In Memoriam: Jean-Marc Ela, Africa’s “Liberation Theologian” is Dead

By Dibussi Tande

“If Christianity seeks to be anything more than an effort to swindle a mass of mystified blacks, the churches of Africa must all join to come to terms with this question.”

"liberation of the oppressed must be the primary condition for any authentic inculturation of the Christian message.” Father Jean Marc Ela.

The death has been announced of Father Jean Marc Ela, one of Cameroon’s leading scholars, who has variously been described as “the nearest Africa has come to a liberation theologian in a Latin American sense “, the “Champion of a theology under the trees “, “Africa's first liberation theologian of note outside South Africa”, and as “one of the best known and most read African theologians not only in Africa but also elsewhere”. He died recently in Canada where he had been on exile since 1995.

Born in 1936 in Ebolowa, Cameroon, Jean-Marc Ela was ordained priest in 1964. He subsequently earned doctorate degrees in Theology from the University of Strasbourg, France (1969) and Sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris (1978).

A very prolific writer, Jean-Marc Ela published dozens books, the most popular being Ma foi d’Africain (My faith as an African) “which gave him world notoriety and African renown in particular”, Le cri de l‘homme (African Cry) “which attracted attention the world over”, and Voici le temps des Héritiers églises d'Afrique et voies nouvelles (co-authored with Christiane Ngendakuriyo; Vincent Cosmao; René Luneau but in which his contributions were so significant that he is generally referred to as the sole author). These three books have been described by many as his” essential contributions to African theology".

Jean-Marc Ela’s theology was largely shaped by his 14-year stay among the non-Muslim Kirdi population of Northern Cameroon whose life was characterized by misery, marginalization and exploitation by the state. As a result, according to Sundkler, “no one else expressed the 'cry of the African' with as much prophetic pathos as Fr. Jean-Marc Ela”. As Fr. Ela stressed in one of his writings:

How can the African human being attain a condition that will enable him and her escape misery and inequality, silence and oppression? If Christianity seeks to be anything more than an effort to swindle a mass of mystified blacks, the churches of Africa must all join to come to terms with this question.

But Ela’s theology was more than just about liberation. As Benezet Buju points out, “Jean Marc's theology cannot be reduced to theology of liberation as opposed to the so-called theology of inculturation”. In this regard, Fr. Ela called for:

...an African theology that incorporates oral culture, myths, symbols, etc. into its method and into the proclamation of the Gospel. For our theologian it is evident that his inculturating effort cannot be undertaken without taking into account liberation in a holistic sense, i.e. one that takes into account cultural identity and the political and socio-economic dimensions... For Jean-marc Ela, liberation and inculturation do not oppose each other. They ought to be placed in a relation of  'perichoresis' for an African theology that takes into account each and every person. (African Theology in the 21st century benezet Bujo, juvenal Ilunga Muya, 212).

Outcast

Jean Marc Ela was a vocal critic of both the Catholic Church in Cameroon, which shunned him, and the Biya regime which forced him into exile in 1995. According to Paul Gifford,

For all his réclame in the West, it must be noted that Ela has been totally marginalised ('pas bien integré' is the standard euphemism) in the Catholic Church in Cameroon. In the early 1990s he used to celebrate mass every Saturday evening in a parish near the University of Yaounde, to which students would flock in hundreds. This mass was quite an event, being marked both by liturgical inculturation and radical, socially aware sermons. Ela taught at the University of Yaounde and at the Faculté Protestante, but not at Yaounde's Catholic University. He was in Rome at the time of the 1994 Synod of bishops for Africa, not as part of the official Cameroon delegation, but invited by an alternative group. When one inquired why he was so marginalised, different answers were given: that he is just writing for the West and what he writes has no bearing on the life of people in the villages, or that he is a sociologist, not a theologian.

