





































Ecclesial Futures
2024 – Volume 5 – Issue 1

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Ecclesial Futures – DOI: 10.54195/ef19198

B O O K  R E V I E W

DOI: 10.54195/ef19198

Hartman, Tim. 2020. Theology After 
Colonization: Bediako, Barth, and the Future 
of Theological Reflection

Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press
ISBN: 978-0-268-10653-9

Reviewed by Pieter Labuschagne

Hartman’s book delineates the arrival of colonization and Christendom in Africa as 
intricately linked, interdependent and mutually reinforcing phenomena that have 
wielded a profound influence on church history spanning the last seventeen centu-
ries, particularly in the context of the unfolding Western pursuit of expansion and 
dominance. The book is divided into two sections. The first addresses the contem-
porary state of Western Christian theology. It elucidates the effects of pluralism and 
secularization, which have given rise to cultural hegemony; the deterioration of the 
inherent connection between Christian faith and political authority; and the trans-
formative impact of globalization on the erstwhile objectives of colonization.
The second part examines theology through the lenses of Christological, contextual, 
cultural, constructive and collaborative reflection. This involves a comparative study 
of the responses of two twentieth-century theologians to the colonial-Christendom 
complex within their respective contexts. The first theologian, Karl Barth (1886–
1968), a Swiss-German scholar, addressed the challenges posed by Christendom and 
the escalating secularization of Europe. Barth grounded his dogmatic reflections on 
God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ, rather than relying on official institutional struc-
tures (including the church) or societal consensus.
The second theologian, Kwame Bediako (1945–2008), from Ghana, presented a 
post-colonial theology. Writing from the global South, where Christianity experi-
enced substantial growth following the withdrawal of Western missionaries, Bediako 
espoused the belief in the infinite translatability of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He 
contends that the gospel could be incarnated in Africa as a non-Western religion, 
distinct from the influences of colonization.
There are striking similarities between their theologies: both couple Christi-
anity with political power; both develop theologies that are independent of the 



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 colonial-Christendom complex – even before it collapsed; their work indicates the 
way forward for Christological, contextual, cultural, constructive and collaborative 
theological reflection; both respond in the same way to nineteenth-century Euro-
pean Protestantism, in wanting to break the connection between the gospel and 
the colonial culture that had been forged in Africa, and a similar religion that was 
promoted in Europe; they are both interested in matters of revelation, religion and 
culture.
At the age of 25, Bediako underwent a profound conversion to Christianity that played 
a pivotal role in the rediscovery of his African identity and spirituality – he believed 
that turning to Christ made him more African than Western. Half a century earlier, at 
the age of 28, Karl Barth, then a pastor in Switzerland, also underwent a significant 
awakening that substantially redirected the trajectory of his life. Barth wanted the 
church to confront the state rather than align itself with its policies. When his theo-
logical mentors supported the military policies of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Barth lost faith 
in nineteenth-century theology.
Over the past five centuries, Christianity has witnessed a decline in Europe, attrib-
uted to the phenomenon of secularization, while the church in the global South has 
experienced remarkable growth in the last fifty years, following the end of coloniza-
tion. Hartman, therefore, rejects the European-driven progress propagated by Chris-
tianity in the nineteenth century, supported by three pivotal failures: World War II, 
the Holocaust and the movement towards colonial independence.
Another shift identified by Hartman involves a transition from community-oriented 
values to an emphasis on individualism, where societal approval no longer served as 
the arbiter of meaning; individuals themselves assumed the authority to legitimize 
their own meaning. In anticipating this postcolonial critique of universalizing stand-
ards in Christianity, Barth and Bediako offered Jesus Christ, as the only universal 
truth, as the only alternative.
The second part of the book presents a fivefold approach to contemporary theolog-
ical reflection.

Christological Reflection
In 1933, Barth authored a pamphlet critiquing church reform, the establishment 
of a national bishop and the collaboration of Christians with the Nazi government. 
He emphasized the revelation of God in Jesus Christ as the exclusive theological 
authority. Prior to its confiscation by the Nazis in July 1934, over 37,000 copies of this 
pamphlet were printed.
Meanwhile, in Africa, Bediako confronted distinctly different challenges as he 
defended the centrality of Jesus Christ against syncretistic movements such as Afri-
kania, Islam and African traditional religions. He proclaimed a Christocentric theology, 



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with emphasis on the possibility of being both Christian and African; Christianity was 
a non-Western religion inherent to Africa; it was Christ who brought missionaries to 
Africa, not the other way around.
For Barth and Bediako, Immanuel, Christ with us, is the foundation and substance of 
theological reflection. We can learn the following from them about the rationale and 
methodology for a Christological focus of contemporary theology: (1) The gospel of 
Jesus embodies a prophetic and indigenous character; (2) all revelation is a manifes-
tation of God’s self-revelation; (3) this revelation is intended for all humanity; (4) it 
is an ongoing process; and (5) the universality of Christ serves as the grounding for 
theological reflection.

