The Holy Spirit and Salvation in African Christian Theology : Imagining a More Hopeful Future for Africa

The Holy Spirit and Salvation in African Christian Theology challenges the dominant understanding of the Holy Spirit in African Christian salvific discourse. The most prevalent approach in reflections on the Holy Spirit and salvation in African Christian theology insists that these doctrines be made to address the spiritualized African traditional religious cosmology. This dominant approach to the Holy Spirit and salvation have therefore led to the baptism of African traditional religious cosmology in African Christian theology. Baptizing the African cosmology has, in turn, brought about the emphasis on the miraculous in African pneumatology and soteriology. The Holy Spirit and Salvation in African Christian Theology further argues that such stress on the miraculous blocks other ways by which the Holy Spirit might be understood in African soteriological discourse. In addition, this study proposes that the Holy Spirit be perceived as enabling critical philosophical rationality and the development of science and technology in Africa, features that are crucial to enhancing the well-being of the continent and its peoples.