POBEE S.

JOHN CONTRIBUTION TO AFRICAN THEOLOGY

GROUP
MAKINDE KOLAWOLE MOSES 08508

A TERM PAPER SUBMITTED TO PASTOR DOSUNMU, J. A,

ECWA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IGBAJA

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION

CONTRIBUTION OF POBEE JOHN SAMUEL TO AFRICAN PERPESTIVE

CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
This study offers a missiological perspective on John Samuel Pobee’s thinking pertaining to
theological education and social transformation in Africa. Pobee is set within the broader context
of African Theology which is embedded within the African religio-cultural heritage and
sociological context.1 John Mbiti has defined African Theology as “the articulation of the
Christian faith by African Christians: both theologians and lay people. Christians ask themselves
what their faith means and try to explain or simply live it within the context of their history,
culture and contemporary issues”.2 Clearly, African Theology5 is not done in isolation from the
global theological perspective but aims at making Christian faith meaningful and relevant within
African religio-cultural and historical experiences.
Pobee is one of such African theologians who have endeavored to articulate Christian faith
within African cultural milieu. His influence and contribution to African theological discourses
has transcended far beyond the borders of the continent. Pobee could be numbered as one of the
greatest thinkers of African Christianity. He is a Ghanaian Anglican Priest and theologian who
was a professor of New Testament and Church History at the University of Ghana. He was born
on the 9th July 1937 in the former Gold Coast (now Ghana) and grew up in a family that
respected and practiced plurality as integral. The extended family was from various
denominations and others from African traditional religion. Thus, the family learnt to talk of
their faith in terms of its effect on their lives rather than what it meant to another. 3 He attended
primary school at Adisadel College in Cape Coast, from 1950 to 1956 and it was here where he
developed strong roots in the Anglican Communion.
Thereafter, he went to the University College of Gold Coast (now University of Ghana) in 1957.
At the university, he was introduced to intellectual and academic life by Noel King, a Professor
of Divinity with keen interest in politics, which Pobee came to perceived as unavoidable in any
community and institutional life. King has had a lasting impact on the intellectual life and
approach to Pobee’s future involvement in mentoring future leaders. For later in life, Pobee
reflected on the conflictive relationship that existed between Kwame Nkrumah, the first
president of Ghana and the Church, particularly in relation to ‘deification’ and ‘divinization’ of
Nkrumah himself in Kwame Nkrumah and the Church in Ghana 1949 – 1966. The second

