ABUJA JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY (APT)

This commemorative edition marks the centenary celebration of Pope Benedict XV's Maximum Illud (MI, 1918), the foremost missionary document of the Church. MI emphasised the urgency and necessity of the propagation of the Christian faith, given that many lands and peoples had not yet heard of the gospel. One hundred years on, Pope Francis reafrms that there is no letup in missionary activity in the world today; yet this propagation of faith is still the greatest challenge to World Christianity (Evangelii Gaudium, no. 11). The current volume contains articles from a host of scholars in church history (Iheanacho, Nwosuh), theology (Steffen, Oborji, Moerschbacher, Arowosoge, Igbekele, and Igbaoyinbo), and philosophy (Ekpe). They all critically engage the famed enduring signicance of missio ad gentes and missio inter gentes in a post-modern world. They interrogate questions around MI. For instance, they examine MI's relevance to formation for the missions in Africa today with the growing mission in reverse between Africa and the Northern Hemisphere (Iheanacho, Igbekele). Some demonstrate how MI remains inspirational for the constant renewal of the theology of mission in the Church, from the 1974 Synod of Bishops, themed Evangelisation in the Modern World, to Pope Francis' Evangelii Gaudium (Steffen). Some capture the history of the missions in African territories post-Maximum Illud, underscoring the tensions between cultural contacts, conict, and fruitful encounters with African peoples (Iheanacho, Nwosuh). Two contributions continue the argument for the 'self-theologising' task of a Church truly Christian truly African (Moerschbacher, Oborji). Moerschbacher persuasively argues that MI may rightly be seen as 'a precursor of an era of decolonization', which certainly led to the inculturation project in Africa. Oborji, on his part, pursues the argument of 'self-theologising' with his rigorous and extensive excursus into the concept of the 'Person' in African Thought and Culture, leading to the question of method in philosophy and theology today.