"Byang Kato," by Aiah Dorkuh Foday-Khabenje: A Review

Byang Kato: The Life and Legacy of Africa’s Pioneer Evangelical Theologian
by Aiah Dorkuh Foday-Khabenje
Langham | 2023 | 355 pages (paperback) | $43.99

A few years ago, my friend Marieke Ude, counselor at John Calvin Secondary School in Oswanka, Nigeria, encouraged me to write a children’s book about Byang Henry Kato (1936–1975). It didn’t take long for Kato to become one of my favorite theologians.

My only problem in writing the book was that there was little information on his life, mostly included in a tiny book by Sophie De La Haye: Byang Kato, Ambassador for Christ. I was hoping for someone to write more. It was then a great pleasure when I received a copy of Aiah Dorkuh Foday-Khabenje’s Byang Kato: The Life and Legacy of Africa’s Pioneer Evangelical Theologian.

Largely unknown outside of Africa, Kato has been often undervalued even in his own continent. Yet, he is an important figure in contemporary discussions of theology and ecclesiology in Africa. In my view, he has much to say to the western church as well.

Who Is Byang Kato?

Byang Henry Kato was born in a small village in Nigeria. He converted to Christianity from his parents’ traditional African religion when he was still a child. Convinced of his calling to the ministry, he surmounted formidable odds to get a theological education both in Africa and abroad, becoming the first evangelical African Christian to gain a doctoral degree in theology.

In 1973, he was appointed general secretary of the Association of Evangelicals of Africa and Madagascar (AEAM, now the Association of Evangelicals of Africa, AEA). As such, he had a tremendous influence on the church in Africa. Persuaded of the importance of a thorough education for ministers, he opened two major seminaries in the continent.

He drowned in the ocean in 1975, at 39 years of age—a short life lived to the fullest in his compelling desire to see the gospel thrive in Africa: “If there was a time in Africa when there was a need of the clean-cut gospel, it is today,” he once said. His influence continues in the institutions he has created and in the road map he has drawn for the church in Africa.

Kato’s Theology

At a time when most African nations were declaring their independence and reflecting on their history and cultural identity, Kato warned against the danger of what we would call a “discarding of the baby with the bath-water.” While recognizing the evils of colonialism and the misguided tendency of western missionaries to consider their culture and traditions as essential to the reception of the gospel, he exposed the interrelated error of seeing the gospel as a western construct.

“The inspired, inerrant Word of God gives us the Gospel and its working power in a nutshell in I Corinthians 15:1–4,” he wrote. “It is not a part of any people’s culture. It is not indigenous to any soil. It is revealed propositionally and must be declared accordingly. The Jews did not have it. The Germans, the Americans, the Africans, the Europeans needed to get it through a messenger.”

He has sometimes been misunderstood, as if he were entirely opposed to contextualization. While convinced that the Christian message must be contextualized in order to be understood, he drew clear limits to this contextualization. In Byang Kato, Foday-Khabenje describes some of Kato’s critics as arguing “for a Christian identity which ultimately was more Afrocentric than biblical” (5).

Foday-Khabenje explains the discussion that has been taking place in Africa—what he calls “the continuity/discontinuity debate.” “Proponents of continuity,” he explains, “base their arguments on general revelation of the Supreme Being or God, in nature, history, and people’s conscience. ... While acknowledging the divine image borne by all peoples, and elements of the manifestation of this in ATR [African Traditional Religion], Kato argued this was not enough for salvation and advocated for discontinuity” (12). These explanations, which are discussed at length in this book, are particularly helpful for western readers who may not be aware of this debate.

A Valuable Resource

Foday-Khabenje’s 355-page volume includes Kato’s biography, theology, and more. In the introductory abstract, he defines his book as “an analytical biography of a pioneering church leader” (xiii).

The first chapter is an introduction, with a quick overview of Kato’s life and ministry, Kato’s importance, and the socio-political and cultural context in which he operated. Chapter two is a description of Kato’s life. Chapters three, four, and five discuss Kato’s main writings, the principal tenets of his theology, and his contribution to the church in Africa. Each of the first five chapters ends with a helpful summary and/or conclusion. The sixth (and last) chapter is a summary of the whole volume, with more conclusions and recommendations.

Byang Kato is well-researched and includes some new research and scholarship on Kato’s life. If I had to suggest some improvements, I would recommend the addition of an index, a timeline of Kato’s life, and a map of Africa for readers who live in other continents. The index would have been especially helpful, given the amount of information included.

I would have also liked to read more about the influence of London Bible College and Dallas Theological Seminary on Kato’s life and thought (only five pages are devoted to the two institutions, and they are mostly biographical). But this is only because I am familiar with Kato and curious to know more. Like most groundbreaking biographies, this will hopefully be a springboard for further studies.

Byang Kato includes many quotations from both Kato and others—particularly contemporary African theologians. It also views Kato’s theology in a historical context. If at times it sounds repetitive, this impression is offset by the fact that the issues discussed are at the core of the Christian faith.

Honesty

I appreciate Foday-Khabenje’s honesty about Kato’s flaws—principally being “a workaholic”—a trait the author believes might have been a cause of Kato’s death. Kato’s long hours at work and his prolonged absences from his family (particularly when he studied abroad) “caused some tension in the family and had a long-term impact on the older son” (88-89).

Foday-Khabenje also mentions, as a potential flaw, Kato’s tendency to consider “social action and humanitarian considerations ... secondary to the mission of the church” (121). This has been a common reaction of many evangelical churches to the rise of a social gospel. This, however, didn’t stop Kato from working for the wellbeing of those around them, as it has been particularly evident in his production and delivery of clothing and other goods to the victims of the war in Biafra.

Another potential flaw mentioned in the book is Kato’s tendency “toward literalism and the fringes of pietism or fundamentalism,” as in his belief in abstinence from alcoholic drinks for Christians. On the other hand, Kato’s “emphasis on sound education was unlike the pietism of his day that perhaps saw higher education as a worldly pursuit” (168).

Other theological flaws, according to Foday-Khabenje, include Kato’s inadequate emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit and on the sacraments, but these might just be a result of his focus on other matters.

A Theologian for the West

Kato repeatedly denounced what he considered a “dreadful disease” affecting the African churches: a “theological anemia.” I find it hard to read these words without applying them to western Christianity. And the same identity crisis and syncretism that Kato observed in Africa is present, in different forms, in our lands. These are just some of the many applications we can make as we read Byang Kato.

Besides, hearing familiar issues discussed in a different context—be it historical or geographical—can help us to examine them with fresh eyes and from new angles and prevents us from succumbing to reactions that have become predictable in our own culture.

Kato’s writings are simple, clear, pertinent, balanced, and firmly based on Scriptures, prioritizing the gospel, and Foday-Khabenje’s book includes enough of them to allow us to hear Kato’s voice.

Byang Kato is also recommended to anyone who is interested in the challenges, discussions, and solutions of the church in Africa, a church that is rapidly growing and becoming increasingly more important in considerations and studies of Christ’s work in today’s world.