‘Housing’ as Christian Social Practice in African Cities: Centering the Urban Majority Theologically

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This article is very important and novel. It brings some very valid suggestions for housing development and urban renewal more broadly and calls churches to action on the issue of housing. HOWEVER, what this article is sorely lacking is EXAMPLES - CONCRETE EXAMPLES of what they are discussing. For example, when the authors write, "Churches often have the expertise of housing and development professionals among members, earning a living from engaging in property businesses. Churches also own land and property that are often not optimally utilized." WHAT **specific* churches are they referencing? A church in Zambia? In Cameroon? In Sierra Leone? Where are we here? The reader is lost in all the generalized references to "Africa" (a hugely diverse place) with no specific country or city (urban specific) examples on which to draw. Which churches have housing and development professionals? In Cameroon, where I work, the churches have one maybe two pastors with very little housing or carpentry or development knowledge. Is there an example the authors can give where a church in Africa has "Property not optimally being utilized"? These vague generalizations really reduce the quality of the paper because there are no examples given to locate the phenomenon of churches that are not mobilizing their resources enough to assist in the area of housing and urban development. I believe this article brings up a very original and important question of : "What is the Church's role currently and what can the Church's role be with regard to housing the poor in African urban zones?" But the reader-- and the broader field of scholarship-- needs to see some specific examples taken from research to demonstrate the capacity and potential of the churches to actually accomplish what the authors claim they can.

Author Response

I have attended to the reviewer's comments in two ways:

1. Provided some tangible examples from different African cities to illustrate examples of what I propose
2. Done slight edits in a few instances to make the assertions less general and to qualify certain statements better 

Reviewer 2 Report

Well written article that identifies an important gap in theological thinking, delivers a convincing connection of theological, ethical and social concerns, with the only exception that international contexts of the same concern could have been mentioned and maybe offered some fruitful extra insights (best practice etc.) and options for comparisons.

Author Response

I provided a number of examples, both from African cities and US cities, to illustrate some of what I refer to as a Christian housing practice. I trust it will suffice.