The Risen Christ is the Resisting Christ: Christology in Postcolonial Africa

This article proposes the image of the Resisting Christ in response to African contexts marked by coloniality, dispossession, and enduring structures of domination. This image emphasizes every detail of Jesus's life, from incarnation to crucifixion, as resistance against the structures of sin operative in his time, while the resurrection functions as divine vindication of Jesus's life, teaching, and even anthropological vision. Because the African continent's ongoing entanglement in what is known as the colonial power matrix is often ignored or paid only passing attention in the forging of Christological models, the absence of the image of the Resisting Christ is worrying, although not surprising. Grounded in the theology of the incarnation and baptism, on the one hand, and an engagement with African history and literature on the other hand, the Resisting Christ, as a Christological model affirms African agency and hope, while calling for greater awareness of the nature of Africa's problems and urgency in the ongoing struggle against coloniality and its necropolitical power.