If faith comes by hearing (cf. Rom.10:17), then it is also proper to assume that the practice of faith would require a certain level of understanding of what one hears. But this ‘understanding’ must be defined not in terms of the strict rules of logic and rationality but a certain alignment with one’s preexisting epistemological reservoir. It could be the resonance with the heart that shapes the meaning of faith for the recipient and not necessarily a complete decoding of what the object of faith is composed of. Hence, when theology was first defined as fides quarens intellectum (faith seeking understanding) a reduction of theology to rational knowledge is affirmed without taking into sufficient consideration the spiritual component according to which faith aligns with wisdom, and charity. What if we redefine theology as ‘faith seeking joy’? one may ask. In this case, joy can be a composite of an understanding of the revealed knowledge as well as the disposition of absolute trust in the divine truth. Anyway, the entire debate boils down to the translatability of theological language, specifically of synodality for the people, the people of God in Africa. What does synodality mean, actually? Does it not amount to confusion for a local people whose literary code is defined by other concepts rather than synodality? The point is that Africans have throughout their historical encounter with Christianity continued to translate ecclesial vocabularies like the Eucharist, adoration, catechism and bishop in ways that aligns with their pre-existing religious and cultural lexicon. The fact is that translatability is an ongoing struggle, as evident in the translations and re-translations of various liturgical texts. The same problem persists in theological vocabulary as well. For many Africans, for instance, synodality as a word remains strange.
This is precisely the sentiment the Church in Togo expressed in its reflection on the Synthesis Report of the First Session of the Synod on Synodality. The text, which was published in April 2024 by the Équipe Nationale pour le Synode of the Conferences des Évêques du Togo, was a response to the general question of “How can we be a synodal church on mission?” The text remarks that the synodal reality remains a subject of intellectual conversations, of which the majority of Catholics in Togo are still unaware. In fact, “the concept of ‘synodality’ is not fully known, nor is it part of the language habits of the faithful.”[1] The reception is ongoing, although many people misunderstand it as a form of ‘democratization of the Church’.
The attempts to apply the usual analogies in describing synodality may not be sufficient in conveying its proper understanding to people who feel there is little they can contribute when it comes to theological debates. The lack of basic theological education for the majority of people is a problem, and this brings the responsibility to the desks of theologians. African theologians should answer the basic questions of: What does it mean to ‘walk together’ as a pilgrim people for African Christians? What does co-responsibility mean for them? The text seems to have hit a good note when it described synodality as the practice of “family life, where everyone feels responsible for each other.”[2] At this point, the understanding of synodality goes beyond the mere concept to the actual praxis wherein people recognize the many ways that they have always lived, and how they could share in this service towards God and one another. Thus, in the absence of a corresponding vocabulary, translation emerges when the language is broken down into descriptions. So, while the term ‘synodality’ remains strange, the reality of synodal praxis is recognized in the actions of mutual responsibility within the local church, but which is already a lived experience in families.
I consider this observation by the document as very significant because it is difficult to explain, understand and receive any notion that cannot be located within a local vocabulary. It would be difficult to be understood if it cannot be translated. But like I already mentioned, translation is not a function of a one-to-one parallelization of words from two languages. Rather, it is a matter of describing the reality embodied by the words, which is recognizable within a given cultural setting. This explains why the reception of the Synod on Synodality by many groups of African theologians and pastoral experts has taken the idea of palaver as the hermeneutical key to process the elements of dialogue, common discernment, decision-making and consensus-building processes that form part of synodality.[3] For while synodality may remain strange for many Africans, the idea of palaver is quickly recognized as an African way of living out the reality that synodality projects, this time, within the Church.
This takes us back to the initial theorizations on the method of African theology, or rather the interaction between indigenous cultures and theology in Africa, particularly to Kwame Bediako’s vernacular theologizing, which is rooted in Christianity’s translatability. Bediako’s argument benefits from the theologies of John Mbiti, Vincent Mulago, Mercy Amba Odudoye, and others who emphasized the need to take the ‘Africanness’ seriously in constructing the identity of African Christianity and theology. Theological method of vernacular theologizing is simply the act and “principle of interpreting a religion through the language in which the faith is experienced and expressed.”[4] This principle is explained by Mbiti’s reference to the psychological role that language plays in the thinking and understanding of African people. Language is not value-neutral. Words are not often understood in their own terms, that is, in the simplistic dictionary meaning. Instead, they are received within a larger cultural context of a given community. Mbiti puts it this way, “The Gospel has to sink into the thinking process, attitude, and the vocabulary of the people, if it is to make its lasting impact upon the life of the whole person and the whole community.”[5]
When it comes to the reception process of synodality, it is therefore important to begin with the question: What is the meaning of synodality within the local language? Which words, concepts, or analogies can help in describing the meaning that the concept conveys? What traditional practices, or sapiential expressions of the local community, can clearly explain the meaning and praxis of synodality? Of course, this starting point does not begin with the implementation process of the Final Document but rather with the initial consultation process. The absence of such initial clarification may have contributed to the instances of disinterestedness that we find in some African churches (An example is the Report of the Nigerian Church).
At the end, we are confronted with the following lessons. First, without a proper translation, many in the Church would be alienated in the reception and implementation processes of the Synod on Synodality. Second, reception is a cyclic process that begins when an idea is inaugurated and should not be considered a post-synodal event, which results in the loss of ideas that would have deepened the conversation on synodality. Third, translation reveals cultural and ecclesiological continuity. Synodality has been severally described as something that has always been there in the Church. In the same way, the key ideas of ‘walking together’, ‘dialogue’, ‘common discernment’, and ‘co-responsibility’, when translated reveals a socio-cultural continuity in the ways that local faith communities have shaped their ecclesial living. In Africa, the method of palaver, particularly within Basic Christian Communities, remains a powerful instance of synodality. The task ahead is to deepen what is already present through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
References
[1] Equipe National pour le Synode, Conférence des Évêques du Togo, Rapport de synthese consultation du peuple de dieu en vue de la session d’octobre 2024 du synode sur la synodalite, Question d’approfondissement : Comment être une Église synodale en mission ? (avril 2024), 7.
[2] Ibid.
[3] I refer to the series of receptive engagements of the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network on the Synthesis Report of the First Session of the Synod on Synodality in 2024. Cf. Augustine Ikenna Awuchie, Jude Ilo, and Redemptor Atieno, eds., An African Palaver Series on the Future of the Church in Africa (Abuja: African Catholic Press, 2024); Stan Chu Ilo and Leonida Katunge, eds., Journeying Together in Hope: A Theological and Pastoral Field Manual for Synodal Church in Africa, Pan-African Theology and Pastoral Studies Series 3 (Nairobi: Paulines, 2024).
[4] Kwame Bediako, Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995, 210.
[5] John Mbiti, “Ways and Means of Communicating the Gospel,” 329-350 in C. G. Baëta, ed., Christianity in Tropical Africa: Studies Presented and Discussed at the Seventh International African Seminar, University of Ghana, April 1965 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968), 331.
