The Christian church has always lived in tension between its global and its local identities, between gospel and culture. One aspect in which this tension plays out is in worship music. As the gospel came to them, many African churches adopted a North American/european form of song, ignoring or neglecting their local, traditional music. They opted for a more global identity and minimized their local identity. The church amongst the Songhai of West Africa is an example of this phenomenon. (...) A church that neglects its local identity, however, has little appeal to the surrounding society and loses its prophetic voice to the community. Resolving the tension between the two identities is an important matter for every church. Thinking through worship music practices plays a key part in resolving this tension. A tool called the ‘logophonic’ principle may be of help in this regard. The tool looks at both words and sounds to reexamine and renew worship practices and craft new music for congregations. This article explains how this tool might work and urges the necessity of good theological thinking and about worship and worship music. (shrink)

This essay proposes African-based ethical solutions to profound human problems and a working African model to address those problems. The model promotes sustainability through advanced agroecological and information communication technologies. The essay’s first section reviews the ethical ground of that model in the work of the Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop. The essay’s second section examines an applied African model for translating African ethical speculation into practice. Deeply immersed in European and African ethics, Godfrey Nzamujo developed the Songhaï Centers to (...) solve the problem of rural poverty in seventeen African countries. Harnessing advanced technologies within a holistic agroecological ecosystem, Nzamujo’s villages furnish education spanning the fields of ethics, information communication technology, microbiology, international development, and mechanical, electrical, civil and biological engineering in a community-based and centered development enterprise. The essay proposes a global consortium of ecovillages based on Nzamujo’s model. The final section explores funding methods for the consortium. The conclusion contemplates a return to Africa to supplement environmental ethics that enhance life’s future on earth. (shrink)

Mythology about Africa still persists. It served colonial interests to portray African natives as "savages" with no history and their indigenous institutions as "backward and primitive." Therefore, colonialism was "good" for them as it "civilized" them and freed them from their "terrible and despotic" traditional rulers. Of course, much of this mythology has been tossed into the trash bin. African natives not only had history but also viable traditional institutions which enabled them to survive through the centuries. Ghana, Mali, (...) class='Hi'>Songhai and Great Zimbabwe were empires they built that lasted for centuries. Nor were their rulers terrible and despotic. Chiefs and kings were held accountable at all times and removed from office for dereliction of duty-not after every four or so years. However, mythology about Africa still persists-this time among Africa's own post colonial leaders! Believing that African natives had no history, no viable institutions, and no knowledge of such concepts as "democracy," "accountability" and "rule of law," the post colonial leadership imposed on their people alien systems and ideologies that have led to the ruination of Africa. The continent is littered with the putrid carcasses of these imported systems. Sankofa is the only route to take for Africa's salvation. The solutions needed to extricate Africa from its current economic malaise and political miasma are already embedded in its own traditional institutions and heritage. And the leadership should just "go back and get them.". (shrink)