Literary and Spiritual Practices: Exploring African Traditions and Their Offshoots in the USA

African writers, including novelists and those who have specialised in the social sciences, are not sufficiently known in Europe, Asia and the United States. This book seeks to remedy this lack. It explores meaning and the human good as constitutive of human communities as advocated in the writings of African authors and other authors who have specialised in African history and the exploitation of Africans for the past several centuries. It also invokes Bernard Lonergan’s books, Insight and Method in Theology, to supply the background interdisciplinary method in forming the authors’ approach.

John Anthony Raymaker is a US citizen living in Germany. He holds a PhD in Economics and Finance and lived in Japan for over thirty years, where he taught at various universities and immersed himself in Asian culture. He speaks and writes Japanese fluently. John is, above all, an expert in the Bernard Lonergan school of thought; Lonergan's economics and philosophical system are his primary areas of expertise. He has authored many books on the Lonergan system and other contemporary global challenges. Following his retirement from Japanese academia, John continues to lecture at Global Ministry University and several other online institutions. He is a staunch defender of the rights of the oppressed and marginalised.

Sébastien Éric Nkoa Ayissi is a young Cameroonian Catholic priest. He completed his university studies in Cameroon, where he obtained a master's in finance. He previously served as a bank manager with the French bank Société Générale but resigned from his position to join religious life. He was ordained a priest in Paris, France, in 2018. Upon his return to Cameroon, he opened a consultancy firm and worked as a finance consultant for UN Women in the Central African Republic. He also served as a financing for development consultant for the Sisters of Notre Dame at the UN in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Currently, he teaches finance at various universities in Cameroon and at CEFOD in Chad. He recently earned his PhD in Financial Strategies from ESSEC Business School of Douala and serves as the assistant parish priest at St Anne Parish of Efok in the Diocese of Obala, Cameroon.