Africa’s Single-Tiered Ontology

Following the Enlightenment, the church in the West has been influenced by secularization and the dualistic separation of the material and spiritual world. The privileging of reason alone as the final arbiter of truth has created a fact-faith divide, with long-lasting consequences.

In this book, Dr. Trevor H. G. Smith proposes that the African church holds the remedy for this divide through what he calls their single-tiered ontology. This ontology views reality through a unitive perspective, where the seen and unseen, the natural and supernatural, are understood as integral to understanding the world. Employing the methodology of tacit observation, Dr. Smith brings Western cultural understandings of the world into conversation with African understandings to reveal that the African theologian’s dedication to biblical truth provides a more fruitful apologetic approach to assist the global church in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.