Busias Christian Theory

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Has The Christian Faith Been Adequately Presented? by Kofi Abrefa Busia From the International Review of Missions, January 1961 Some missionaries who have served overseas have unhappy recollections of trusted converts reverting, on certain occasions, to 'pagan' beliefs and practices. The experience was all the more stunning when the converts concerned were not the more recent ones, but Christians of long standing, sometimes with fine records of conspicuous service and loyalty. The problem takes on a new dimension when it is presented as part of the general problem of the encounter between Christianity and indigenous cultures. As part of the 'Rapid Social Change' study sponsored by the World Council of Churches, I organized a conference of Christian leaders, clergymen and laymen, in Accra two years ago. All the churches represented in the Ghana Christian Council sent delegates to the conference. After a long discussion and a frank exchange of views and experiences, the participants agreed with remarkable unanimity that certain practices which were contrary to Christian belief and teaching continued among Christians, and that in some instances there was a return to traditional observances, particularly at such critical moments of life as birth, illness, grave misfortune or death. Some questions regarding traditional practices hardly raise any theological issues. For example, the question, 'Why do we not use our own music and rhythm and drums in worship?' is of a different order from the question, 'Why can we not as Christians pour libation, which is our traditional way of worship?* The latter question hides fundamental issues about the nature of the universe, about man, society and God; and to ask why libations are not assimilated into Christian worship is really to ask whether the beliefs implied are, or are not, in accord with Christian doctrine. My own studies
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