Inculturation: A Conditio Sine Qua Non For Effective Evangelization in Cameroon in the Light of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Africa

Early missionaries to Cameroon dismissed fundamental cultural and religious practices of the people, especially the cult of the ancestors as paganism and sought to replace it with the Christian doctrine of the communion of saints. Considering the significant liturgical-cultural shifts that occurred at the Second Vatican Council and the propositions of Pope John Paul II in Ecclesia in Africa this research analyses both the theology and rituals around the communio sanctorum and the veneration of ancestors and demonstrates that ancestral veneration is not bound up with superstition and error but is replete with parallels to the doctrine of the communion of saints. It articulates their differences and similarities and argues for the liturgical inculturation of ancestral veneration in the domains of the litany of the saints, the Eucharistic liturgy and the use of ancestors’ names at baptism. This will enable Cameroonians to become Christians and remain Africans.Master of Theology (ThM