Contextual Reflection
Christina Afua Gyan (1900–1987), was a yam farmer, midwife and oral poet from 
Asempaneye in eastern Ghana. Her expressions of prayers and praises to God were 
inherently contextual, communicated in the Twi language. Images from her imme-
diate environment served as background for the various names that she ascribed 
to Jesus, such as Hero, the Python, great Rock, big Tree, Chief of Police, the Elephant 
Hunter, and the Bravest of Muscle-Men. Bediako praises Gyan’s work as an exem-
plary instance of contextual theology. By employing ancestral and royal titles to refer 
to Jesus, Gyan underscored the presence of Christ in Africa prior to the arrival of 
Western missionaries, challenging the notion that European vocabulary was neces-
sary to encapsulate African theology.
It should be noted that the gospel and culture intersect in a specific locale, with the 
questions posed and the theological responses offered intricately tied to that place, 
a perspective both Barth and Bediako adhere to, notwithstanding the tendency to 
interpret Western theologians, such as Barth, without due consideration of their 
context. Barth asserts that much of his theology emerged as a response to the 
people, events and circumstances surrounding him. While recognizing context as 
the foundation of theological reflection, he maintains that it should not dictate or 
confine theology.
Context, as Hartman contends, inevitably shapes our comprehension, a fact not 
always appreciated by Westerners engaging with Africa. Both Barth and Bediako 
reject the notion of religion as mere projection, seeking to discern the essence of 
Jesus beyond human projections. They contend that God’s revelation is accessible to 
all people, through the universality of Jesus.



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Cultural Reflection
Culture is the location of revelation, though explaining the role of culture in theology 
is challenging and complex. Both Barth and Bediako emphasise the significance of 
culture but neither formulate specific methods for its analysis. For Barth the gospel 
was unique and identifiable amid culture, while Bediako believes that it is impossible 
to separate the two.

Constructive Reflection
At times Bediako goes too far in his emphasis on the interplay between the Bible 
and elements of African culture, like drawing a direct line between Jesus, the ances-
tors and the traditional Akan festival, in a sermon that he preached in 1990. Though 
Bediako claims that Western theology is more syncretistic than African theology, the 
opposite seems to be true when he claims that revelation occurs in and through 
culture. This elevates cultural theology above the pure gospel. In contrast, Barth 
emphasizes that there should be no synthesis of the Bible, Christ, ideas, religion or 
culture. There is no place for Christ plus culture; no system of thought should be 
placed above Christ or the Bible. Though Barth and Bediako have differing views on 
syncretism, the question must be asked whether there is not an element of syncre-
tism present in all Christians.
Bediako promotes a new African theology that must make room within the histori-
cally inherited traditions for new ideas – an approach that starts with African culture 
and approaches the Bible from within culture. Barth holds that God’s self-revelation 
begins outside of culture and penetrates culture through Christ’s ministry.

Collaborative Reflection
In comparing Barth and Bediako, it becomes clear that contemporary theological 
reflection must be attentive to voices beyond one’s own immediate context. In the 
process one can learn valuable lessons:
• African Christians should learn to avoid the false dichotomy of either fully 

embracing or fully rejecting African traditional religions (ATRs), which will result 
in a balanced theology of ancestors, without embracing all the teachings of ATRs.

• Westerners could learn more about primal imagination.
• Westerners could be more self-critical about the combination of theology and 

culture that often becomes religion, more than revelation.
• Westerners should learn more about kinship with brothers and sisters in Africa.
• Changing contexts present a challenge to Western and African Christians to 

rethink and to rearticulate theology.



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• Theological thought must move beyond the dichotomies of saved/lost, Christian/
pagan, white/black and even Western/African.

• In our globalized, secular, pluralistic societies, the church must become 
outward-focussed.

The main contribution of the book is that for theological reflection to remain vibrant 
in a changing world, collaborative theology is not only a possibility, but a necessity.

About the Author
Pieter Labuschagne, Head of Course Development, South African Theological Semi-
nary.
pieter@sats.ac.za

mailto:pieter@sats.ac.za

