Ubuntu theology

[1] It is best known through the writings of the Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu, who, drawing from his Christian faith, theologized Ubuntu by a model of forgiveness in which human dignity and identity are drawn from the image of God.

[5] Tutu, as chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa between 1996 and 1998, and operating from the premise of faith, theologizes the Ubuntu concept by anchoring it beyond community into God through the biblical category of the imago Dei.

Ubuntu theology is based on inherent value for individuals and their relationships within communities, thus mixing African culture and biblical teaching.

[10] Ubuntu promotes the idea that people are truly human only in communities in the full expression of the koinonia and finds the best manifestation of this in the church, which is the space in which life in relation to God and to one's neighbour is nourished by worship and fellowship.

[2] Michael Battle has argued that Ubuntu theology is too heavily based on the advocacy of the person of Desmond Tutu and the South African society.

This is because Tutu's influence as a spiritual leader and chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa gave him power to introduce and pursue an ideology that spoke to the good of both the black and white races.

As an ideology that is gaining wide African acceptability, theologians have expressed concern at the lack of gender inclusivity in the discourse of Ubuntu especially with the patriarchal societies of Africa where the identity of a person is determined by the male.

[12] John W. de Gruchy has stated that Ubuntu theology is chiefly ecclesio-centric in that the church is seen as the only place for nurture and flourishing of communal relations.