File spoon-archives/heidegger.archive/heidegger_2003/heidegger.0305, message 200


Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 22:37:39 +0100
From: Jan Straathof <janstr-AT-chan.nl>
Subject: RE: Tutu


Bob, Rene,

Well, i meant nothing 'deep' with it, i just found it a funny statement, esp.
coming from the mouth of an african archbishop and not some communist
rebel leader. (btw. it is said that Tutu is quite famous for his fine sense of
humor and ready wit)

I agree with what you said about the Congo Rene, and it is even more
interesting to observe and contemplate the rapid growth of Christianity
in Africa, Asia, and Latin America (most of them not by mission-driven
but local-driven conversions). This phenomenon will offer completely
new dimensions and challenges to world Christendom. [cf. Jenkins: The
Next Christendom]

How long will it take in the 21stC before we have the first non-western,
non-white Pope ? Or will a new, i.e. North - South, schisma emerge in
the Christian Church ?

I think it's fair to speculate about the world political implications of a
massively christianized South. What f.i. Africa needs, to become a global
player, is unity, and Christianity (or its african variant) will probably be
the vehicle that shall bring her there. I believe there will emerge a distinct
form/kind of Christianity in Africa, one essentially different from western
Christianity. The main difference i see lies in the absence of a metaphysical
tradition in African (religious) thought. And interestingly enough this lack
of metaphysics will place her very close to Heidegger's prophetic notion of
the "goettlichen Gott" [cf. IuD]. Will the new and saving God come from
Africa ?

Anyway, just imagine the governments of 30 sub-sahara states all in the
hands of christian-based political coalitions, this will at once create the
platform Africa so clearly lacks at the moment.

And how will the (continuing secularizing) North react on a stronger
christian South ? Will northern Christianity fight it or will it become
revitalized by it ? And what is the place and role of Islam and Hinduism
in this picture ? How do they conceive this southern growth of Christianity ?
Wouldn't it be possible to explain great parts of modern Islam and Hindu
militancy as an understandable reaction to this perceived immanent threat ?

and .....

Yeh Bob, the "missionary position", any idea where this phrasing comes
from, originally ?

yours,
Jan





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