Epistemological Challenges of Conflicting Worldviews (Christianity& Lugbara) Among the Lugbara People of Uganda

Abstract

The task of every philosopher and, or theologian today in Africa, is how Christianity should be at home among the people it encounters. This paper tries to explore the patterns that exist in the encounter between Christianity and the Lugbara people of Northern Uganda. Rather than producing an integrated Lugbara Christian, at the intersect between the Christian and the Lugbara worldviews, the author discovers that it produced a disassociated Lugbara Christian. The flow of meaning and language remain challenging for the Lugbara Christian. An appreciation of the positive dimensions from the worldviews, which facilitate better understanding of the new identity, calls for an “inside-towards-out” approach to knowing. The “copy and paste” approach is counterproductive and distorts meaning. There must be a real mature conversation between the Christian witnesses of faith and the existential Lugbara culture for Christianity to make a home among the Lugbara.

Keywords: Worldview, Lugbara, Christianity, missioning, evangelization