The Basel Missionaries’ Christian Education Approach in the Krobo Religio-Cultural Context

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2010-08-21
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This work is about the Basel Missionaries’ practice of Christian Education in the religio-cultural context in Krobo. From an eclectic study of the historical, social and religio-cultural settings of the people, and the missionaries’ work, the thesis traces the problem of ‘syncretism’ and ‘cultural conflicts’ in Krobo Christianity to a faulty Christian education practice of the missionaries, influenced by their indifference to the Krobo culture, which they declare ‘heathen’ and taught their converts to completely avoid. Contending that Christian education needs not be limited to ecclesiastical establishment and nurture alone, but also extended to affect the community in which it operates and its structures, the work questions the missionaries’ neglect of Krobo culture, and existing indigenous educational and cultural categories in their Christian education practice, which this work found to be useful for Christian education. The major finding of the research is that the popular missionary acclamation that the cultural forms are incompatible with Christianity, especially dipo can no longer be tenable. It recommends that, for effective inculturation of Christianity in Krobo, an inculturational Christian education that uses cultural affinities with Christianity as Handmaids of Christian Education (HMCE) is needed. And also, that a Christological construction for Krobo from the person of Klow1ki and the jemeli, and the story of her exchange with the ‘Great Sign’, (the Sing of the Cross) at her disappearance from Krobo cannot be ignored. The constant presence of this sign of the cross in the culture as part of the performance of dipo speaks volumes for Christianity.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of Master of Philosophy Degree in Religious Studies.
Keywords
Citation