1
John S. Mbiti, “African Theology,” In Maimela, Simon and Kong Adrio (eds.), Initiation into Theology:
The Rich Variety of Theology and Hermeneutics,( Pretoria: J L van Schaik Publishers, 1998), 141-158
2
Mbiti, “African Theology,” 146-154
3
John S. Pobee, “Sense of Grace and Mission,”( Unpublished Personal Memoir, no date), 44.
significant personality in the life of Pobee was Christian Goncalves Baëta, a professor at the
University of Ghana and ordained minister in the Ghanaian Evangelical Presbyterian Church,
who was his teacher and mentor.4 Pobee argues that Baëta had an inclusive approach to
Christianity and a deep concern for social development which has given Pobee theological
grounding and orientation.
Pobee completed his Doctorate of Philosophy in New Testament at Selwyn College, University
of Cambridge until 1966 and afterward went back to lecture at the University of Ghana as
lecturer in 1966. On the basis of his achievement he went through the ranks of the University as
Senior Lecturer in 1972, Associate Professor in 1977 and Full Professor in 1981. He also served
as Associate Director of the Humanities Section, Population Dynamics Programme, at Legon
from 1976 to 1980, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1979 to 1983 and as Head of the
Department for the Study of Religion from 1978 to 1983.
He has also served on the international level as member of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mission
swissenschaft, member of the Board of Scholars of the Life and Peace Institute, Vice President,
International Association for Mission Studies (1985-1988). President International Association
for Mission Studies (1988-1992). He was also an Olaus Petri Scholar, at the University of
Uppsala, Sweden, 1983 and many others. He was then appointed as Associate Director of the
Programme on Theological Education (hereafter, PTE) of the World Council of Churches
(hereafter WCC), Geneva, Switzerland and later the executive director of the Theological and
Ministerial Formation Programme of WCC and when PTE transformed into Ecumenical
Theological Education Programme (hereafter, ETE), Pobee became the first Global Coordinator
until 1998.
Pobee is a significant church leader and ecumenical theologian and has authored and edited
various books and numerous articles. During his time of serving as the Global Coordinator of
ETE, Pobee was significant “as an enabler and conductor of the team” 5 in search of a viable
theological education within the ecumenical movement. He was convinced that theology is not
only “reading but doing and living”. A number of areas in which Pobee significantly contributed
in theological discourse lie in his unswerving affirmation that theological education must
concern itself with ordinary African Christians, in their daily struggle for survival in the world.
Secondly, it lies in his contention that ecumenical theological education holds a promise for
4
John S. Pobee, “Christian Goncalves Kwami Baeta - a Personal Appreciation,” in John S. Pobee (ed.),
Religion in a pluralistic society: essays presented to Professor C. G. Baëta,( Leiden: E.J Brill, 1976), 1
5
Pobee, “Sense of Grace and Mission,” 115
promoting the principles of a just and inclusive African community (see chapter 3). Pobee
himself believes that meaningful theological discourse should transcend confessionals and
particularities to embrace the wider community of the Church.6
CONTRIBUTION OF POBEE JOHN SAMUEL TO AFRICAN PERPESTIVE
Angies Pears observes that theologians have always been influenced by their context and to a
varying degree some have consciously demonstrated an awareness of the influence their context
exerted on their theological reflection.7 As highlighted in the general introduction to the study,
one such theologian with clear awareness of his context of theologizing is Pobee. Pobee
developed much of his theological thoughts within his own ethnic group, the Akan people of
Ghana.8 He observed that without a concrete underpinning of theological reflection on the
context, theological education can become irrelevant and an instrument of ideological
manipulation leading to the diminishing of life in its abundance. In this instance, theological
education can be said to be nothing but a tool of oppression and life denying.
Thus, Pobee demands that “theological students should be equipped with social sciences
methods to enable them face the cultural realities of their contexts”. Pobee is also aware that
positive affirmation of African culture is not equivalent to uncritical acceptance of every aspect
of the culture. Accordingly, theological education should operate in conscious and deliberate
genuine dialogue with African culture and religion. Pobee stresses that a liberating theological
education is the one that emerges out of the concrete awareness of the context which leads to the
development of theology in the community. Here the context is not only the locus or the shaping
influence for theological education but it should also influence the shaping of theological
education and response. This means that any life centred theological education should emerge in
the context of those in need of liberation, thus making it a communal process. This is often called
the “theology by the people”9 because it is not theologians articulating theology for the people
but the people themselves are articulating a theology for themselves in relation to their specific
situations and needs. In this sense, the theologians are placed firmly within the community as
part of this theological articulating community.
Conceptualising Theological Education
6
John S. Pobee, Skenosis: Christian Faith in an Africa Context,( Gweru: Mambo Press, 1992), 146
7
John S. Pobee, “Theology in the Context of Globalization,” Ministerial Formation, no.78, (October,
1997),
18
8
John S. Pobee, Toward An African Theology,( Nashville: Abingdon, 1979), 19
9
Samuel A. Amirtham & John S. Pobee (eds.), Theology by the People: reflections on doing theology in
community,( Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1986). 56
Pobee, like the majority of African theologians, is also concerned with explicating theological
education in Africa within the reality of African traditional wisdom and ethos of education. He
emphasised that theological education in Africa should not start with tabula rasa.10 This means
that for theological education to be authentic and relevant, it must be translated and expressed
within African idioms and categories. In his article, contributed to the Consultation on
Theological Education in Africa held in Ghana in 1986, Pobee argues that theological education
is the “discipline which through participation in and reflection on the good news of God’s
activity in the world culminating in Christ seeks” to articulate it in clearest and most coherent
language available. In another article entitled, En Voie Theological education in Africa, he
extrapolated his understanding of theological education more concretely from the reality of the
excluded voices in society. He contends that theological education “is the reflection and
articulation by real human beings of their hopes and fears”. It is clear that for Pobee relevant
theological education does not just emerge from the context of the excluded people but also finds
its meaning in responding to their concrete needs. In other words, although the excluded African
people have fears connected with the difficult circumstances they live in, yet they are not without
hope. Thus, the task of theological education is to empower them so that they are enabled to
walk through their fears and envision a hoped future.
This theme runs like a thread throughout Pobee’s theological reflection on theological education.
His understanding of education was influenced from the existential issues in the African context.
Affirmably, Pobee challenges that “theological education cannot become an accomplice or
accessory in the resurgence of any form of sectionalism but must foster wholeness of peoples
and societies, of the Church as the state; it should foster an inclusive community”. He explicates
education as a “revelation of truth about human life and society”. It is a way every human society
passes on its accumulated knowledge and insights to its members to enable them ensure the
continuity of the community. Yet Pobee is not talking about any other kind of education but an
education whose subject matter, orientation and essence is theology. Accordingly, Pobee
believes that the task of theology in Africa is to “scientifically” identify “the good news”,
“reconstruct and repair a holistic Christo centric world-view” a subject, which becomes the
grounding of his theological reflection.

