Woman as Mother and Wife in the African Context of the Family in the Light of John Paul II's Anthropological and Theological Foundation

This study examines the theological and anthropological foundations of the understanding of the dignity and vocation of woman as a mother and wife-gifts given by God that expresses the riches of the African concept of family.

There are two approaches to inculturation theology in Africa, namely, that which attempts to construct African theology by starting from the biblical ecclesial teachings and finds from them what features of African culture are relevant to the Christian theological and anthropological values, and the other one which takes the African cultural background as the point of departure.

According to John Paul II, the dignity and vocation of woman is "something more universal, based on the very fact of her being a woman within all the interpersonal relationships, which, in the most varied ways, shape society and structure the interaction between all persons" (Mulieris Dignitatem no. 29). This "concerns each and every woman, independent of the cultural context in which she lives and independently of her spiritual, psychological and physical characteristics, as for example, age, education, health, work, and whether she is married or single" (Mulieris Dignitatem, no. 29).

The theology of inculturation as presented in this dissertation opens the way for the integration of the theological anthropological teachings of John Paul II in understanding the African woman as mother and wife.