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Church and Formation of Conscience: Towards a Liberative Ecclesiology for Peace and Justice in Kenya Augostine Ekena

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Church and Formation of Conscience: Towards a Liberative Ecclesiology for Peace and Justice in Kenya Augostine Ekena Santa Clara University Scholar Commons Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations Student Scholarship 5-2017 Church and Formation of Conscience: Towards A Liberative Ecclesiology for Peace and Justice in Kenya Augostine Ekena Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/jst_dissertations Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Ekena, Augostine, "Church and Formation of Conscience: Towards A Liberative Ecclesiology for Peace and Justice in Kenya" (2017). Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations. 2. http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/jst_dissertations/2 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE CHURCH AND FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE: TOWARDS A LIBERATIVE ECCLESIOLOGY FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IN KENYA A thesis by Augostine Edan Ekeno, S.J. Presented to The Faculty of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L) Berkeley, California May 2017 Committee Signatures ____________________________________________ Professor George Griener, S.J., Director Date _____________________________________________ Professor Teresia Hinga, Reader, Date ABSTRACT THE CHURCH AND FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE: TOWARDS A LIBERATIVE ECCLESIOLOGY FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IN KENYA Augostine Edan Ekeno, SJ Kenya, like many other African countries, continues to experience, fifty years after independence, various challenges including political instability and violence resulting from negative ethnicity. Kenya‘s history is rife with examples of divisive politics and negative ethnicity ranging from ethnic violence, ethnicized politics, dictatorship of the ethnic majority and ethnic clashes. Evidence of the deeply seated hatred can be found in the apparent reality of ethnic division and intertribal clashes often experienced either before, during or after elections. The 2007 post-election violence which claimed over 1300 lives and the displacement of more than 300,000 people demonstrated the depth of the culture of negative ethnicity. This violence, together with previous intertribal clashes especially experienced in the country in the 1990s, exposed a thorny issue regarding the impact of a deformed conscience in society. It demonstrates the extent to which human actions based on blind choices can cause immense human suffering and loss of life. This study proposes a liberative ecclesiology based on the formation of conscience as a pastoral strategy from below capable of renewing moral imagination and reawakening of the moral endowment inherent in every human being. The strength of this ecclesiology lies in the fact that it integrates both the top-down and bottom-up i approaches capable of fostering the kind of social agents capable of creating a just and peaceful society. The characteristics of this ecclesiology include expanding moral imagination through telling and sharing stories and myths, and historicizing the formation of conscience in the Small Christian Communities (SCCs) through educational and formational programs. ______________________________________ Professor George Griener, S.J. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT First and foremost, I would like to thank God for giving me the power, ability strength, blessings and wisdom to see this project through. My next appreciation and gratitude goes to my provincial Fr. Joseph Afulo Oduor, S.J., for his support and prayers, and the JST Jesuit community rector, Fr. John McGarry, S.J., for being there when I needed a shoulder to lean on. You taught me the meaning of a superior and companion. My deepest gratitude goes to Prof. George Griener, S.J., who was more than a Jesuit companion to me, and my thesis director. His insightful guidance, life-giving accompaniment and friendly criticism were invaluable and a great source of encouragement to me. And to you, my reader, Prof. Teresia Hinga, many thanks indeed. Prof. Hinga‘s observations, comments and wealth of knowledge guided me at the initial stage of my thesis writing. Her knowledge of the Kenyan situation contributed immensely in shaping my thesis proposal. To my Jesuit companions in the JST Jesuit community and AOR province, I say a big ―Asante sana‖ (thank you), especially for your sincere and solid moral, spiritual and social support. This includes Deacon Oscar Momanyi, Deacon Michael Ochwo and Fr. Steve Nzyoki, who through their frequent phone calls, visits and encouraging words offered me encouragement and moral support. I also thank Jerold Lindner, S.J., whose knowledge of grammar vastly improved this work. My acknowledgement would be incomplete without thanking the biggest source of my strength, my family: the blessings of my late parents Mrs. Mary Alelia and Mr. Paul Ekeno and the love and care of my brothers and sisters. I thank all of you who have invested in my life and the journey of this thesis, and I remain eternally grateful for everything you have done for me over these two years. iii DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this work to my late mother Mrs. Mary Alelia whose dreams for me have resulted in this achievement and without her loving upbringing and nurturing I would not have been where I am today. Keep on interceding for me as I keep you in my thoughts and prayers. You are my guardian angel. iv Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ i ACKNOWLEDGMENT ................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION.................................................................................................................. iv INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................. 15 CONSCIENCE AND THE SOCIOPOLITICAL CONTEXT OF KENYA .............. 15 1.1 The Sociopolitical Context of Kenya before and after Independence in 1963 ....... 15 1.1.1 Divide and Rule Conscience ............................................................................. 19 1.2 Ethnicity and Multipartism...................................................................................... 22 1.2.1 Ethno-Regional Political Conscience ............................................................... 24 1.3 Consequences of Negative Ethnicity and Ethnicized Politics ................................. 28 1.3.1 The 2007 Post-Election Violence: Machete Triumphs over Conscience ......... 30 1.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................ 35 CONSCIENCE FORMATION AND THE ECCLESIAL CONTEXT OF KENYA 35 2.1 The Inconstant Evolution of Church-State Relationship in Kenya ......................... 35 2.1.1 Missionaries and the Colonial Government in Kenya ...................................... 36 2.1.2 The Ambiguous Church and the Colonial Government Relationship .............. 37 2.1.3 The Fractured Christian Community ................................................................ 40 2.2 Christian Identity is a Weaker Substitute for Ethnic Identity ................................. 44 2.3 The Church as the Conscience of Society in Action ............................................... 51 2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 56 CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................ 57 A DEFENSE OF THE PRIMACY OF CONSCIENCE FORMATION ................... 57 3.1 Conscience .............................................................................................................. 57 3.2 The Place of Conscience in the Political Sphere ..................................................... 61 3.3 The Place of Conscience in the Catholic Church .................................................... 64 3.3.1 Pope Francis Model of Conscience .................................................................. 67 3.4 The Justification of Conscience: An African Perspective ....................................... 70 3.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 74 v CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................... 76 TOWARDS A LIBERATIVE ECCLESIOLOGY FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IN KENYA ............................................................................................................................ 76 4.1 A Liberative Ecclesiology: An Integrated Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach . 77 4.1.1 A Time for a Bottom-Up Approach to Social Justice in Kenya ....................... 78 4.2 Expanding Moral Imagination as the Basis of Peace and Justice in Kenya ............ 81 4.2.1 Expanding Moral Imagination through Stories ................................................ 83 4.3 SCCs as the Locus for a Liberative Ecclesiology ................................................... 88 4.3.1 A Brief Historical Development
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