CONCLUSION

10
Pobee, Skenosis, 131.
John Samuel Pobee died on January 22, 2020. The last word belongs to another scholar who
greatly benefited from his friendship and office, Prof. Akintunde E. Akinade, Ph.D., Professor of
Theology, Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service, George town University in Qatar:
Rev. Canon Prof. John Samuel Pobee was confident, contextual, creative, and cosmopolitan. For
many years, he was the big masquerade within the World Council of Churches in Geneva and the
Ecumenical Institute at Bossey. These two institutions enabled him to actively sponsor and
support scholars from the Global South. Just like a marvelous masquerade, he danced with pomp
and panache. Under the aegis of the International Association for Mission Studies (IAMS), he
facilitated my participation in my first international conference in Hawaii. He also provided a
generous grant from the Fund for Theological Education in Geneva for my graduate studies at
Union Theological Seminary in New York. As the President of IAMS, Prof. Pobee’s light
beamed radiantly on the Ecumenical Movement. He boldly advocated for a theology brewed in
“an African pot” to borrow a phrase by Agbonkhianmeghe Orabator. He formulated theological
paradigms that are deeply rooted in the African worldview and imagination. Prof. Pobee was an
“organic intellectual” who recognized the imperative for robust theological synergies between
Cambridge and the Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Akropong-Akuapem in Ghana. He tirelessly
advocated for African agency in theological education and appropriation. His intellectual mind
had no place for smallness. The quenchless light of his intellectual imagination propelled us to
new heights in ecumenical theology and cross-cultural conversations. The use of the
hermeneutics of suspicion enabled him to valorize the boundless affinities between theory and
praxis in theological discourse. He was unequivocally committed to the Anglican Church. He
could not resist the appeal of what James Baldwin has described as the “accumulated Rock of
Ages.” This transcendental gaze propelled him into new vistas and ventures in theological
education. His theological odyssey was defined by a vigorous sense of grace and mission.
Of all the works written by Pobee, one which fills him with great pride is the history of his alma
mater, Adisadel College. As he ended it, we too end with the Adisadel School Ode:
Others have labored and we share the glory ours to do exploits and add to their gain those who
come after will take up our story May it be worthy of singing again.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mbiti, John S. “African Theology,” In Maimela, Simon and Kong Adrio (eds.), Initiation into

Theology: The Rich

Variety of Theology and Hermeneutics, Pretoria: J L van Schaik Publishers, 1998.

Pobee, John S. “Sense of Grace and Mission,” Unpublished Personal Memoir, no date.

Pobee, John S. “Christian Goncalves Kwami Baeta - a Personal Appreciation,” in John S. Pobee

(ed.), Religion in a pluralistic society: essays presented to Professor C. G. Baëta, Leiden:

E.J Brill, 1976.

Pobee, John S. Skenosis: Christian Faith in an Africa Context, Gweru: Mambo Press, 1992, 146

Pobee, John S. “Theology in the Context of Globalization,” Ministerial Formation, no.78,

October, 1997.

Pobee, John S. Toward An African Theology, Nashville: Abingdon, 1979.

Amirtham Samuel A. & John S. Pobee (eds.), Theology by the People: reflections on doing

theology in community, Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1986.