Abstract

KAUNDA, Chammah J  and  PHIRI, Isabel A. African Instituted Churches pneumatology and gender justice in the work of GC Oosthuizen: an African feminist pneumatological perspective. Scriptura [online]. 2016, vol.115, pp.1-12. ISSN 2305-445X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7833/115-0-1290.

This article investigates how George C Oosthuizen dealt with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the African Instituted Churches (AICs). It argues that although Oosthuizen analysed the prominent role of the Holy Spirit in the AICs, his perspective was influenced by the missiological currents of the his time in which issues of gender justice were not recognised as missiological concerns and not perceived as problems requiring theological or missiological response. It demonstrates the significance of raising African feminist pneumatological questions in AICs studies. This perspective shows a correlation between AICs that give prominence to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and gender justice in the ministry of women and men in most of the AICs studied by Oosthuizen. In conclusion, it is argued that the theoretical framework that a scholar is using when studying the AICs could sideline or be sensitive to power dynamics between men and women in the AICs, which is a very important element in study of African Christianity.

Keywords : African Instituted Churches; Pneumatology; Gender Justice; GC Oosthuizen; African Feminist Pneumatological Perspective.

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