An Introduction to Symbolic Theology: The Case of Adinkra Symbols of the Akan People of Ghana

Akoa Kofi Amoateng strongly believes that Jesus’ incarnation into Jewish-specific culture and humanity as God’s communication to the world (Hebrews 1:1-3), implies the theological and understanding that God wants culture-specific peoples around the world to identify and relate to Him from their cultural and historic experiences and backgrounds. He, therefore, submits that theology and hermeneutics  must be both contextual and rooted in ethnic epistemological realities. Akoa, therefore, calls for ethnothelogy and ethnohermeneutics, believing that, generally, there is nothing like one theological jackets that fits all peoples.

This work is a masterpiece and a paradigm shift into offering how peoples’ theologies and indigenous hermeneutical enterprises can be constructed in contextualization for the different peoples of the world.

“Amoateng draws attention to the critical role symbols play for African theology. He bemoans the neglect of the early missionaries to the symbolic realm which has left a paucity of theological reflections on the Adinkra symbols. He uses this lacuna to highlight symbolic theology within the wider purview of ethnotheology, which some scholars are calling ethnohermeneutics. The Adinkra symbols can thus be analyzed within the broader lenses of Africa’s rich oral history, especially if we understand orality much larger than verbal utterances, but to include symbols that speak even when words are absent.” — Gregg Okesson, Ira Galloway and D.M. Beeson Chair of Leadership Development and Evangelism; Dean, E. Stanley Jones School ofWorld Mission and Evangelism; Presidential Envoy and Director of Global Partnerships, Asbury Theological Seminary