“Stretch Forth Thy Wings and Fly” Theological Education in the African Context

By John S. Pobee

Memory Lane for Renewal
For one who for fifteen years, served as an executive of the World Council of Churches’ Programme on Theological Education in its various incarnations, it is not only a privilege to be part of this project but also exciting and renewing travel down memory lane. This project may not be treated as just recalling the past but also, and perhaps more importantly, as an exercise in renewal.

Story of Eagle among Chicken: Narrative Theology, Africa’s First Love
Africans are not given to the propositional style; rather they are given to narrative culture. The title of this piece is rooted in the oral and narrative culture of homo africanus. It is taken from an aphorism of a great Ghanaian, Aggrey of Africa of Phelps-Stokes Foundation fame, who told the story/parable of a naturalist who upon seeing an eagle domesticated among chicken, undertook to encourage it to regain its identity as an eagle. After days of trying, the eagle finally “stretched out its wings and with the strength of an eagle mounted up higher and higher.”

The parable encapsulated Africa’s story as the second largest continent which by contact with European nations has been subjected to ideologies of exploration/discovery, slavery, racism, colonialism and Christian missions, which have left well-nigh indelible marks on Africa. These contacts have resulted in the emasculation of homo africanus, so to speak, caste in the image and likeness of Europeans, a North Atlantic captivity and Peter Pan Syndrome. Aggrey’s parable of the eagle among chicken is making a case for Africans to recover their identity among the comity of races, peoples, tribes and tongues. Nyimpa ...

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