How Sellable is “Black Reel Christ” to the African Christendom? A Socio-Cultural Analysis of African Audiences’ Reception of Black Jesus Films

Black Jesus films contribute in no small measure to reclaiming the Christ and de-westernising global evangelical cinema. They also contribute, in some ways, to the African struggle against the whitewashing of Christianity in Africa. In theory, these films give an African twist to Bible stories and clearly reflect the African liberation theology as well as the African cultural hermeneutics. As culturally sensitive adaptations of the Gospel narrative, they may speak to diverse African Christian communities. In view of the politico-cultural dimension of these filmic productions, one may hypothesize that Black Jesus films are friendly to the Afro-optimism movement and would likely be lauded by the majority of African audiences, particularly those having a pride for African cultures. Using insights from recent studies and relevant literature, this paper examines the extent to which the aforementioned hypothesis is plausible. Specifically, the paper attains three objectives. In the first place, it explores the extent of the popularity of Black Jesus films in African cinemas. In the second place, it examines the motivations as well as the evangelical and theological merits of these African Jesus films. In the last place, the paper analyses the extent to which African audiences (particularly critics) positively receive the concept of black reel Jesus. The paper argues that, in spite of its afro-optimistic dimension, the Black Reel Jesus concept is disdained by African (Christian) audiences for reasons that range from mental colonialism to anachronistic film aesthetics.