ABSTRACT
Christian theology, whether African or not, for most of its history and even in its most introspective moments, has either explicitly or implicitly always had something to do with the political or the public. Public or political theology is implicit when it happily coexists with the dominant political order but its impact is indirect, a side effect of what theology says to its primary addressee, the Christian community itself. Africa is not short of public or political theologies that express either resistance to, or strong criticism of, a dominant social order, laying bare its contradictions and/or the harm it may do. They include theologies of inculturation or Africanization, black theology and Kairos theology in South Africa, African women’s theology, theologies concerned with issues of sexual orientation, and postcolonial theology. African Christian theology lives alongside Islamic theologies and African indigenous thought.
