“I often say that African theology begins where the world bleeds. Our Palavers were born from that conviction: that theology must listen to the cries of the earth and the cries of the poor, and that love must be embodied as justice. In each Palaver, we tried to read the signs of the times through African eyes and from the underside of history—listening to the stories of those who suffer, who migrate, who are forgotten. We spoke, not as experts, but as companions in hope, convinced that the Spirit of God is still brooding over the chaos of our time, calling forth a new creation.” Topics include the global economy; political violence and the vocation of Gospel nonviolence; the division of the world along racial and ecclesial lines; ecological ethics; war and human suffering; prophetic denunciation and political realism; hope and human dignity.

Stan Chu Ilo, a Catholic priest and theologian from Nigeria, is currently a senior research professor at the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, DePaul University, Chicago, and coordinating servant of the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN). He is author of Where Is God? An African Theology of Suffering and Smiling, A Poor and Merciful Church, and editor of Handbook of African Catholicism.