The incorporation of the created order as a means of echoing the ‘integratedness’ and the continuity between the invisible and visible dimensions is providing fresh insight in Christology.

The Akan holistic approach to healing and wholeness is further relevant in that it is multidimensional and integrated — multidimensional in the sense of its ‘simultaneous geography’, comprising both the physical and the spiritual universe, and integrated in the sense that it does not fragment causes, effects and the need for restoration but believes them to be interrelated.

It does not seek to heal the body without accessing and rooting out the cause of the sickness because the two are related. Nor does it transform its sick members into objects of care, pity or sympathy. Rather, in the face of sickness and death, it proclaims the source of all life and health, pointing towards a Christ who comes in the name of Onyame the Supreme One, empowered to heal all sickness and disease and protect from all those who perpetrate them.

An examination of the socio-economic situation pertaining to health in Africa reveals a system that encloses human beings in a circle of misery and sickness. Issues of nutrition and health are indivisible from the economic and social system. AIDS, disease, poverty and malnutrition never exist by themselves; rather, they are the effects or products of social organisations.

The position of sickness in Africa is therefore a decisive reality of our time and historic condition, in which illness is the result of the abuse of power in the allocation of resources; it comes from a system characterised by violence, by a pattern of impoverishment of the majority and by the monopoly by a minority of the means to live with dignity.

The application of the integrated and multidimensional world-view as regards healing and wholeness is effective when extended to addressing the social and economic crises in Africa.

To begin with the refusal to normalise the manifest disharmonies within the society, or to ‘spiritualise’ the daily misery that manifests itself in the community’s suffering, is motivation for seeking a concrete causation.

Further, making the link between ‘wrong behaviour’ – or behaviour that is not in harmony with the rest of the community – and suffering identifies and locates the individual or group ‘hurting’ the community and yet proclaims the Good News of the Christ who confronts the enemies of life.

This dynamic of socio-religious relations portrays the drama of sin and salvation by placing Christ at the heart of the concrete realities of the suffering, pain and death that rule the lives of millions of Africans.

In Akan Christian cosmology, the visible creation of humans and many objects are intricately interwoven with the invisible realm. Like many other African ethnic groups, Akans have a paradoxical relationship with the environment.

On one hand, there is a deep respect and even fear of the trees, hills, rivers, etc, yet, on the other hand, there is wanton destruction of the bush through widespread burning, especially for firewood and timber, often raping and denuding the land for long periods of time.

In spite of this, the cosmology of Akans’ Christianity challenges us to re-examine the way in which we interact with our natural environments.

The idea of an integrated world-view, in which Christ can be seen in the ‘deep forest’ as well as within the dimensions of the spirit world, challenges our traditional understanding of the relationship between Christ and creation.

Clifton and Marcia Clarke were – until they completed their service – CMS mission parters working in Ghana.  Clifton taught at the Good News Bible College, a theological training institute.

Published: 12:58 PM :: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 :: 1001 views :: 0 Comments :: Missiology, Research, INSIGHT