Afghan Christian Theology

One of the most beautiful proverbs in our language (Dari) says:

"If the first brick is laid crooked by the builder,
The whole wall will lean crookedly."

Truly, if the foundation and groundwork are not properly laid, the future of the building is endangered. The Afghan church is currently in its formative stages of faith. Despite Christianity's presence in Afghanistan sixteen centuries ago, it failed to firmly establish itself in our society.1 Christianity's introduction to Afghanistan dates back to the 5th century, when the Sasanian Emperor Yazdegerd I officially acknowledged the Eastern Church. Over the subsequent two hundred years, regions such as Herat, Badghis, Farah, Qandahar, and Nimruz even had bishops.2

Unfortunately, following the conquests of Genghis Khan and Timur between 1200-1400 AD, Christianity vanished entirely from Afghanistan until its reappearance in the 18th century.3 Astonishingly, in the past fifty years particularly, thousands of Afghans have embraced faith in Jesus Christ,4 and Afghan Christian believers in Afghanistan and the diaspora are growing both in numbers and in their commitment to the Gospel.

The emerging Afghan church continually faces its share of opportunities and challenges. One opportunity that Afghan believers have is to lay the first bricks of Afghan Christian theology correctly with the help of the Lord, seeking His guidance, wisdom, and strength. This cannot happen accidentally; we must purposefully consider on how we can intentionally form a theology that:

1. Is faithful to the Word of God.
2. Is understandable and digestible for Afghans.
3. Is not merely an imitation or translation of Western or even neighboring theologies.

Regarding the first point, please refer to the article "What is Theology?" in this Journal. In that article, we define theology as the distinct task of the Church in contemplating about God's Word. So, theology is impossible without the Word of God and faithfulness to His Word.

Some may not agree with the second point. Their critique could be, "Our duty is to remain faithful to the Word of God, and whether our theology is comprehensible or not is not our concern. The Word of God provides answers to all our questions. So if we teach the Word of God, there is no need to think about other things." 

Although I fully concur that our allegiance to the Word of God is paramount (the first point!), and that the Word of God provides answers to all our questions, we must still ask ourselves, if the Word of God provides all the answers, what specific questions are being raised, and who are the questioners?5

While we are all humans and share in so many common experiences, nonetheless, do all our questions about God, life, family, and eternity mean the exact same things when it is raise by an American or an European or an Afghan?

As an example, if we think about the question of the existence of God, when an American, who has enough food in his fridge and a wam shelter, ponders the existence of God, does not his questions regarding the existence of God, fundamentally differ from an Afghan man who returns home at the end the day, without having had any work, with empty hands, without even a dry piece of bread for his hungry children and expectant wife, with tears in his eyes and lump on his throat from holding back those tears all day, gazing skywards, and implores repeatedly, "God, are you there? Are you there, God?"?

They may say the exact same words, "God, are you there?" and their subject matter may be the same, the existence of God, yet the meaning of those words are a universe apart. And so, if their questions are different, our theological answer must also be different.

But does this mean that Afghan theology will differ, even though the source of all believers' faith is the Word of God? Yes, it does; however, two things must be considered. First, theology is not the Word of God but the Church's reflection and contemplation on God's Word.6 So differences of focus on diverse theological topics or articulation of theological positions are entirely natural. Therefore, it is reasonable that Afghan theology may differ from other theologies, and indeed, it should diverge. Failure to do so means that we are not participating in the global theological conversation of the Church as Afghans and we are neglecting our obligation towards the Church's unique task.

Second, Afghan theology must be a theology that is not merely an imitation, copy, or translation of the theologies from other languages. The keyword here is "merely." Let there be no misunderstanding. We certainly need to translate theology from other languages because the Christian Church has a two-thousand-year-old theological tradition, which equally belongs to us Afghan Christians as our heritage; from the Church Fathers to apologists,7 thinkers from various intellectual schools such as the Desert Fathers,8 Scholastics, Thomists, Jesuits, Evangelicals of various strips, Lutherns, Calvanits and hundreds of other theological and intellectual schools that have deeply thought about theological subjects and written about them.

If we genuinely want to be in conversation with the saints who have toiled in this path, we must listen to them and learn from them. Translating theology in this regard helps us and opens the way to hear the two-thousand-year-old voice of the Church. Not translating is also impossible because the Afghan Church is not the first church, and Afghan theology is not the first theology.

However, if we as the Afghan Church believe that merely translating theology and imitating and mimicking the ideas of the past saints suffices for us, and consequently, we neglect active engagement with the Word of Almighty God and theological contemplation based on the Word, our laziness will, and should be, judged as negligence in our mission as the Church of Christ, while Christ deserves more than this from us. Therefore, imitation and translation is not the theological remedy for the Afghan church.

The Afghan Church needs to contemplate on its theology and, fuelled by the love burning in our hearts and mind, establish a firm theological foundation, laying the first brick firmly, lest our laziness in this mission be the cause of the walls of the Afghan church leaning crookedly in the future. This theological journal is a step towards enabling Afghans to work together in this regard.

You may wonder, "If theology is the Church's contemplation and conversation about the Word of God, what theological topics should we as the Church of Christ among Afghans focus on and prioritize? We have addressed this question in the article titled, "Foundational Theological Issues for the Afghan Church," which will be available in the forthcoming volume of this journal.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the many saints in the Afghan Church who have labored for years in Christian theology, and we are indebted to their efforts. Their reward awaits them with the Lord, and our heartfelt gratitude, as the Church of the Lord, goes out to each one of these dear ones!

1. To date, no Afghan scholar, Christian or otherwise, have systematically documented the history of Christianity in Afghanistan. However, there are a few books and academic articles available on this subject. The latest book on this matter is "Christianity in South and Central Asia," in which Anthony Roberts has written a chapter about Afghanistan. This book is published by Edinburgh University Press:
Roberts, Anthony. “Afghanistan.” Christianity in South and Central Asia, edited by Kenneth R. Ross et al., Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2019, pp. 95–106.

You can refer to the following books in English for the study of Christianity in Central Asia:
Moffett, Samuel H. A History of Christianity in Asia. Orbis Books. 2 Volumes.
Sunquist, Scott, and Irvin Dale T. History of the World Christian Movement. Orbis Books. 2 Volumes.

2. Namato, Lawrance. “Location of Nestorian Bishops and Metropolitanates.” Location of Nestorian Bishops, www.nestorian.org/location_of_nestorian_bishops.html. Accessed 21 Aug. 2023.

3. Roberts, Anthony. P. 100.

4. Miller, Duane Alexander. “Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, vol. 11, 2015, Article 10, St. Mary’s University, p. 16.

5. Paul Tillich, a theologian who was from Germany and later taught theology in America, has many interesting points in the beginning of the first volume of the book "Systematic Theology."

Tillich, P. (1973). Systematic theology (Vol. 1). University of Chicago Press. Page 1-64.

6. Karl Barth presents this interpretation of theology in the first volume of "Church Dogmatics."
Barth, Karl, et al. Church Dogmatic. Volume 1: The The Doctrine of the Word of God: Part I. T&T Clark International, 2004. p. 3

7. McGrath, A. E. Christian theology: An introduction. Wiley Blackwell. 2017, p. 5-20

8. Petruzzello, M. (n.d.). Desert Fathers. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.
com/topic/Desert-Fathers