An Assessment of Selected Doctrines in Charles Nyamiti’s Work and Its Relevance to the Pentecostal Movement in Africa

Abstract

This study examines the work of Charles Nyamiti, a Tanzanian Roman Catholic theologian, and its relevance to the Pentecostal movement in Africa. It focuses on Nyamiti’s threefold theological method (the comparative-dialogal, the apologetic, and the pedagogical) on the Trinity, ancestorship, and ecclesiology. The study based the evaluation on Nyamiti’s 76-page book entitled African Tradition and the Christian God. The researcher observes theological divergences between Nyamiti’s theological orientation and African Pentecostalism but believes that there are critical lessons for the African Pentecostals to glean from Charles Nyamiti’s attempt to formulate African theology by employing philosophical inquiry. Pentecostals in Africa can glean from his theological method and the application of the approach to the Trinity, ancestorship, and ecclesiology.