Calvin. History and Reception of a Reformation Week 5. Reading Calvin Today Sequence 6. Central Africa Hello. For this sequence, we invite you to travel with us all the way to Central Africa. Why Central Africa? Well, because the largest population of French-speaking Protestants is to be found today not in Europe or in North America, but in Africa. We've invited professor Lévi Ngangura to give us an overview of the Calvinist tradition in Central Africa. Lévi Ngangura is no stranger at the University of Geneva's Faculty of Theology, having completed his doctoral thesis here a few years ago. He currently serves as professor at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Goma, in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Professor, take it away... Today, we are going to talk about how John Calvin's teachings and doctrine have been received in Africa, and especially in Central Africa. We will explore the ways in which Christianity, as it exists today in Africa -- and particularly in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa -- has been influenced by the teachings
and the doctrine of John Calvin. Yet when referring to Christianity in Africa, there is one thing that we must keep in mind: the fact that contact between Christianity and Africa did not begin with John Calvin. As far back as Antiquity, during nascent Christianity's first century, North Africa was converted to Christianity. And we know well the significant contributions of major centers such as Carthage and Alexandria to Christianity's development in those times. The Christianity we will be talking about today, however, is not the Christianity of the first century. We will be focusing on a more recent Christianity, that of the 19th century. Central Africa was not christianized by way of a single Christian movement, coming from Carthage or Alexandria. Rather, it was a movement imported from Europe and the United States that led to the emergence of Christianity in Central Africa. More specifically, the question we will be addressing is: by what means did Protestantism -- in its Calvinist tradition -- impose itself in the Great Lakes region (i.e. Central Africa)? In Europe, things happened differently than in Africa: Calvin's doctrine spread mainly through his writings and through his correspondence. In Africa, at that time, things like schooling, reading and writing had not yet been truly established. So it would be erroneous to believe that Africans, living in small villages, were reading Calvin's writings. How, then, was Protestantism -- specifically in its Reformed tradition -- able to expand and impose itself in Africa? Above all, through travel. Many different kinds of travel, involving many different kinds of people, statuses and conditions. Religious travels, undertaken by missionaries, pastors or priests... But also the travels of people working for colonial administrations. And the travels of native Africans returning to their country of birth. Unfortunately, Calvin himself never set foot on African soil. Though he never traveled to Africa, this did nothing to impede the very strong influence his ideas and doctrine were to acquire in Central Africa. To get a better idea of the presence of Reformed Churches in Central Africa today, let's take a look at a map. On the map you are now seeing, you can observe the strong presence of Reformed Churches in many countries. Let's start with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country in which we find a very high number of Reformed Churches. We can also look to Congo-Brazzaville, and continuing westward towards Togo, all the way to Ghana... Or towards the South -- Angola, Zimbabwe and all the way down to South Africa... Fixing our gaze slightly northward, we have the Central African Republic, and to the East, Rwanda and Burundi... The Reformed Church has a strong presence in all of these countries. So how were all these churches able to effectively disseminate the doctrine and the ideas of John Calvin? Not only through religious celebration and worship, but also through educational centers, universities... Almost all of the great Protestant universities in this region of Central Africa are in the Reformed tradition. For example, the Schools of Theology in Yaoundé, Cameroon, or in Congo-Brazzaville, as well as in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo... ... and prolonging our gaze towards Goma, in the very East of the Congo, home of the Department of Theology of the Free University of the Great Lakes... ... and all the way to Butare, in Rwanda. All of these Schools of Theology are in the Reformed tradition. The majority of teachers and professors in these institutions were educated and trained in Reformed Schools of Theology in Europe. This is the first way, then, by which Calvin's ideas and doctrines were able to spread and take hold in the region. The very strong presence of Reformed Churches in Central Africa is characterized by several distinguishing features. The first aspect I would like to underline is the rapid development of these churches in this part of Africa. If we compare the statistics in 1910 to those in 2010, we see that the Reformed Church experienced tremendous growth in just one century. Let's start in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today, there are an estimated 65 million Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country has a total population of almost 70 million. Over 95% of the population, then, is Christian. Yet in 1910, not even 10% of the country's population was Christian. The growth of Christianity has been truly remarkable. Of the aforementioned 65 million Christians, in 2010, an estimated 25 to 30 million were Protestant. The trend just described in the Congo -- the high growth rate and rapid development of Christianity -- also holds true in Congo-Brazzaville, in Cameroon and in other countries where we find a
high prevalence of Reformed churches. These countries, however, are also characterized by another important feature: they are currently experiencing a time of great crisis. Who can forget the Rwandan genocide that began in 1994? Starting in the early 1990's, Burundi was torn apart by civil war. A similar period of violence has spanned the past two decades in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Or even more recently, we have the events taking place in the Central African Republic. What we have is an entire region in the throes of violent conflict, a region experiencing great turbulence. What position should the Church adopt? What is the Church doing? What is actually going on within the various churches,
both within and outside the Reformed tradition? These are indeed crucial questions. First, however, we must mention the pronounced growth, in these countries, of "charismatic"-type churches, whose leaders tend to promulgate a certain interpretation of Scripture, yet have not
received any formal pastoral or theological training. They tend to focus on economic prosperity and aim to attract large groups of followers, whom they motivate by insisting that they will be going up to heaven before long. Such biblical interpretations are disconnected from social and political realities. This is why Calvin's message, writings and ministry are so important in this region of Africa. Calvin is not simply a historical figure. His message, and specifically the relationship it establishes between faith and life's daily requirements, remains highly relevant in this part of
Africa, where absolutely crucial questions are raised on a daily basis: questions concerning proper governance, social justice, human rights. With all of these questions being raised daily, Calvin's message may continue to garner interest and provide food for thought, for a long time to come, in the region of Central Africa.