We Cannot Afford to Fail: Holy Prof. Dr. Bernard Nsokika Fonlon’s Moral and Intellectual Vision for the Cameroon Church

Abstract This paper revisits holy Prof. Dr. Bernard Nsokika Fonlon’s An Open Letter to the Bishops of Buea and Bamenda (1973) and related works Under the Sign of the Rising Sun (1964) and The Genuine Intellectual (1978). It interprets Fonlon’s moral and intellectual legacy through the lens of contemporary Cameroonian Church challenges political entanglement, lack of accountability, and social trauma caused by the Anglophone crisis. The paper further draws comparisons to the German experience of moral reconstruction after World War II, especially the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Jürgen Habermas, who emphasized truth, conscience, and public responsibility. The analysis concludes that Fonlon’s vision of conscience, service, and intellectual integrity offers an essential framework for social justice and trauma-informed renewal in the modern Church. Keywords: Fonlon, moral leadership, Church accountability, conscience, psychological healing, Germany, social justice