But even more significant than his marginalization by the Catholic Church, was his persecution by the Biya regime for his critical stances on a variety of issues, particularly the regime's refusal to give in to the democratization clamor of the early 1990s. On August 6, 1995, Fr. Jean Marc Ela left Cameroon for good after being “alerted to probable attempts on his own life" (Gifford, 271). According to a 1995 memorandum by the Forum of African Intellectuals in the Diaspora whose members included Achille Mbembe and Celestin Monga,

The general reasons for this forced departure include the countless bullying, humiliations and harassments, in short, the multiple forms of persecution and the systematic violence that the Cameroonian state has unleashed against scholars, intellectuals, artists and creators whom it suspects of dissidence.

The immediate cause of Jean Marc Ela’s exile the repeated death threats made against him since the assassination of Fr. Engelbert Mveng…

According to the memorandum, during the "smoldering years" of 1990-1992, members of the ruling elite who belonged to the Head of State’s Bulu ethnic group (which was also Fr. Ela's) considered his stance on key issues to be detrimental to their interests. He was reproached for publishing articles critical of the Biya regime in “Bamileke newspapers” that were hostile to the regime, and for refusing to associate himself with the ruling CPDM. In the subsequent years, these threats became more specific and were even extended to members of his family. Fr. Ela was asked to either reaffirm his loyalty to the tribe or be branded a traitor. The threats began to take a more concrete form after the assassination of Fr. Mveng (his collaborator and another priest who was tagged a “troublemaker”) on April 24, 1995. On August 6, 1995, he left Cameroon for good.

Jean-Marc Ela’s international renown did not translate into national renown in his native Cameroon where he was not very well known beyond intellectual and religious circles - although his articles in “opposition” newspapers in the early 1990s gave him a certain following among a younger generation who came to know him only as a pro-democracy activist and not as the great scholar that he was. Ela’s 13-year exile ensured that the post 1990 generation of Cameroonians was completely unaware of the existence of one of the leading theologians of our times and one of the country’s leading scholars of all time. As the 1995 memorandum rightly pointed out, through his life and works, Fr. Jean-Marc Ela was “part of the intellectual patrimony of Africa, its moral conscience and the historic struggles of Africans trying to live full lives in spite of destiny, calamities and numerous challenges.”

In their seminal work on African Theology in the 21st century, Benezet Bujo and Juvenal Muya offer what is probably the best epitaph for the fallen priest:

Jean-Marc Ela will be one remembered by the future African generations as a benefactor and advocate who defended the identity and dignity of black peoples with a real Christian and priestly commitment.

May his soul rest in peace.

For Jean Marc's sample bibliography, check out his Wikipedia page.

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Comments

[Dennis Tambe]

Hello Dibussi,

Thanks for this update on Jean Marc Ela.

It is rather sad and ironic that a man who seemingly (never heard of him or read his works) spent his life exposing the myths and realities of Western Christian religion ("liberation theology") should die in exile shackled to the bosom, goodwill and the feeding bottle of a Western Christian Country. The fate of Jean Marc Ela and the likes of Mongo Beti speaks volumes about the precarious life of the black African contrarian, especially in liberal democracies like Cameroon .

We now need homegrown and Africa-based Jean Marc Elas to enlighten our populations on the follies and dangers inherent in contemporaneous "Wealth-Faiths" (Ponzi schemes) that have now mushroomed in our desperately poor communities to enrich self-anointed pastors and bishops.

Modern "wealth theologians" are no different from european colonial missionaries who paved the way for rapacious colonial buccaneers by diverting the attention of primitive peoples away from their abundant resources and wealth creation processes ("Seek ye first the Kingdom of God"; "It is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"; "For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul"). These sleek snake oil salesmen and women are systematically conning our hassled, exploited, dis-oriented, exhausted and depraved populations out of their meagre resources. The hunted are now the hunters.

"Liberation theology" must now focus on the enemy within, unabashed indigenous "wealth theologians", who use subterfuge to prey on our naive and unwitting populations. Like the colonial theologian of yesteryear, these con artists are cruising on the macadamized road to heaven and leaving their flock to trudge on the thorny path.

