TITLE:
“Africans, You May, and You Must Have an African Christianity”: Toward a Mature African Catholic Theology of Ressourcement
AUTHORS:
Marcel Mukadi
KEYWORDS:
Church in Africa, African Catholic Theology, African Christianity, Inculturation, Ressourcement, 2025 Years of Christianity, Church as Family of God
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.5,
May
20,
2026
ABSTRACT: This article commemorates 2025 years of Christianity by reflecting on the faith from the perspective of the Church in Africa, chiefly within a Roman Catholic framework, and by arguing for a mature African Catholic theology of ressourcement. In response to Pope Paul VI’s affirmation that “Africans, you may, and you must, have an African Christianity”, it argues that African Christianity, as treated here, is a fully Catholic yet authentically African expression of the one universal Church, rooted in communion with the Pope and the apostolic tradition. Using a qualitative theological method grounded in magisterial documents, major African and Western theological texts, and selected social-scientific studies, the article moves beyond earlier models of adaptation and highlights inculturation as a deep interaction between the Gospel and African cultures in liturgy, community life, and moral practice. Drawing on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and a ressourcement approach, it proposes an integrated vision of belief, celebration, moral life, and prayer within African contexts. It also surveys key currents and figures in African theology and shows how African Christology, ecclesiology, and biblical interpretation respond to concrete African realities. It concludes by calling the rapidly growing Church in Africa to deepen its theological and spiritual life and to develop a mature African Catholic theology of ressourcement that enriches the whole Church while promoting liberation, human dignity, and integral development.