oa Bonhoeffer’s Anthropology and the African Anthropology of Ubuntu

This essay explores the original meaning and understanding of the concept of ubuntu. It evaluates the strengths and limitations of this cherished African anthropological and philosophical notion. By bringing the anthropology of ubuntu in conversation with the anthropology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer possibilities for the re-valuation of ubuntu are opened. Attention to the anthropology of Bonhoeffer will help ubuntu to affirm community without falling into the trap of collectivism. It will also prevent Ubuntu from overestimating the capabilities of humans through the under-estimation of the reality of sin. Where ubuntu is also open to the transformative power of the gospel its redeeming potential on a broken continent is enhanced.