CANAAN BANANA: The Gospel According to Ghetto

Benedict Odhiambo S.J

INTRODUCTION

Canaan Banana’s African liberation theology is pragmatic, existential, liberal and radical. Canaan Banana attempts to interpret the Gospel in his liberation theology in the context of poor, marginalized and the oppressed in the society. In his book, he asserts that the Gospel came with colonization and was forced to the masses without linking it to the experience and the culture of the people. For missionaries, the image of God was apologetic and the Africans had to accept their misery in humility as God preordained. Thus, the main task of Banana is to awaken the spirit of the people to demand for their rights by using the gospel of liberation. He sees God as a liberator and uses scriptures to enlighten the people about their rights and plight to liberate both the oppressed and the oppressor.

Banana takes a number of Biblical passages, especially from the Psalms, the Gospels and Pauline epistles, and rewrites them with an African Liberation touch. He has been an advocate for “rewriting the Bible”, which is beyond reinterpretation or rereading, so as to make it suit the African people’s context. He advocates for “active action” (XIV). “Whatever is gracious about concern, benevolent acts speak louder than words” (p.28). “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after freedom, for they shall be critical of oppression” (p.12). The individuals are youthful enough to be active, have suffered enough to hunger for change, and have a dignity enough to desire legacy, valor, and honor. “Blessed are the selfless, for they shall be liberated” (p.12) from any fear, including the fear for death, failure, loss, or an uncomfortable life. “Deliver us from our fears” (p.1). Since fear hinders progress, it replaces evil as if it is evil’s synonym. “Blessed are they who strive for the common good, for they shall achieve nobility”.

WHY GHETO?

For God so loves the Ghetto that He gives birth to new levels of awareness, that whosoever believes in liberation shall restore the quality of personhood (p.22). For years during colonial rule into independence, until the early second millennium, the rural home was the Black African city dweller’s “roots”, a place where the majority of Africans were subjected to an oppressive setup. Hence, it is more accurate to talk of the ghetto as an identity than a place of residence, despite the fact that the place of residence is usually the original shaping factor.

WHAT GOSPEL IS NOT

“Docility, passivity, surrender, and apathy are sacrilegious and idolatrous because they are a sign of the individual creating another interior image other than the divine image onto which the subject was created. Degraded is your name” (p.1). In addition, God being the source of the image of the Ghetto youth, blasphemous is the looking down upon the Ghetto youth by the wealthy who believe that poverty is God’s curse and their own wealth is a sign of God’s blessings on them. “When I was sick, you fell on your knees and thanked God for your health” (p.20). It is also sacrilegious to emphasize on eschatological salvation rewards instead of people’s immediate basic material needs: “Thy will is mocked, as pie in the sky”

WHAT IS GOSPEL?

“Reference to good news presupposes presence of bad news or a state of hopelessness. The background against which [the] good news [is] received is … [the] situation where life has been mutilated in a variety of ways, a state of affairs where there is more expectation that fulfilment. Self-confidence and self-reliance are replaced by anxiety and a sense of insecurity”. The Gospel proclaims Jesus who is active and always-in people’s midst. Jesus who fights back the injustices and oppressors and make people rise above their problems. Therefore, for the Ghetto people, faith, love and hope must abide, however without freedom and dignity these remain hollow shadows. Hence, whilst poverty is (a state of) dehumanisation (p.66), the Gospel is the rehumanisation (process).

Banana also gives biblical explanations on economic and social justice. Economic and social justices are the pillar of political freedom and independence. “Teach us to demand our share of gold” (1), to demand, not to “ask”, because we own that which they have looted. “Demand is a creative noble act of responsibility: “ask” is a docile act of begging.

Banana explains that the death of Jesus Christ can be a source of liberation to the poor. Christ identified himself with the poor on the cross

Banana calls for the youth to be active and take charge in building the nation. He sees the youth as the future Zimbabwe who will fulfill the dreams of their ancestors who died while fighting for freedom.

Canaan Banana’s liberation theology is still relevant in our contemporary times. Oppressors and the poor still exist in our context where black master has taken the place of the white master.

Criticism: unsystematic theology. “My theology has been criticized as unsystematic but I make no apology. Why should there be systematic theology? Is there systematic agony or systematic hunger?” (Banana 1991b:xi).

Benedict Odhiambo S.J