Search Results (47)

Oxford’s Alister McGrath undoubtedly reflects a paradigm of meaningful intersection in the scholarship of science and religion, especially Christian theology. McGrath’s life journey from loving science to discovering God in Christianity is particularly intriguing because his convictions were not supernatural but intellectual, rooted in multiple conscientious inquiries culminating in his conclusion that through Christianity, humanity and creation can be better understood. A recurring quote in McGrath’s writings comes from C.S Lewis: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else”. How do spiritual eclipses influence religious belief? What might non-Christian theistic religion like African traditional perspectives glean from a uniquely Christian outlook? This paper, leveraging McGrath’s unique journey as a bridge between religion and science, unravels intelligible parallels between two different religious perspectives and learnings that non-Christian theists can glean from exclusively Christian scholarship. Full article

Postcolonial discourses on religion have extensively explored the intersections of race and religion. Particular research within such discourses has been conducted to explore the intersection of Whiteness and Christianity in postcolonial contexts. The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is an example of a postcolonial Christian denomination that seeks to assert itself as ‘authentically African’ whilst having a distinctly colonial, missionary history in Southern Africa. This article explores the enduring intersections of Whiteness and Christianity in the MCSA through analyzing the methodology and theoretical framework of a discussion document produced by the MCSA to explore the relationship between Methodism, ukuthwasa, and African Indigenous Religion. I contend that the MCSA structurally and epistemically, albeit unintentionally, reproduces Whiteness through privileging seemingly universal Methodist methods, theories, and concepts for producing theological knowledge that are colonially produced and continue to underscore the infrastructure of MCSA ecclesiology. The stubborn persistence of colonially inherited epistemologies is particularly evident when we see how a potentially groundbreaking document on ukuthwasa (calling) is subjected to the constraints of the very epistemic traditions it is intended to dislodge. Furthermore, I argue that, through the persistence of this epistemology, the MCSA moves to domesticate and civilize the African Indigenous in Southern Africa. Full article

The origin of this article lies in the concurrent existence of multiple religious groups in the United States and the interactions between them. This essay examines the dynamics of religious pluralism through the interaction of two religious groups—African Americans and Jews—in the realms of religion, society, and politics. Among the diverse religious groups in the United States, the growing presence of Jews, bolstered by migration from Germany in the 19th century and from Eastern Europe in the 20th century, introduced new traditions and significantly contributed to the development of religious experimentation among African Americans. The phenomenon of African American communities embracing Judaism exemplifies how religious pluralism and diaspora intersect to produce new forms of religious and cultural identity. These communities challenge traditional notions of both Jewishness and African Americanness, demonstrating the fluidity of identity in diasporic contexts. Full article

The tenets and philosophies of the Igbo traditional religion (ATR) form the bedrock of the Igbo traditional and sociocultural belief system whose principles and practices directly and indirectly influence the perceptions and way of life of the Igbo society. These traditional and sociocultural beliefs are practiced in a way that promotes patriarchy, reducing the women to second-class citizens, and often making room for gender-based violence (GBV) against the women. This study is designed to establish the prevalence, forms, effects, and causes of GBV using results from empirical data. A total of 369 women, selected from 12 villages in Enugu State, South Eastern Nigeria, via single-stage adaptive cluster sampling, were involved in the study. The data were analyzed using means, frequencies, and percentages. This study identified a high presence of all forms of physical, sexual, emotional, and economic violence, as well as violence through harmful traditional religious and widowhood practices. More than 70.0% of physical, sexual, emotional, and economic acts of GBV were perpetrated mainly by intimate partners (husbands and/or boyfriends). There was little evidence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in all the forms of harmful traditional and widowhood practices. Rather, traditional and widowhood acts of violence against women are mainly perpetrated by the female peer group (Umuada), family members, and their husbands’ kinsmen (umunna). This study recommends effective outlets for victims to speak out and an action-oriented legal system to bring offenders to justice. Full article

