A Meko has Three Stones: A Holistic African Approach to the Atonement

A Swahili proverb states ‘ mafiga mawili hayaivishi chungu – two stones would not properly hold a cooking pot’. It suggests that complex relationships may inform even what appears to be simple. This paper suggests that this pattern may usefully be applied to thinking about, and living out, the doctrine of the Atonement. Indeed, it may usefully be adapted to the dictum of Prosper of Aquitaine: lex orandi, lex credendi, lex bene vivendi. A full engagement with the doctrine will have epistemic, relational and behaviour components. Recognizing the Scriptural grounding of the doctrine in the practice of sacrifice and its attendant rituals shows how the doctrine may be believed, related to the personal response and relationship to God (prayer), and lived out liturgically, which is in turn an expression of an ethic to be embraced. Christian life must embrace both orthodoxy and orthopraxis.