Skip to content
Home/ Senghor's Eucharist: Negritude and African Political Theology
Senghor's Eucharist: Negritude and African Political Theology

Senghor's Eucharist: Negritude and African Political Theology

by Ngong, David Tonghou
No customer reviews yet ISBN 9781481317795

In his collection of poems Black Hosts, Léopold Senghor, a leading figure in the Negritude movement and the first president of Senegal, offers the suffering and death of Africans, rather than that of Christ, as a site for the healing of a fractured and antagonistic world. Drawing from literature, history, political science, anthropology, and theology, David Tonghou Ngong's Senghor's Eucharist investigates the possibilities and perils of Senghor's offer.

Ngong argues that, while Senghor might be accused of cheapening African suffering by offering an easy pardon to colonizers and others who have harmed Africans, his work should be situated within the Negritude movement and its intention to revalorize the lives of Africans in a world that often treats African lives as disposable. Indeed, by connecting the suffering of Africans to the central figure of the Christian faith, Jesus Christ, Senghor suggests that at the heart of Western Christianity lies a disturbing betrayal--the refusal of communion, to eat together, as dramatized in the Eucharist. Consequently, if critically engaged, Senghor's poetic challenge may open up not only avenues through which Eucharistic theology may inform African politics but also serve as a way for African political theology to enact a cosmopolitan vision that is sorely needed in our time.

In an era of increasing global fragmentation along racial, ethnic, sexual, and other lines, reclaiming Senghor's Eucharistic African vision as found in "Black Hosts" may help us begin to reimagine a new life not only for Africans but also for the rest of humanity. Critically, Senghor urges us to recognize that the life of Africans is necessarily connected to the life of the world--indeed, that Africa itself in all its complexity, tragedy, and triumph is a cruciform vessel through which passes the earth's redemption and reconciliation.

About the author

Product details

Pub dateAug 15, 2023
ISBN-101481317792
ISBN-139781481317795
LanguageEnglish
Last updated 2025-11-14 18:11
$69.59
In stock — ships in 24 hours with free tracking
Delivery by Monday, September 14, 2026
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from Religion | Christian Theology | Liberation
See all
World Come of Age: An Intellectual History of Liberation Theology
Barger, Lilian Calles
$59.56
World Come of Age: An Intellectual History of Liberation Theology
Barger, Lilian
$27.68
Aesthetics and Ethics of Faith: A Dialogue Between Liberationist and Pragmatic Thought
Tirres, Christopher D
$175.86
Option for the Poor in Christian Theology
<p>Since the publication of Gustavo Gutiérrez's 1973 groundbreaking work, <i>A Theology of Liberation</i>, much has been written on liberation theology and its central premise of the preferential option for the poor. Arguably, this has been one of the most important yet controversial theological themes of the twentieth century. As globalization creates greater gaps between the rich and the poor, and as the situation for many of the world's poor worsens, there is an ever greater need to understand the gift and challenge of Christian faith from the context of the poor and marginalized of our society. This volume draws on the thought of leading international scholars and explores how the Christian tradition can help us understand the theological foundations for the option for the poor. The central focus of the book revolves around the question, How can one live a Christian life in a world of destitution? The contributors are concerned not only with a social, economic, or political understanding of poverty but above all with the option for the poor as a theological concept.</p><p>While these essays are rooted in a solid grounding of our present "reality," they look to the past to understand some of the central truths of Christian faith and to the future as a source of Christian hope. Following Gustavo Gutiérrez's essay on the multidimensionality of poverty, Elsa Tamez, Hugh Page, Jr., Brian Daley, and Jon Sobrino identify a central theological premise: poverty is contrary to the will of God. Drawing on scripture, the writings of the early fathers, the witness of Christian martyrs, and contemporary theological reflection, they argue that poverty represents the greatest challenge to Christian faith and discipleship. David Tracy and J. Matthew Ashley carry their reflection forward by examining the option for the poor in light of apocalyptic thought. Virgilio Elizondo, Patrick Kalilombe, María Pilar Aquino, M. Shawn Copeland, and Mary Catherine Hilkert examine the challenges of poverty with respect to culture, Africa, race, and gender. Casiano Floristán and Luis Maldonado explore the relationship between poverty, sacramentality, and popular religiosity. The final two essays by Aloysius Pieris and Michael Signer consider the option for the poor in relationship to other major world religions, particularly an Asian theology of religions and the meaning of care for the poor within Judaism.</p>
$40.56
Óscar Romero's Theological Vision: Liberation and the Transfiguration of the Poor
Colón-Emeric, Edgardo
$164.89
Óscar Romero's Theological Vision: Liberation and the Transfiguration of the Poor
Colón-Emeric, Edgardo
$38.59