Mukefor Dennis Tambe

[dango tumma]

I will disagree with all who thinks that
christianity that was imported from the west
just all other continents of the world must be the one to blame for Africas misery.
The blame is is to laid squarely on the Africans monsters themselves. wait a minute.
what would the would have became, none the less Africa without christianity? The missionaries built schools, colleges, hospital during the colonial era, some are still beeing serving us today, but Our monsters we worship, call PRESIDENTS, unelected, power hungry, wicked,bandits, liars,satans as they are, who hate every thing TRUTH, that cheristianity preach, have engaged in genocide, colonialisation, and rape of their own brothers, then we praised, those who stand to praised those who preaach against christianity, I simply dont buy that.

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

dango tuma, you are an idiot. Outline the good that Europeans and Christianity brought to Africa; elaborate outline and explain them. Schools and colleges? what schools? schools which told us that we are inferior human beings? schools which said we could only be good enough if we abandon our culture for a more Western lifestyle? schools and churches which told us that our ancestors will go to hell because they didn't receive Jesus as their personal lord and savior? are these the schools you are calling achievements?

and you even talked about hospitals. Do you know that before Europeans came to Africa, Africa has been surviving and sustaining herself for millions of years without any help from Europe? do you know that before Europeans came to Africa, we did not have all these complex diseases which exist today? ask yourself why things got worse only after they came. The bring a disease, create a cure and have us rush to them to buy the cure; at the end of the day you carry your block heads and start praising them.

It never seizes to amaze me how uninformed and brainwashed some Africans are. We are truly living in sad times.

[dango tumma]

what would africa had became without
christianity?

christianity preaches, truth, truth and
forgiveness. but french negrosof cameroun had illegally occupied british southern cameroons for close to half a century, raping them and syphoning their resource as well as impoverishing them, is that what
christianity preaches? is that the work of christianity? no no its the work of primitive savages in 3 piece suit from the central african forest call yaounde, who thinks he can only be great bym making every one else sit under his foot-stool. thats the savage african beef that, frenhc-negroes have to eat, before the can be born again into light.

[Innocent Ndifor Mancho]

Dango Tuma,
before the advent of christianity in africa, or should i say the exportation of that religion to africa, african traditional religion preached forgiveness and tolerance. My family didnot learn to practice truth, peace and forgiveness from christian religion.

the colonialists used religion and education as a vehicle to drive their capitalist doctrine. there were schools in africa, formal educational established teaching and learning in traditional african languages both written and spoken even before the white man came.

that not withstanding their religion has enabled africa to relate in more than one way to the rest of the world.

africa has reached a point where we need to break awy from that blame game. the time is passed for us to always think that europe and colonialism are to blame for the ills in africa. yet this does not mean we should not realise how damaging that experience has been to the development of the continent. but we need to move forward.

last week paul biya, through a presidential decision admitted every student from the northern provinces who wrote the entrance examination into ENS maroua. what implictions does such a decision have on his politics of national integretion? where is the role of merit in the recruitment of teachers? why did they organise a competitive entrance examination when they could have just recruited from the neighbourhood?

in my opinion the MPs from the northern regions have set a presedence in political blackmail where the president will have to appease every region or ethnic groups each time they come together to demand tokens. i hope MPs from the southern cameroons sitting in yaounde can emulate that example and press for radical changes in the region.

This is the debate we should be having. is this the prologue to a national disaster? or is the new deal now feeding on its own flesh?

[Ma Mary]

One of the most liberating experiences in life is jettisoning fear of the unknown and greed for a hypothetical life hereafter while being determined to live a good life here. Christianity or any religion for that matter did not invent fairness and love. Those things are built into us and were with us from the beginning. The Europeans and the Arabs brought their religions to Africa and used them as instruments of mind control.

I like to quote Archbishop Desmond Tutu in these matters:

“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”

Keep your imported religion if it gives you peace, but do not be a fool about where it came from. If you are smart, turn it into an instrument of freedom. That is what Tutu was talking about, as well as ML King Jr and Malcolm X and I guess this late Fr Ela as well.

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

For the first time in my life I agree with Ma Mary. Very, very well said.

