February 14, 2023
An International Visiting Jesuit Fellow at Holy Cross this semester, Rev. Joachim Zoundi, S.J. explores the problem of sin and evil, their sources and consequences, and how they are addressed by both African Traditional Religions and Christian revelation. In this lecture, he evaluates the concept of Ubuntu, a traditional, indigenous philosophy of Africa, for its communitarian appeal to maintain harmony, and then suggests that the Christian revelation provides a fuller response, by calling on God’s grace to show humans how to live in fellowship and to counter evil and sin.
Fr. Zoundi is a lecturer of systematic theology at Hekima University College, in Nairobi, Kenya. A native of Burkina Faso, he is researching a characteristic of interpersonal relationships in the country that make peace and reconciliation possible among different ethnic and tribal groups. At Holy Cross, he is teaching a Religious Studies course called "Humanity in Uncertain Times."