ’s Divinity B. Barth: Universality through Christ’s Resurrection II. Reading the Epistle to the Hebrews Theologically A. Barth’s Dogmatic Reading B. Bediako’s Cultural Reading C. Hebrews and Revelation III. Encounters between Gospel and Culture A. Revelation: Translatability and Light B. Religion: An Unexpected Convergence C. Culture: Differing Universalisms IV. Are we all syncretists? Chapter 5: Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..241 Acknowledgments ...…………………………………………………………………..264 Appendix Complete Writings of Kwame Bediako in Chronological Order…………………..267 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………...……277 4. Revelation, Religion, and Culture in Kwame Bediako and Karl Barth Abstract In this dissertation, I analyze the comprehensive work of Ghanaian theologian Kwame Bediako (1945-2008) and place the themes that arise— revelation, religion, and culture—in constructive dialogue with the mature Christology of Swiss-German theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) in his Church Dogmatics IV.3, §69. In doing so, the dissertation performs its major claim: I argue for the necessity of cross-cultural theological comparisons to navigate contemporary theological and religious questions, including the complex nature of Christianity in the world today. 5. ABBREVIATIONS Works by Kwame Bediako CiA Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a non-Western Religion (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995). CFAC “Christian faith and African Culture—An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews” Journal of African Christian Thought 13.1 (2010), 45-57. Ebenezer with Gillian Mary Bediako, “‘Ebenezer, this is how far the Lord has helped us’: Reflections on the Institutional Itinerary of the Akrofi- Christaller Memorial Centre for Mission Research & Applied Theology (1974-2005),” unpublished (May 2005). JAC “Jesus in African Culture: A Ghanaian Perspective” in Jesus and the Gospel in Africa (Oxford: Regnum, 2000). JACT Journal of African Christian Thought, published by the Akrofi-Christaller Institute for Theology, Mission, and Culture in Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana, 1998-present NS Négritude et Surréalisme: Essai sur l’oeuvre poétique de Tchicaya U Tam’si, unpublished master’s thesis, Université Bordeaux III TI Theology and Identity: the impact of culture on Christian thought in the second century and modern Africa (Oxford: Regnum, 1993). UI L’Univers Interieur de Tchicaya U Tam’si, unpublished doctoral thesis, Université Bordeaux III Works by Karl Barth I.1 Church Dogmatics, vol. I, part 1 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2nd ed., 1975) I.2 Church Dogmatics, vol. I, part 2 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1956) II.1 Church Dogmatics, vol. II, part 1 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1957) II.2 Church Dogmatics, vol. II, part 2 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1957) III.1 Church Dogmatics, vol. III, part 1 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1958) III.2 Church Dogmatics, vol. III, part 2 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1960) III.3 Church Dogmatics, vol. III, part 3 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1960) III.4 Church Dogmatics, vol. III, part 4 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1961) IV.1 Church Dogmatics, vol. IV, part 1 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1956) IV.2 Church Dogmatics, vol. IV, part 2 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1958) IV.3 Church Dogmatics, vol. IV, part 3 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1961) IV.4 Church Dogmatics, vol. IV, part 4 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1969) TCL The Christian Life: Church Dogmatics IV.4, Lecture Fragments, ed. Hans- Anton Drewes and Eberhard Jüngel; trans. Geoffrey Bromiley (London: T&T Clark, 2004). 6. PREFACE I have come to this project out of my pastoral experiences in Los Angeles and Baltimore. In Los Angeles, I lived near the corner of Little Armenia and Thai town in a neighborhood with no ethnic majority. I saw churches wrestling with rapidly increasing ethnic and religious plurality by seeking new marketing campaigns. Their approach was “The methods may change, but the message never does.” In Baltimore, I encountered many young adults who had left the Church they had grown up in. Many were very interested in spirituality, but not necessarily in organized religion. They might self- identify as either “spiritual, but not religious” or “I love Jesus and hate the Church.” These are just two instances in which increasing globalization, on the one hand, and increasing secularization, on the other, have dramatically changed the religious landscape in the United States over the last half-century. Through my involvement with the emerging church movement in the U.S. and also with emerging Christian leaders in Africa, I then discovered the need for additional theological resources to understand and, in some way, address the contemporary situation. This dissertation turns to two theologians from outside the United States who I believe can serve as helpful guides for scholars in religious studies, especially Christian theologians, to navigate questions of increasing secularization and religious pluralism. This project combines my religious background (I was raised in the Reformed tradition, specifically in the Presbyterian Church—USA) with my interest in Africa. I came to know of Karl Barth first through sermons, then through reading two unpublished 7. dissertations on Barth written by mentors of mine, and then at Princeton Theological Seminary. Barth first offered a way for me to understand the Reformed tradition without being bound by sixteenth century questions. Although I had spent a summer during college in southern Africa and visited East Central Africa twice before beginning the doctoral program at the University of Virginia, I first read Kwame Bediako’s work in preparation for a comprehensive exam in African Christianity. I quickly discovered intriguing overlaps with aspects of Barth’s thought. Based on these initial discoveries and the realization that Bediako’s work had barely been written about, I arranged a research trip to Ghana through a mutual friend of Bediako’s widow. During my visit, I came to see that Barth and Bediako had sought to answer quite similar questions about revelation, religion, and culture despite very different cultural backgrounds. Barth sought to articulate a new theology at the end of the modern period; Bediako sought to articulate theology in the aftermath of the colonial period. Further, I have come to believe an examination of each theologian individually, and a subsequent comparison of the two, promises to address several pressing concerns in contemporary theological scholarship—about articulating Christian claims in religiously pluralist societies and assessing new religious movements. The dissertation tells the story of how these two theologians from diverse religious, cultural, and socio-political backgrounds both respond to the same phenomenon—namely, the failures of nineteenth century European Protestantism. Chapter 1 explores the claim that Barth received the tenets of this religious mindset directly from his teachers while Bediako received the same tenets indirectly through colonization. Chapter 2 analyzes the three major themes that emerge from Bediako’s 8. corpus: revelation, religion, and culture. These themes set the agenda for the rest of the dissertation. Barth treats these themes most
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