The history of religions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has been closely tied to the classification of Indigenous religions. However, recent scholarship in the field of religion has increasingly drawn on the work of subaltern and postcolonial historiography as a way of disrupting the European canon and dislodging Indigenous and non-western ways of knowing and being from the tyranny of the classical taxonomies of religion. Recent approaches to religious diversity have been challenged for reproducing imperial hierarchies of religion—assuming an accommodationist approach to Indigenous religions while also rendering invisible the internal diversity, fluidity, and adaptive orientations within Indigenous religions. In this paper, I contend that in the postcolonial context, Indigenous religions uncouple themselves from traditional taxonomies of religion, and, in particular, I propose religious complexity as a suitable framework and approach for accounting, contending with, and reporting on religious change in postcolonial South Africa. I explore questions about how to account for, ‘classify’, or ‘measure’ change related to everyday African Indigenous religious efforts and practices in the aftermath of and in response to colonialism, where conventional ideas about religious authority and affinity are displaced by Indigenous practices that can variously be described as simultaneously vital, viral, or feral. Full article

Hell in orthodox Christian eschatology is presented as a place of eternal punishment for the damned or sinners. Damnation follows from disobedience to God’s will. Hell is contrasted with heaven, a place of eternal reward and benefits for the righteous. In contrast to this eschatology, African Traditional Religion (ATR) broadly denies the existence of hell. ATR rather asserts that violators of God’s moral codes receive their punishment on earth while those who have lived ethically laudable lives transition to a new phase of existence in the ancestral realm, the ideal home. Given that the ancestral realm can be compared with the Christian heaven, more or less, African eschatology paints a less gloomy picture of human destiny than orthodox Christian eschatology. We assert, in this article, that the ATR eschatology that denies the existence of hell is more ethically attractive than the Christian eschatology that punishes temporally bounded wrongdoing with eternal damnation. We argue the attractiveness of the African view from the perspective of the understanding of God as a benevolent being, which both orthodox Christian theism and traditional African theism endorse. Full article

Since achieving political independence in the 1960s, Anglophone Caribbean nations have faced the urgent task of exploring cultural independence. In the socio-cultural sphere, Black nationalism dominated, with Pan-Africanism and Rastafarianism exerting significant influence. In literary creation, writers and intellectuals sought to unearth local popular religions and folk traditions to produce literature that was distinctively Caribbean. In this quest, rituals—especially those involving religious possession—emerged as pivotal tools for writers to explore historical traditions and reflect on identity formation. Ritual plays, in particular, vividly represented these dynamics within the socio-cultural context. This paper examines the interaction between Black nationalist movements and ritual plays during this period, highlighting their significant role in shaping Caribbean identities. It reveals that ritual plays such as Dream on Monkey Mountain, Couvade, and An Echo in the Bone challenge Pan-Africanism promoted by Black nationalist movements. Instead, they employ ancestor possession rituals and elements from multiple religious rituals to construct a native Caribbean identity. These plays underscore the central role of Afro-Caribbean traditions while also highlighting the region’s diverse cultural heritage and the localized nature of Caribbean identity. Furthermore, they broaden the use of religious rituals in recalling and understanding traditions. Full article

This paper examines personal names derived from traditional religious beliefs and practices among the Erei people in Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State in South-South, Nigeria while utilising insights from the multidisciplinary inferences of socio-onomastic theory to account for the cultural, social and situational contexts that create the religious content of the names. Data were obtained by means of participant observation and semi-structured interviews during six months of fieldwork involving 40 participants who were the name-givers, name-bearers and name-users. Our findings highlight the socio-onomastic tradition of Erei people in which personal names are bestowed through a conscious application of symbolic linguistic resources to express and perform ideologies and identities that are rooted in the traditional religion’s foundations and sociocultural practices that represent Erei people’s indigenous beliefs system and spiritual worldview. Focused on the ideals of African traditional religion, religious identities are constructed through the use of personal names related to idol worship, the mysteries of death, reincarnation and commemoration, cultural festivals and performances, symbolic objects, familial rankings and other aspects derived from their environment that also bear traditional religious significance. And because this set of personal names is now predominant among the ageing population and is losing contemporaneity due to an increasing subpopulation with a new (Christian) beliefs system, this study serves to preserve a transiting and endangered Erei socio-onomastic practice that represents the people’s traditional cosmology. Full article

