Dr. Kwame Bediako
Biography: Born July 7,1945 - Died : June 10,2008 of a horrible illness. He was a renown Ghanian
scholar and theologian and the founder and Director of Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission
and Culture in Akropong, Ghana. He was the son of a police inspector and the grandson of a Presbyterian
catechist and evangelist.
Early Life/Schooling: He grew up in the capital city of Accra. He was an outstanding pupil and gained
his secondary education at Mfantsi-pim School, Cape Coast and then University of Ghana where he was
an eloquent orator and debater. He gained academic excellence in French that won him a scholarship for
graduate studies in France. Kwame was brilliant at everything. Greek and Hebrew, church history,
philosophy, dogmatics.it all seemed to come so easily to him. While in France he confirmed he was an
atheist under French existentialist influence. He obtained masters and doctoral degrees at the University
of Bordeaux in African francophone literature but after his conversion he moved to University of
Aberdeen and obtained a 2nd PhD in Theology
Conversion: During his time in France he underwent a Damascus road Christian conversion. Taking a
shower one day he realized that Christ is the truth, the integrating principle of life as well as the key to
true intellectual coherence for himself and the whole world (Seeing new facets,. Shortly after he met his
wife Gillian Mary, a fellow student of French, from England and married her in 1973.
Writings: Wrote three books that were seminal works in an understanding of African Theology. The
central theme of his literature was the “nature of the traditional religion of Africa and its relationship of
continuity or discontinuity with Christian belief” (Jesus and The Gospel in Africa, 52). For him, African
traditional religions (ATR) has more continuity, rather than discontinuity, with the gospel and therefore
the gospel must encounter, interact, and build upon a given culture's understanding of God, for he is
already there at work. How can God’s self revelation be uniquely heard and understood by different
peoples and language groups (Ferdinand, 121)
Philosophical Context: Andrew Walls once noted that the dramatic shift in the center of gravity of global
Christianity in the last fifty years (1965 onwards) is now universally recognized. As a result the African
church became a major influence in the world Christian movement, and that makes it increasingly
important to keep abreast of Christian reflection and debate on the African continent. The question of
identity emerged as a leading issue in many of the theologies coming out of churches in the Two-Thirds
World. Conversion to Christ necessarily involves a measure of discontinuity with the pre-Christian past,
and this has been perceived by some as problematic, more so if it is felt that missionaries involved in the
transmission of the gospel also imposed their own culture. (Ferdinando,121). Question: Can one be
Christian and African?
Theological Perspectives: Bediako’s Ph.D. dissertation was a significant scholarly contribution to
African theology. His argument consisted of an analysis and critique of four writers of the early church,
and then of four modern African theologians. Of the early church theologians two, Justin Martyr and
Clement of Alexandria, sought to identify substantial continuity between the Greek Socratic philosophical
tradition and the Christian faith, while the others, Tatian and Tertullian, insisted on radical discontinuity.
Four recent African voices, Idowu, Mbiti, and Mulago argue for continuity, while Kato is the only
dissenter. (Ferdinand, 123).
Bediako argues that Africa will not be marginalized. Wall noted that there is something symbolic in the
fact that the first church in tropical Africa in modern times was not a missionary creation at all. It arrived
ready-made, a body of people of African birth or descent who had come to faith in Christ as plantation
slaves or as soldiers in the British War of Independence or as farmers or squatters in Nova Scotia” ( Sierra
Leone 1792) - Andrew Walls in Jesus in the Gospel
Christian Identity: For Bediako, Christian self-definition is the development of theological concern and
the formulation of theological questions. How Christians view themselves (identity) will affect the kind of
questions they ask and the kind of answers they seek. Thus he says that "...theology is called to deal
always with culturally-rooted questions." The theme of identity is key to all that Bediako talks about in
his books – the Christian problem of an inward dimension to the problem of their self-understanding – in
a world where cultural ideology fused politics and religion (Bediako,32).
Theological Concerns: In responding to Kato, Bediako provides us with a clear summation "Not only
was his [Kato] negative and unsympathetic posture towards the African pre-Christian religious heritage
based on outdated assumptions about the nature of African 'traditional' religion, but also his very attitude
rendered him incapable of appreciating and discerning some of its crucial and positive dimensions.”
Bediako's own words serve as the best summary of his thoughts for Kato's theology: "there is little in his
[Kato's] outlook which does not stem from his deep roots in the conservative evangelical tradition
particularly the North American variant of Christianity. (Howard).
Missiological Concern: The missionary image of Africa, while affirming more respect for Africans did
not equate or create more positive attitudes for empirical knowledge of Africans and African values. The
missionary enterprise had “long tradition of unquestioned presumptions of European value-setting for the
Christian religion”. What was observed in Africa was understood in terms of Europe and European value
setting for the faith (Bediako, 235).
Christology: Bediako had deep thoughts about Christology in the African context. Jesus, as God’s
ultimate revelation to the world came out of his own journey to faith and personal and contextual
experiences as an African. Christ is universal, existential and eschatological - “I also recommend that we
make the biblical assumption that Jesus Chris is not a stranger to our heritage. I therefore start from the
universality of Jesus Christ rather than from his particularity as a Jew. By doing this I do not disregard the
Incarnation of the Savior of all people, of all nations and of all times… we do not seek to reduce his
incarnation and its particularity to a mere accident of history. We hold on to his incarnation as a Jew
because by faith in him we too share I the divine promised given to the patriarchs and the history of
ancient Israel. So these promises belong to us also because of Jesus (Seeing New Facets, 43)
The Akrofi-Christaller Centre : The focus of the scholarship of the institute was on Africa-its religious,
cultural, social, and linguistic realities, and the history, life, and thought of its Christians. The preparatory
courses in the master's degree program explored the principles underlying the interaction of Gospel and
culture, the worldviews of primal societies, theology in Africa, the Bible in Africa, and Christian history
in Africa from the early centuries and in different parts of the continent
Bibliography
Bediako, Kwame. 1992. Theology and Identity: The Impact of Culture Upon Christian Thought in the
Second Century and in Modern Africa. Cumbria, UK: Regnum Press.
Bediako, Kwame. 2004. Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis
Bediako, Kwame. 1995. Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non Western Religion. Edinburgh, UK
Edinburgh University Press
Ferdinando, Keith. 2007. “Christian Identity in the African Context: Reflections On Kwame Bediako’s
Theology And Identity” Journal of Evangelical Theological Society Volume 50/1 (March 2007) 121–43
Bediako, Gillian Mary Quarshie, Bernhardt Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena .2015 Seeing New Facets of
the Diamond: Christianity as a Universal Faith - Essays in Honor of Kwame Bediako
Howard, Kevin. 2013. “ Kwame Bediako: Considerations On The Motivating Force Behind His Theology
And Identity Global Missiology English, Vol 3, No 10”
Online Resources:
http://www.dacb.org/stories/ghana/bediako_kwame.html
https://vimeo.com/61770717