Salvation in African Christianity

"What must I do to be saved?" That question, raised in the book of Acts by the Philippian jailer, is a question for the ages. Yet what, even, does it mean to be saved? Is salvation for this life or the next? Is it purely spiritual or does it have physical and material implications? Can salvation be lost? Do we determine who will be saved or does God? What role does Christ play in salvation? Such are the seemingly unending questions soteriology strives to answer.

In this eighth volume from the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology, African theologians articulate their understanding of salvation - and its widespread implications for life and practice - in conversation with Scripture and the rich diversity of an African cultural context. Salvation is examined from historical, philosophical, and theological lenses, and scholars address topics as wide-ranging as conversion, ethnicity, fertility, poverty, prosperity, the Trinity, exclusivism, African Pentecostalism, rural community, eschatology, wholeness, and atonement. It is a powerful exploration of the holistic nature of salvation as articulated in Scripture and understood by the African church.

RODNEY L. REED is a missionary educator who has been serving at Africa Nazarene University in Nairobi, Kenya, since 2001. Currently, he is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academic Affairs, a position he has held since 2010. Prior to that, he served as the Chair of the Department of Religion for nine years. He holds a PhD in Theological Ethics from Drew University and is an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene.

DAVID K. NGARUIYA is an Associate Professor and former Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Director of PhD in Theological Studies Program at International Leadership University. He holds a PhD in Intercultural Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He served as chair of the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology (2015-2016). He has published journal and book articles and served as co-editor and contributor to Communities of Faith in Africa and African Diaspora (Pickwick Publications, 2013) and was a director of the research study that produced African Christian Leadership (Langham Global Library, 2019).