African Commentary on the 16 Documents of Vatican II

Description

Sixty years after the closing of the Second Vatican Council, the reception of the conciliar teachings remains a work in progress in African Catholicism and the World Church. This African commentary contributes to amplifying African theological voices. It also provides some guiding interpretative theological light on conciliar and ecclesial practices that can contribute to a vibrant African church of missionary disciples. The commentaries equally complement existing commentaries on the conciliar documents, which often minimally feature African perspectives on the reading and reception of Vatican II. The need for a systematic and historical study of this kind to guide and stimulate further reception and contextualization of the conciliar teaching vis-a-vis the implementation of the Synod on Synodality has inspired this unique collaborative effort of African theologians. In these pages, leading African theologians examine each document through a multiplicity of methodological approaches, while creatively reflecting on the most pressing questions on the new directions in African Catholicism and the World Church.

These commentaries invite the Church Family of God in Africa to a more theological and pastoral reception of the teachings of Vatican II in various locales and contexts in Africa. The study of each text focuses on three aspects: (i) a critical reading and interpretation of the document from an African perspective, focusing on what the contributors identify as the missing African perspectives in the document: (ii) an analysis of how the message of each document has been received in Africa: (iii) and, finally, showing concretely, with rigorous theological reasoning, the points around which conciliar thought would enrich the Church in Africa in its mission inspired by the post-synodal exhortations Africac Munus, Ecclesia in Africa, the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality and Vision 2050 of the Catholic Church in Africa. Because Vatican II has been rightly identified as a Council on the identity, nature and mission of the Church, this first volume is dedicated to Lumen Gentium.