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PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/208254 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-10-09 and may be subject to change. KENOSIS AS LIBERATION THE KENOTIC THEOLOGY OF HANS URS VON BALTHASAR AS A CRITICAL FOUNDATION FOR AFRICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY Ibiko Morris Minisare MASIRI 534932-L-bw-Ibiko Processed on: 23-8-2019 PDF page: 1 534932-L-bw-Ibiko Processed on: 23-8-2019 PDF page: 2 Kenosis as Liberation: The Kenotic Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar as a Critical Foundation for African Liberation Theology Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, volgens besluit van het college van decanen en ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor in de Theologie aan de KU Leuven op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. L. Sels in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 1 oktober 2019 om 12:30 uur precies door Ibiko Morris Minisare Masiri geboren op 15 Augustus 1979 te Tombura, Zuid Soedan 534932-L-bw-Ibiko Processed on: 23-8-2019 PDF page: 3 Promoteren: Prof. dr. C.W. Hübenthal Prof. dr. S.A.J. van Erp (KU Leuven, België) Manuscriptcommissie: Prof. dr. D.A. Müller Prof. dr. Y. de Maeseneer (KU Leuven, België) Prof. dr. E. Borgman (Tilburg University) Dr. E. Opongo (Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations , Kenia) Dr. J.E. Castillo Guerra 534932-L-bw-Ibiko Processed on: 23-8-2019 PDF page: 4 Kenosis as Liberation: The Kenotic Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar as a Critical Foundation for African Liberation Theology Doctoral Thesis to obtain the degree of doctor from Radboud University Nijmegen on the authority of the Rector Magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M van Krieken, according to the decision of the Council of Deans and to obtain the degree of doctor of Theology from KU Leuven on the authority of the Rector Magnificus prof. dr. L. Sels to be defended in public on Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at 12:30 hours by Ibiko Morris Minisare Masiri born on August 15, 1979 in Tombura (South Sudan) 534932-L-bw-Ibiko Processed on: 23-8-2019 PDF page: 5 Supervisors: Prof. dr. C.W. Hübenthal Prof. dr. S.A.J. van Erp (KU Leuven, Belgium) Doctoral Thesis Committee: Prof. dr. D.A. Müller Prof. dr. Y. de Maeseneer (KU Leuven, Belgium) Prof. dr. E. Borgman (Tilburg University) Dr. E. Opongo (Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations , Kenya) Dr. J.E. Castillo Guerra 534932-L-bw-Ibiko Processed on: 23-8-2019 PDF page: 6 FOREWORD As I come to the end of this journey I look over the past four years and I can clearly see the hand of the Almighty God unceasingly sustaining and guiding me. Despite the challenges at the beginning of the first year, I quickly braced myself for the journey that has been both exciting and challenging. I thank God for the gift of good health, guidance and helpful companions. I am immensely thankful to my promoters, professor Christoph Hübenthal and professor Stephan van Erp for supervising this dissertation with all interest, patience and understanding. I have learned so much from working with you. You promptly responded to my emails for appointments and gave my work all the attention it needed. Your critical remarks, observations and comments were very insightful and shaped my perspectives and arguments in the dissertation. I am indebted to the administration of the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, Radboud University and the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies KU Leuven for having admitted me into the doctoral program and availed me with the exceptional opportunity to have such rich experiences from the two universities, leading to the award of a joint diploma. In a special way, the monthly meetings of the Research Group Fundamental and Political Theology, organised by prof. Stephan van Erp was an important hub for exchange of theological ideas. I am therefore indebted to all members of the group, particularly to John Bosco Kamoga, with whom discussions on our shared interest in African liberation theology never came to an agreeable end! My deep gratitude goes to the Institute of Missiology, Mission Aachen for granting me the bursary for the doctoral studies. In a special way, I am deeply grateful to Dr. Marco Moerschbacher, of the desk for Africa, for his understanding and preferential treatment when my affiliation to the two universities needed special adjustment. I want to thank my bishop, the Rt Rev. Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, who did not only send me for studies, but continued to encourage and support me all the way. I am thankful to my parents and siblings whose assurance of prayers and love have always comforted me although I am far from the family. As a priest, during my study here in Europe, I had to find a way out to share in the life of faith of Christian communities. In Belgium, I was welcomed into the Christian community of Queen of Peace, SHAPE, as a backup priest. In the Netherlands, I was welcomed by the Sacramentskerk in Nijmegen, and the Church of Our Saviour Parish in The Hague. During the summer holidays, I went to the UK and ministered in St. John Baptist Parish, Westerham, and Our Lady and St. Peter parish, Leatherhead. I am very grateful to the parish priests of these communities, particularly to Fr. Ivan Aquillina, Fr. Michael K. Masterson OBE, Fr. Paul John Camiring, Fr. Sjaak de Boer and their Christian communities for making me feel in a special way the beauty and the universality of our Christian faith. In a similar way, I am thankful to the Marist Brothers 534932-L-bw-Ibiko Processed on: 23-8-2019 PDF page: 7 Foreword community in Nijmegen for offering me accommodation for the first two years of my commute from Leuven to Nijmegen. When I eventually had to move to Nijmegen as from November 2017, the Jesuits in the Netherlands, through the kindness of Fr. Edward Kimman welcomed me to stay in their facility in a quiet neighbourhood of the university. From Nijmegen, I had to commute to Leuven at least once a month for the last eighteen months. For my accommodation in Leuven, Aid to the Church in Belgium, though the kindness of the directress, Uma Wijnants offered me a well furnished apartment to stay for as long as I had business to do in Leuven. During the four years, some families opened their homes for me and made me not only welcomed but treated me as a member of their families. In a special way, I am grateful to the families of deacon Roland and Esther Gooding, Chris and Frances Preston, John and Laura Arias, deacon Ian and Jean Wells. I am thankful for the friendship of Mr. Paul Derrick, Mr. Francois Bouckaert, Fr. Gabriel Goossens, Fr. Matthias Jjooga, Sr. Jeanne Mapunzu, Fr. Matthieu Wagemaker, Ted and Kay, Anne Siebesma, Alesja Lavrinovica, Esther van der Vate, and the many colleagues and friends whom I cannot mention all here by names. Your encouragement, advice and support gave me the strength and motivation I needed to keep on to the end. As I am not a native English speaker, I had to ask for the help of someone to correct my expressions in English. Mr. Desmond Connelly and Deacon Robert Smith generously offered their time to proofread and correct the chapters of the dissertation with interest and keenness. To them, I am very grateful. 534932-L-bw-Ibiko Processed on: 23-8-2019 PDF page: 8 534932-L-bw-Ibiko Processed on: 23-8-2019 PDF page: 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ................................................................................................................................................. I TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................ IV BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... VII GENERAL INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE AFRICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND ITS CONTEXT 1. BEGINNINGS IN LATIN AMERICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY ................................................ 17 1.1. THE RISE OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY 1.2. THE CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK OF THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION 1.3. CRITICISMS AND OPPOSITION 1.4. THE ACHIEVEMENT OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY 1.5. THE FUTURE OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY: ITS CURRENT STATUS 2. AFRICAN THEOLOGY.................................................................................................................... 29 2.1. AFRICAN THEOLOGY OR THEOLOGIES? 2.2. DEFINITION 2.3. THE BIRTH OF AFRICAN THEOLOGY 2.3.1. The Colonisation Factor 2.3.2. The Africanisation Project 2.3.3. Inculturation TheoloGy 2.4. AN INADEQUATE THEOLOGY: CRITICISM AND OPPOSITION 2.5. LIBERATION AS THE KERNEL OF AFRICAN THEOLOGY 2.6. FROM INCULTURATION TO LIBERATION 3. AFRICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY ............................................................................................ 45 3.1. TRAJECTORIES OF AFRICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY 3.1.1. BlacK TheoloGy of Liberation 3.1.2. FeMinist Theology 3.1.3. EvanGelical Liberation TheoloGy 3.2. AFRICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY: PERSPECTIVES OF JEAN MARC-ELA 3.2.1. Integrating the Social Concerns 3.2.2. A Call for A Critical Self-Understanding and Mission OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH 3.2.3. Situating the Church in Context 3.2.4. ForMation in African Theology 3.2.5. SpeaKing of God in the Church in Africa CHAPTER TWO GOD, KENOSIS AND LIBERATION 1. DEFINITION, SCOPE AND DELIMITATION.................................................................................. 72 1.1. DEFINITION 1.2. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION 2. AFFIRMATION AND DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................... 76 2.1. THE BIBLICAL TESTIMONY 2.2. THE LOGIC OF THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH: SUPPRESSION AND PARADOXES 2.3. THE POST-PATRISTIC TRADITION 2.4. MODERN THEOLOGY OF KENOSIS 2.4.1.