African society is called to receive the Gospel within the framework of its civilization, its social structures, and its currents of thought. This encounter was complicated by the fact that nascent Christianity found itself having to live through two closely interwoven confrontations: [1] one, internal, due to the encounter between the Gospel and the host society; [2] the other, external, arising from the presence of an imported Christianity. In addition to the difficulties of rooting the Gospel in African societies, it needs to be taken into consideration that all aspects of life in these societies were already infused with religion. Consequently, could a Western Christianity that distinguished, or even separated, social activities from worship be acceptable as a system of thought and faith for those who united in their lives these two realities—social and spiritual? The problem still exists today, and in a more crucial way, since Christianity is considered a purely spiritual religion and material and social problems remain in the domain of other religious practices. This presentation will discuss the relation of culture and religion, from the perspective of Orthodox faith, taking also into consideration that in Africa, for some, the return to our cultures means the return to our traditional African religions. The aim of this presentation is to provoke an authentic encounter between the Gospel and culture.

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