Bantu Philosophy

Bantu philosophy refers to the philosophy, religious worldview, and ethical principles of the Bantu people articulated by the first generation of African intellectuals and founders of contemporary African philosophy and theology. Originally it referred to research done on traditional culture between 1950 and 1990 in Central Africa, and more specifically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda by philosophers and theologians such as Mulago Gwa Cikara Musharamina, Alexis Kagame, John Mbiti, Mutuza Kabe, and Alexis Kagame.

This research was part of the process of decolonization of knowledge that began with the collapse of European colonial empires in the wake of the [Page 103]first and second world wars. This research intended to rediscover the ancestral philosophical worldview and spiritual values that had been denigrated and distorted by the colonial education. This goal was accomplished by analyzing African proverbs; the structure of Bantu languages, songs, art, and music; and various customs and social institutions. In so doing, “Bantu Philosophy” scholars defined the criteria needed for a philosophy or theology to be “African.” These criteria involved the use of African languages and an African worldview. This method of philosophizing and theologizing was inaugurated in 1910 by Stephane Kaoze, the first Congolese to gain a substantial training in modern philosophy. In his work titled “La Psychologie des Bantu” (“Bantu Psychology”), Kaoze articulated what he regarded as the Bantu way of thinking about knowledge, moral values, God, life, and afterlife. Working in the context of Christian evangelization, Kaoze called for the replacement of colonial Christianity with an “African Christianity.” For such an Africanization of Christianity to occur, he maintained that the gospel should be preached in foreign languages and with foreign method, and that it should address the real issues of African lives, including colonial oppression. He inaugurated the basic method of African theology, which consists of the following elements:

• the establishment of the elements of a traditional African philosophy and a philosophical anthropology to be used as foundation for a theological discourse;
• the use of traditional religion and wisdom (proverbs, myths of creation, traditional vision of God, traditional ethic, and oral literature) as the foundation for theology;
• the use of African languages;
• unveiling the “cultural unity” of African cultures through comparative studies that grasp the common features of African worldviews, ethical principles, and spiritual values and use them to articulate an African theology; and
• the defense and promotion of human rights as a fundamental task of African theology.

However, it is the book published in 1945 by the Belgian missionary Placide Tempels that popularized the notion of Bantu philosophy in Africa and in the West.

Published in 1945 (first in Lubumbashi, Congo), this small book written by a Belgian Franciscan missionary Placide Tempels generated a long controversy that played an important role in the development of contemporary African philosophy and Inculturation theology. Bantu Philosophy is a small book divided into seven chapters: “In Search of a Bantu Philosophy” (chapter I), “Bantu Ontology” (chapter II), “Bantu Wisdom” (chapter III), “Bantu Psychology” (or “The Theory of ‘Muntu,’” chapter IV), “Bantu Ethics” (chapter V), “Restauration of Life” (Chapter VI), and “Bantu Philosophy and Our Mission to Civilize” (chapter VII). The merit of the book resides not in its content, which is quite poor, but rather in its challenge and revolutionary outlook clearly stated in the seventh

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