Some African societies use personal names as a means of conveying their cultural values, traditions, and experiences. Personal names are therefore an important means of identifying their bearers. However, in recent times, it has been observed that the practice of identity construction does not seem to apply in the naming patterns of some African societies. Among the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria, there has been a shift in the contemporary naming of children as a result of greater media access, global communication, creativity, and the rising profile of Pentecostal Christianity. This study investigates the new trends in naming among the Igbo, as well as the motivations, semantic implications, and the general perception of these names by the Igbo people. Using the causal theory of names, this study adopts a qualitative design approach, and data were elicited from 100 participants who were mainly name-givers, bearers, and users. This study reveals a decline in the observance of the traditional naming patterns or practices of the Igbo, as it was noted that the new naming trend is related to favorableness toward Western culture, religion, and influence, which is seen as a form of style that connects name-bearers with prestige and modernity. Full article

The African religiosity that permeates all human existence is driven by a consuming desire for connection with the spiritual world that provides and protects human flourishing. African neo-Pentecostal prophets (ANPPs) respond to this need by imposing themselves as the sacral agents that can connect people to God. The sacralisation of prophets leads them to personalise the church as their personal property. The question answered by this article is as follows: from a Christian soteriological perspective of Jesus as the only sufficient intermediary between God and humanity, how can we address the African need for connection with God that fosters a reliance on African neo-Pentecostal prophets and leads to the sacralisation of these prophets and the personalisation of the church? This article uses Christ’s redemption of believers to challenge ANPPs’ response to the African need for connection with God that leads to these prophets’ domination and exploitation of their followers. This article challenges ANPPs to promote the freedom of Christ’s redemptive work instead of sacralising themselves and personalising the church, which instils a religion of fear that keeps their followers subservient to prophets. The contribution of this article lies in assisting Christians, in this case the followers of ANPPs, to realise that sacralising the prophets provides grounds for these prophets to personalise the church. Therefore, Christ’s redemptive work should be affirmed and promoted as a means of protecting the church from being personalised by sacralised prophets. Full article

There is renewed interest in philosophical and theological investigations about God, religions and the implications of religious beliefs among philosophers and theologians in Africa. This development is itself profitable because the question or the problem of God is a relevant discourse in Africa where the majority of people are theists. However, unlike the exploration of the first-generation African scholars—philosophers and theologians—whose primary objective was to show the symmetry between Christianity and African Traditional Religions (ATR), contemporary discourses arise within the clamour for decoloniality. The investigations, with varied emphasis, advocate the decolonisation of the concept of God, epistemic decolonisation, decolonisation of Christianity and African Christian theology, etc. In this essay, I critically examine the contemporary decolonial discourse about God, divine attributes, religious belief, and the relationship between African Christian theology and ATR. I argue that most of the contemporary literature is entangled in conceptual convolution and as such, there is a lack of clarity about what needs to be decolonised. Put differently, most works do not clearly distinguish between reality (the person or phenomenon “God”), thought (the concept “God”), and conceptions of God (language, that is, the terms and images used in making assertions about God). Further, I argue that when conceptual clarifications are adequately attended to, there is no need for decolonisation of discourses about God, divine nature, divine attributes, and the relationship between Christianity and ATR. Full article

The mystery of death, dying and funerals has been a universal phenomenon in the lives of almost all human beings, from humanity’s fall from grace to today. Death visits every culture, clan and family, and yet it continues to be a terrifying, unexpected stranger and the most feared enemy of human beings. People from different cultures use different coping mechanisms to fight off the pain of death, but for some people in the Collins Chabane Municipality, a particular Christian religious belief has been shown to be the most reliable asset during the battle. It is questionable whether alternative traditions besides Christianity can compete with Christianity in bringing healing from the pain of death. Various methods of healing, like African grief therapy and psychological healing, are offered to bereaved family members after death and even after burial, but are they enough for Africans to return to their normal lives? This article discusses why (Christian) religious belief is essential during and after the burial of a loved one. This is carried out within the context of colonialism having eroded all African traditions, creating a space for Christianity alone to be a remedy in death and burying. Full article

