Date of Award
Spring 4-21-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Theology
First Advisor
Joseph Ogbonnaya
Second Advisor
Alexandre Martins
Third Advisor
Cathal Doherty, SJ
Fourth Advisor
John Thiede, SJ
Abstract
This study examines African ecclesiology through the theological lens of Pope Francis (1936-2025) using Kenya as a case study. I argue that the Kenyan Catholic Church, historically shaped by a Eurocentric missionary heritage, needs renewal amid rapidly changing sociocultural, political, economic, religious, and ecological realities. To support my claim that this Church needs revitalization, I analyze the country’s ecclesiastical history and select ecclesial documents. Based on the emerging analytical findings, I propose a reimagination of the Church in Kenya, drawing primarily on Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. I explore the possibilities of appropriating dimensions of Francis’s ecclesiology, such as his invitation to embrace missionary discipleship, synodality, pastoral conversion, and the incorporation of the model Church-as-field-hospital, into the country’s ecclesial landscape. This research further situates Francis’s ecclesial vision in critical dialogue with Bernard Lonergan’s (1904-1984) theological method and Laurenti Magesa’s (1946-2022) African theology of inculturation. These two theologians serve as Francis’s main interlocutors in this study. On one hand, Lonergan’s theological method offers a framework for interpreting and appropriating Francis’s ecclesial insights, particularly through Lonergan’s emphasis on historical consciousness, conversion, and the mediation between theological reflection and pastoral practice. On the other hand, Magesa’s theology of inculturation anchors this study in the lived cultural, religious, and social contexts of Africa, providing resources for articulating a culturally contextual Kenyan ecclesiology responsive to the needs of local communities. This work adopts an ecclesiology from below, identifying Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in parishes as places that foster theological reflection and thereby promote ecclesial renewal. I examine SCCs as communities in which faith engages economic, cultural, political, social, religious, and ecological concerns, enabling a thriving ecclesial dynamism, shaped by the lived experience of people at the grassroots level, to emerge. I hold this ecclesiology from below in a dialectical tension with an ecclesiology from above, represented by diocesan structures and the country’s episcopal conference. I propose that this dialectical ecclesial relationship between the Church from above and from below, guided by Francis’s ecclesiology, provides a pathway for ecclesial revitalization in Kenya.