[dango tumma]

freedom is more important than religion/
thats what i implied, interestingly
no one can see that

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

That is not you were implying Mr.TUMMA. Who are you trying to fool? do you take us for children? Let me just reserve the insults I was about to launch on you.

Scroll up and read what you wrote; you seem to have forgotten. You said that Christianity was beneficial to Africa because through it, the white man built schools, hospitals and preached the message of love and peace. What people are making you understand is that the message of love and peace already existed in Africa before the white man came with the bible. Do your research. I would advice you to read what Ma Mary wrote because it was well written.

[dango tumma]

cheistianity is still and will continue 1 1mill years to dictate mans life and moral beeing on earth except those that
arer still living in caves and who still believe that the world is flat. soo your insult or not doent change this implication. whats more important in your life ? is it religion or freedom...

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

TUMMA, you are simply nothing but a victim of religious brainwashing. You go to bed every night praying for Eurocentric indoctrination.

[Ma Mary]

What you may do, if you insist on being Christian, is to take that Christianity and make it your own. That is what the liberation theologians are about. Why did Pope John Paul II and his lieutenant, Cardinal Ratzinger crack down mightily on liberation theologians in Latin America and Jean Betrand Aristide of Haiti? It was because they did not want to see people in the so called third world use Christianity as fuel for their freedom from oppression. In its DNA, Catholicism likes subservient, grateful poor people, who say yes father, yes my lord and kiss episcopal rings. It is paradoxical that Cardinal Carol Woltya was a supporter of Solidarity in Poland, a movement that used Catholic Christianity to neutralize the oppression of Soviet communism. So, why did they give the liberation theologists of Central America zero choice, to stop talking or be excommunicated. A special law was created for Aristide. Get out of politics or resign from the priesthood. He decided that he loved the people more than the church, and to remain in the clergy was an indulgence.

Do not get me wrong, the church does many good, charitable things, and it is a solid rock, but if you look under that rock, there are worms, snakes and scorpions squirming there.

[The Southwesterner]

Ma Mary,
That was a great piece. When a religion successfully implants fear in the minds of its followers, aaaaah , that is danger.

[dango tumma]

those who are not glad that light came to africa as christianity, must love satan, you can have it both ways.
and must kiss biya ass as well. all things are connected.

[Tayong]

I missed this onslaught on Christianity.Hhmmm Ma Mary you almost passed for Christopher Hicthens, the lion of the atheist world. No pejorative intended! You have the rights to your opinion but not to the facts and truth

---"The Europeans and the Arabs brought their religions to Africa and used them as instruments of mind control"-----

Christianity is not a European religion, Check it out Ma Mary and christianity doesnt control nor bug the mind on the other hand it exalts logical reasoning.

As for liberation theology there is nothing wrong with it.It emphasises the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, particularly through political activism. Its theologians consider sin the root source of poverty, recognizing capitalist greed as sin and as class war by the rich against the poor.

But its rather the adultration of liberation theology that I will also condemn, the likes preached by Jeremiah Wright and Father Fledger. That sets ethnic group against each other and class against class in the name of liberation theology.I call that racism from the pulpit

Ma Mary you sound more like living in "USSR" than living in USA.In any case its somehow laughable to hear you end like this

"...the church does many good, charitable things, and it is a solid rock, but if you look under that rock, there are worms, snakes and scorpions squirming there.....

If you believe that there are no worms,snakes and scorpions because in your words it is ---"liberating experiences in life to jettisoning fear of the unknown and greed for a hypothetical life hereafter while being determined to live a good life here"----- then when you come to DC I have a piece of land at 1600,PENNSLYVANIA AVENUE to sell to you.Bring enough do!

Safe journey
Tayong

[Rev.Roosevelt k.Jenkins]

Your website was exciting to read for a chance compare to other's they say they are representing but not. Hat's off to the king my brother. I work for a christian magazine that advertise for business churches and organizations across the world. I wouldLIKE you to take a look at it when you have a momment in your time sir!This magazine are from two katrina surivors which are two virtous lady's of the cross.