Decolonizing the Gospel of Love in Africa

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a well-crafted, theologically sophisticated paper.  I agree with all you have stated about colonial missionaries and their myriad shortcomings.  Might also want to mention successes of European missionaries in Africa and suggest some reasons for these successes.  Your argument is strong, but should strive for greater balance.    

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This is a very good essay. And an important one. While I am comfortable recommending publication, I would highly recommend that the author do a little more work on this to make it truly excellent. I think with a little bit of tinkering it could have an impressive impact on the field.
First, I think some work needs to be done in the introduction to set up more clearly that the essay will be engaging (primarily) literature. And perhaps better explain the connection between lived love and literature love. What is the relationship between those two, since the essay does move back and forth. This would also be helpful on page 7 where there is an abrupt jump from Purple Hibiscus to anti-LGBTQ laws and the Rwandan genocide. I think it is certainly possible to link these things, I am just not sure the essay does so effectively in its current form.
Second, and this might not be helpful, but there is a recent book, Seductive Spirits, in which the conclusion uses Fanon and decolonialism in African Christainity. It might be worth checking out.
Finally, I wonder if there is a way to complicate or offer a less-full-throated endorsement of some pure-utopian-Christian-love. On the one hand, I understand such an approach, given it is set up as an alternative to colonial Christian love. But does it really offer a "violent-free" continent?

But overall, I quite enjoyed this essay and look forward to see others engage with it.

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. I find your comments and suggestions very helpful, and I have made a few adjustments, and they are as follows:

To your first point. I slightly reworked the introduction, adding not just the fact that I will be engaging (primarily) literature but also providing justification for this, which are African literature's rootedness in history (Booker), the crossfertilization of African history and literature (Zeleza), and the fact that African literature provides us with a heightened sense of reality (Achebe).

Regarding the connection between lived love and literature love, I acknowledge that I have not delved deeply into this aspect. However, I am committed to exploring this connection further and will continue to reflect on it.

I took out the second reference in the article to the Rwanda Genocide. I found that it impedes the flow of the article.

To your second point. I have not been able to lay hands on Seductive Spirits within the five-day window I was given to resubmit my article. I am still trying to get the book and will certainly read it. Thank you for drawing my attention to it.

To your final point, I have ensured to tone down a bit on what indeed seems to be "a full-throated endorsement of pure-utopic-Christian love." I do this in the last paragraph of the introduction.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to review my article and for your kind recommendation and suggestions.