Since the arrival of Christianity in Africa during the pre-colonial era, one of the main characteristics of its spread has been Christian Education (CE). The achievements made thus far by missionaries and African Christian communities were based on the Church-based Christian Education programs that were put into place by churches created by missionaries. Education, let alone Christian Education, has a key role to play in the transformation of every society. The problem is that the type of Christianity and Christian Education introduced sought to uproot Africans from their identity, culture, and language. Christian Education has a crucial role in changing the perspective of citizens to one that is Euro-centric and in promoting effective discipleship and strong doctrinal allegiance among members of mainline churches. Even though Christianity has undergone meaningful change over time, its many manifestations still survive in diverse 21st-century societies. Christianity, just like African Traditional Religion, has permeated every sphere and life of the Zimbabweans. The prospects of Christian Education to foster a positive society’s transformation in Zimbabwe are great and accepted. Two types of Christianity were introduced to Africa: Afro-centric Christianity and Euro-centric Christianity. Full article

African Pentecostalism remains the fastest growing form of Christianity on the African continent. Scholarship on Zimbabwean Pentecostalism has noted how the emergence of New Pentecostal Movements (NPMs), specifically Prophetic Pentecostalism (PP), has increased this growth. Apart from other attracting factors, such as the Holy Spirit, claims of faith healing, deliverance and prophecy, among others, African Pentecostalism is known for its emphasis on faith as a major anchor of any Pentecostal Christian. Hebrews 11, with its emphasis on faith, is, therefore, a central scripture in this Christian tradition. However, the emergence of NPMs at the height of the Zimbabwean crisis from the year 2008 to the present, has challenged Zimbabwean Pentecostal Christians from their sole dependency on faith. The crisis called for much more than faith could stand on its own. Hence, NPMs responded to this need by infusing indigenous religious practices with biblical ones as a way of strengthening believers through the crisis. Prophetic Pentecostal Movements (PPMs) in Zimbabwe introduced touchable objects such as anointed towels, handkerchiefs, wrist bands, stickers, oils and even condoms. While this appears to be sophisticated syncretism, a critical analysis of the practices shows how steeped they are in the African indigenous religious worldview. This article, therefore, seeks to examine the religious encounters between indigenous African religious practices and Pentecostal practices as practiced in the NPMs in Zimbabwe. The focus of this paper is to establish the resilience of indigenous religious practices within a Christian tradition that claims to have totally broken from the past. It further argues that the fast growth of PPMs depends on the ‘Christianization’ of indigenous religious practices, which are presented to believers as ‘purely biblical’. This is largely a desktop research project in which secondary sources were used as sources of data. Full article

When applied to Pentecostalism in Zimbabwe, the concept of cultural hybridity provides a framework for understanding how global religious movements can adapt to and incorporate local cultural elements. This process results in a unique form of religious expression characterised by convergence and syncretism, reflecting cultural and religious identity’s dynamic and fluid nature. This hybridity in religious practice is a testament to the ongoing, interactive cultural exchange and adaptation process. This article delves into the intricate cultural hybridity, convergence, glocalisation and syncretic tendencies within the characteristic features of New Religious Movements (NRMs) in Harare, Zimbabwe, illuminating their multifaceted role in addressing spiritual and material needs. Through a comprehensive exploration of selected NRMs that emerged from the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe, including Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries and Grace Oasis Ministries, this article unravels the central role of prophets and pastors in shaping the fundamental ethos of these religious entities. A striking and thought-provoking parallel emerges between the hallmark features of these NRMs and the tenets of African Traditional Religion and many other religious traditions. This parallel extends to practices such as exorcism, worship, healing, and deliverance, thus manifesting a profound form of religious expression informed by cultural hybridity, convergence, syncretism, and glocalisation. While there are ambiguities around scholarly debates on the definition of these terms, the article delves deep into the intricate religious elements embedded within the NRMs’ characteristic features, such as hymns, modes of worship, healing rituals, and deliverance ceremonies. These elements are tangible manifestations of their unique position at the crossroads of diverse belief systems. The cultural hybridity, convergence, syncretism, and glocalisation tendencies within NRMs offer gateways to invaluable networks, fostering social cohesion and the sharing of critical information. Consequently, these characteristics have become instrumental in the holistic development of individuals and communities within the vibrant religious landscape of Harare. Thus, this article provides profound insights into the nuanced dynamics of NRMs in Zimbabwe, shedding light on their various dimensions. It contributes substantially to our comprehension of the intricate interplay between spirituality, material prosperity, and the rich tapestry of religious traditions in Harare and the broader context of religious studies. Full article