The Quest For The Christ Of Africa, By Donald J.

There is one name given to Jesus through the eyes of the African people that stood out to me the most. This name is Jesus the Healer. I believe that this name has a universal or global meaning even though in our reading “The Quest for the Christ of Africa” by Donald J. Goergen, Jesus the healer is only presented in terms of its relevance to the African people. I believe not only is it important to see how this name given to Jesus is of great relevance to the african people but also how it is relevant to people around the globe, and how calling Jesus the healer is relatable to every Christian. It is important to understand first how calling Jesus the “healer” makes sense biblically. First off, in the bible on many accounts Jesus performed
healings and miracles. Some of these include, healing the blind, healing the deaf, healing a bleeding woman and so on. These are all examples of Jesus healing by supernatural means. Now to go into the African belief of calling Jesus a healer in the reading Goergen offers this idea of Nganga.
In Africa Nganga is a person who has the ability to connect with another world as well as has the ability to understand the causes of illness, misfortunes, and stresses. This person would also understand how to address these things in supernatural ways. Also in some areas of Africa the christian priest will be called Nganga. This idea of nganga leads us into a more specific name Goergen offers to Jesus, more specific than Jesus the healer he calls him “witchdoctor”. This was shocking to me because in most cases Christian communities would think the idea of a witchdoctor would be anti-christian but what Goergen says is that the idea “witch” is no more negative than the word “doctor” and how “witchdoctor” actually has great meaning in the african society. “It shows Africa's struggles with the reality of evil. In Africa, the "witch" is the most powerful image of what not to be. Thus Christ is a non-witch, an anti-witch, a witch healer or doctor, a physician who has power over the powers of evil” (Georgen 6). In other words, Africans believe that Jesus or Jesus the witch doctor understands how to handle a witch or, by my own inference, Jesus understands how to handle humans at our absolute worst and has the power to heal us at our
worst. There are some negatives and positives to calling jesus the witchdoctor. One of the negatives being that it implies the belief of witches. The reason why Africans still continue to use this word “witch doctor” to describe Jesus is simply because they still believe diseases, in my opinion because they are so widespread in Africa, are believed still in some sense to be caused by witches or something of that nature. In a more general sense africans are in great need of healing and to call Jesus the healer in my opinion is a way of coping with some of the things Africans go through including physical, mental, emotional, spiritual hardships.
I believe considering all that the African people have gone through including “slave trade, colonization, the post-colonial formation of the nationstates, neo-colonialism's economic dependency, intertribal violence and war, the corruption of many post-independence national leaders, and on and on” Jesus the healer is the most important title given to Jesus but I also believe it could be one of the most important titles for christians everywhere (Georgen
5).
On a global perspective the people of the Christian faith believe that Jesus has the power to heal us from our sickness, sorrow, or struggles. I think people globally need to believe in the idea of Jesus being a healer. This may give them hope when they feel as though they have none or peace when they feel as though they have entered chaos. Biblically there is no account of Jesus turning someone down when they need help so why would we as people of the christian faith not seek him and believe him in our times of struggle in knowing this. Through Jesus we no longer have to live in fear because he promises healing through eternal life. In the book of Matthew chapter 11 verse 28 Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This verse implies if you feel burdened, sad, ill come to Jesus and he will heal you and give you rest. I believe giving Jesus the name “the healer” is not only important to Africans but is of great importance to all people of the Christian faith. Knowing Jesus is for us and is going to help us is a center point of the faith and in my opinion one of the greatest paramount's of the faith.