A Semiotic Approach to the Theology of Inculturation argues that though it is a difficult and delicate task, inculturation is still a requisite demand of a World Church and that without it the Church is unrecognisable and unsustainable. The book also suggests that the past failures of inculturation experiments in Africa can be overcome only by critically applying the science of semiotics, which can serve as an antidote to the nature of human knowing and reductionism that characterised earlier attempts to make Christianity African to the African. Drawing from the semiotic works of C.S. Peirce, Clifford Geertz, and Bernard Lonergan, Cyril Orji shows why semiotics is best suited to an African theology of inculturation and offers ten pinpointed precepts, identified as 'Habits', which underline the attentiveness, reasonableness, and responsibility required in a semiotic approach to a theology of inculturation. The 'Habits' are also akin to the imperatives inherent in the notion of catholicity - that catholicity is not identified with uniformity but with reconciled diversity, and also that catholicity demands different forms in different places, times, and cultural settings.

Drawn from the Conference on World Christianity, this provocatively titled book, invoking images of “culture collision,” “particularity,” and the “global South”, prompts for profoundly new understandings of apparently polar themes: inculturation, universality, and world Christianity. Since the emergence of world Christianity is not an epiphenomenon, but central to the question of how the gospel is good news for today’s world, readers concerned about the theological issues related to the possibilities for a genuinely new evangelization will find this volume. It will also be of interest to students and scholars of African ecclesiastical history, world Christianity, and inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue. Cyril Orji is Associate Professor of theology at the University of Dayton, Ohio, USA. He specializes in systematic and fundamental theology with particular emphasis on the theology and philosophy of Bernard Lonergan, whom he brings into conversation with the works of the American pragmatist and semiotician Charles Sanders Peirce. Dr Orji also collaborates in inter-religious dialogue and the intersection of religion and culture – inculturation, post-colonial critical theory, and Black and African theologies – and engages in communal practices of communicative theology in the development of local/contextual theologies. He has published numerous articles in various peer-reviewed journals, and is the author of A Semiotic Approach to the Theology of Inculturation (2015), An Introduction to Religious and Theological Studies (2015), The Catholic University and the Search for Truth (2013), and Ethnic and Religious Conflicts in Africa: An Analysis of Bias and Conversion Based on the Work of Bernard Lonergan (2008).

'Inculturation' is a word come only recently into theological language, having its origin and impetus in a revolution in the perception of Christian mission--even of Christian identity. 'Toward a Theology of Inculturation' is the first book to bring together the many strands of current and historical Catholic thought on what might be called a theology of a multicultural church. Inculturation, Shorter argues, is the recognition that faith must in effect become culture to be fully received and lived. In the course of a wide-ranging discussion, the author explores the intimate relationship between inculturation and theology, focusing in particular on scripture, the history of Òmissions (especially in Africa), and contemporary Catholic thought. Shorter concludes with an exploration of the future of the church--a multicultural church. 'Toward a Theology of Inculturation' offers a substantive explication of what inculturation is, what it is not, how and when it occurs, and what its limits are or should be.

Drawing on the thought of Bernard Lonergan, The Death and Life of Speculative Theology narrates the rise and fall of speculative theology, retrieves and transposes its central achievements, and shows how it might be renewed as a modern science for a modern culture.

This book details how semiotics furthers an understanding of the science of Christology. In the light of the trend towards evolutionary worldview, the book goes beyond description and critically engages the sign system of C. S. Peirce, which it sees as a conceptual tool and method for a better understanding of some of the basic issues in Christology.

Breaking away from the centuries-long theological tradition, Dmitry Usenco offers a radically new—semiotic—reading of spirituality, proceeding on his original theory of the initial cultural unity that embraces language, technology, and religion. African Traditional Religion comes into focus as a valid alternative and—in the long run—an equal partner to Christianity in the creation of a modern pluralistic society. While the author’s concepts and conclusions may seem controversial to some, none of the readers can discard them as irrelevant. Africa’s future will in many respects depend on her ability to preserve her cultural heritage in which religion plays a crucial part.