Afrocentricity and the Church, Part 3

It is tempting for all African-Americans­ (Christian and non-Christian) to be Afrocentric. As implied in Part 1, this is due to the devaluing and discarding of the relevance to any culture outside of European descendants. In essence, the common grace and image of God to all peoples had been ignored.[1] However, in Afrocentricity, the pendulum can swing too far in the opposite direction.

What Afrocentricity Does

[pullquote]Afrocentricity wants to elevate the history of African descendants to a “sanctified” and “deified” status.[/pullquote] It gets top place, above all else. But Jesus Christ is the only one worthy of that status. The gospel calls us to critically look at every culture, especially our own. When we do, we see that Afrocentricity and the gospel are irreconcilable if we try to give top place to both.

Pendulum Swings

One example of the overly swinging pendulum is in the uncritical celebration of Kwanzaa among African-American Christians. Kwanzaa, which is celebrated December 26-January 1, has grown immensely popular since it’s 1966 creation by Dr. Maulana Karenga. It is included in the holidays our children learn about in public schools and has also become popular in the Black Church.

The focus of Kwanzaa is the Nguzo Saba, the “Seven Principles” of blackness.[2]

Though there is nothing inherently wrong with the principles, they were created by someone hostile to the Christian faith, as is evident in his writings. Despite the assertion that the holiday is not religious but cultural, the celebration is undeniably religious:

[Y]ou should come to the celebration with a profound respect for its values, symbols and practices and do nothing to violate its integrity, beauty and expansive meaning. Secondly, you should not mix the Kwanzaa holiday or its symbols, values and practice with any other culture. This would violate the principles of Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) and thus violate the integrity of the holiday.[3]

God’s Sovereignty

[pullquote position=”right”]Some aspects of Afrocentricity distract, demean and even deny the gospel message.[/pullquote] Afrocentricity in its “raw” form, as described previously, cannot tolerate the sovereignty of God. It would reel against the fact that the sovereignty of God “demands acceptance that the kidnapping and subsequent enslavement of Africans in America was according to [God’s] sovereign will.”[4] However, far from making us disdain the God of the Bible, the sovereignty of God displays the Lord Jesus being delivered up for crucifixion and death according to the definite plan of God (Acts 2:23).

So, the sovereignty of God does not negate the human responsibility and culpability of enslavers, but it drives us to the ultimate realization that God is in control of his creation. His purposes will not be thwarted. He purposed that there would be a Black Church in the Americas, and that this church would rise up from the chains and degradation of dehumanizing slavery. No worldview that remains untransformed by the gospel has any room for this. And, I submit, falls short of providing an adequate explanation for this human atrocity.

But, Afrocentricity’s not all bad! Part 4 is coming.