Tensions and Dynamics of Giftedness as Disability Than Divine-Gift Among Children in Africa: Søren Kierkegaard’s Creatio Imago Dei as Panacea

Abstract

Gifted and talented children in Africa are Imago Dei, but do not fulfill their potential for the
following reasons among many: i) lack of research (dogma, educational, psychology,
cultural, health, ethics), about the efficiency of gifted children in Africa, ii) weakness in
identifying giftedness, iii) lack of suitable teachers, teachers’ attitude problems, absence of
invitational education and inclusive schooling, iii) the church does not think that it is her
responsibility to diagnose and nurture gifted children, iv) based on reason one above, there is
lack of psychological and social support of professionals who are experts in the psychology of
the gifted and dedicated for the gifted, including ethical issues in educating and counseling
gifted children and v) the very limited variety of educational programs for the gifted. vi) there
is also a disconnect between priorities and practice in African family, religion, school, and
socio-political spheres. This study is an interdisciplinary response to the call to explore in
more detail children’s actions and the ways in which they grow, learn, communicate, create
their own/shared cultures within a community and in relation to participation. Child
psychology is in a sharp decline in our modern society, especially in Africa where socioculturally set priorities on the child and the youth are replaced by money-making and singleminded business. Gifted children have a number of problems and challenges which need some
Christian address and balance. Limited studies have addressed the challenges they face, and
some members of communities and the general public think that gifted children have no
problems, and even if they have, they can cope. gestalt refers to wholistic – a human being as
a psychosomatic-nous-unit. This study employs Søren Kierkegaard’s Creatio Imago Dei
method, a historical methodology to analyze and characterize the growth of the knowledge
base in gifted education, the Well-Being theory and Logotherapy.
Keywords: Depression, dogma, Imago Dei, ethics, gestalt, giftedness, isolation, logo-therapy,
perfectionism, psychology ‘the talented’, underperformance, well-being theory.