Jean-Marc Ela

Jean-Marc Ela (27 September 1936 – 26 December 2008) was a Cameroonian sociologist and theologian. Working variously as a diocesan priest and a professor, Ela was the author of many books on theology, philosophy, and social sciences in Africa. His most famous work, African Cry has been called the "soundest illustration" of liberation theology in sub-Saharan Africa.His works are widely cited as exemplary of sub-Saharan African Christian theology for their focus on contextualisation and their emphasis on community-centered approaches to theology. Quotes We must be attentive to the concrete problem of the church in Africa and become aware of what must be reinvented in ecclesiastical institutions in order for us to live our faith in a climate of freedom rather than of constraint” (The African Cry, Wipf & Stock). Then from our cross to his cross rises one and the same clamor, "Eli! Eli! Lema Sabachthani?" (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) Economically, Africa is considered a poor and marginalised continent. And since the end of the cold war it has no longer been of any strategic or diplomatic importance to the great powers. Except when there are emergencies requiring humanitarian aid, no-one is really interested in the fate of the continent’s 700 million men and women. Is it the failure of development? Or backwardness? Or is it rather a sign of strength that African societies are refusing to fall into the neo-liberal trap, instead creating alternatives to the Western model of development? Again and again we read that Africa is collapsing and turning into "a school for the ills of humanity". The image of a shipwrecked continent, repeated ad nauseam, seems to sum up the perception of Africa - synonymous with poverty, corruption and fraud; the home of violence, conflict and genocide. We are assailed with apocalyptic images of an "impoverished Africa in a spiral of conflict" . As the century draws to a close, we are told that "no continent offers such a spectacle of desolation, war and famine as Africa. Slowly, the place is going to the dogs. The paradigm of bankruptcy has become the context for every analysis of modern Africa’s economic and social history, with the stress on the blind alleys of what is conventionally termed development. Africa is not against development. It dreams of other things than the expansion of a culture of death or an alienating modernity that destroys the fundamental values so dear to Africans. At the same time Africa wants to be party to all the developments of the approaching end of century. Which will make it the continent of the future . Africa sees further than an all-embracing world of material things and the dictatorship of the here and now, that insists on trying to persuade us that the only valid motto is "I sell, therefore I am". In a world often devoid of meaning, Africa is a reminder that there are other ways of being. If Christianity seeks to be anything more than an effort to swindle a mass of mystified blacks, the churches of Africa must all join to come to terms with this question. The cry of the African is none other than the cry of the unfortunate that rises up the moment that western nations loosen their hold on the rope which strangles Africa. This is a "theology under the tree." Indeed, for me, theology consists of speaking about God based on our traditions, particularly oral tradition, which is one of the dimensions of our culture. Beyond the image of a discussion under a large baobab tree, this "theology "Under the tree" is the one who strives to see how on the cross the Christ took up the cry of the African man. Everything concerning destiny of our continent must be re-examined in the light of Him who, upon His The cross, in a way, represents the Calvary of our people. Look at the situations we have lived through since slavery, colonization, and right up to the present day! Africa has remained this land where Creation groans. In an interview External links Category:Sociologists from Cameroon Category:Theologians from Cameroon Category:Authors from Cameroon Category:1936 births Category:2008 deaths