Change,Ritual,and Grief: Continuity and Discontinuity of Pastoral Theology in Ghana

Abstract

Uses a life segment from a Westernized Ghanaian man going through grief over the death of his father to illustrate the conflicts implicit when Ghanaian culture and religious values interact with Western civilization and Christianity. Develops the thesis that a pastoral theology of ritual may provide a religious understanding in which Western Christian notions and practices and the original understandings of Ghanaians can be bridged. Notes especially the role of the cross in providing a symbol capable of creatively relating original cultic meanings witn an enlightened Christian understanding of death and grief.