Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-71).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-71).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-71).

The current study seeks to insert African American Pentecostal theologies as a generative subject of examination for scholars of American and African Atlantic religious history and theology. By providing close and critical readings of newly-found sources of African American Pentecostal theology by four significant African American Pentecostal theologians, this study situates African American Pentecostal thought as a distinctive theological trajectory within both African Atlantic Christianity and North American religious thought. The writings of theologians Ozro Thurston Jones, Jr., Ithiel Conrad Clemmons, James Alexander Forbes, Jr., and William Clair Turner, Jr., will be explored to expose the contours of a distinctive African American Pentecostal theology. An examination of the writings of this cohort demonstrates that African American Pentecostal thought is contextual (marked by an openness to and engagement with various Christian and philosophical traditions) and liberationist (deeply committed to a revitalization of Christian witness in the pursuit of social justice). In this comparative analysis of their respective theological programs, with a focus on recurring theological ideas, values, and themes, this study provides a phenomenology of African American Pentecostal theology. Within the field of modern black theology, there has been a call by scholars for more attention to be paid to pneumatology, which has been generally neglected; while within the field of North American Pentecostalism, a glossocentric pneumatology has been the dominant theological framework. The four theologians examined in this study resist both limitations, and in the diversity of their methods and theological perspectives, these scholars participate in a broader, more generous theological enterprise. This project seeks to both unsettle and complexify anew various reductionist readings of African American Pentecostal theologies and to create space for a deepened exchange between the broader traditions of African Atlantic Christian theologies and African American religious thought. The methodologies employed in this study include biographical criticism, phenomenological analysis, and religious ethnography. Biographical criticism underscores the critical importance of social contexts in the formation of black religious consciousness. Phenomenological analysis allows for an examination of African American Pentecostalism as its own distinctive religious phenomenon. And critical religious ethnography is employed to assess the reception and impact of each theologian’s overall theological production. Given the growth and theological maturation of Pentecostalism, and the social, cultural and ecumenical impact it has exerted worldwide, this dissertation examines what the theology of the African American Pentecostal movement has contributed to contemporary Christian thought amidst the shifting theological contours of World Christianity and North American religious thought.

The details of encounters between religious groups in multireligious African contexts and the intricacies of living, belonging, and identifying within such milieux have hardly been explored. In Yorùbáland, the cultural region of the Yorùbá people—and the geographic context of this thesis—the fine grain and vast array of possibilities of interreligious encounter between Christians, Muslims, and adherents of African Indigenous Religions remains largely undocumented in terms of detailed, quality accounts. While most regions of West Africa and even Nigeria exist with a dominant religious tradition, Yorùbáland is a microcosm of the wider region’s multireligious composition, with Christianity, Islam, and African Indigenous Religions all playing prominent roles. The Yorùbá ‘spirit of accommodation’, a phrase often used to describe how Yorùbá culture not only tolerates, but also embeds and synthesises the religious ‘Other’, has created a unique multireligious environ and is undoubtedly one of the optimum contexts in the world to study interreligious encounter within a single ethnolinguistic area. Comprised of fieldwork and research conducted from 2009-2014, this thesis works toward addressing the aforementioned gap in scholarship with two ethnographic case studies of people who simultaneously belong and/or identify with multiple religious groups and traditions in the predominantly Yorùbá city of Ogbómòsó, Nigeria. The first case study examines a new religious group known as the Ogbómòsó Society of Chrislam (OSC). Interreligious encounter in this instance features a group that intentionally combines elements from Christian, Muslim, and indigenous Yorùbá religious traditions, creating dynamic examples of multiple religious belongings and identities. The second case study examines multiple religious belonging and identity at the annual Ogbómòsó Egúngún festival. Interreligious encounter in this instance features 12 individual narrative accounts focusing on each individual’s religious belonging and identity throughout key points in their life. Beyond its important ethnographical contributions, the thesis offers methodological and theoretical insight into approaching religious belonging and identity as complex and fluid processes, rather than static and singular events. It argues that approaches that only allow for the possibility of classifying people in single, discrete categories masks the varied, dynamic, and complex belongings and identities of people in the lived world, many of who live across and within multiple religious groups and traditions.

This thesis examines the relationship between the Africa Inland Mission (AIM) and the Africa Inland Church (AIC) in Kenya between 1939 and 1975. AIM began laying plans for an African denomination in Kenya in 1939 and established the Africa Inland Church in 1943. The mission did not clearly define the nature of its relationship with the church it founded. The arrangement was informal, and evolved over time. In addition, the relationship between the AIM and the AIC between 1939 and 1975 was often troubled. African independent churches were formed in the 1940s because of dissatisfaction over AIM policies. The mission opposed devolution in the 1950s, even when other mission societies were following this policy in preparation for independence in Kenya. AIM continued to resist a mission church merger in the 1960s and did not hand over properties and powers to the church until 1971. The study focuses on how the mission’s relationship with the church it founded evolved during this period. It considers how mission principles and policies created tension in the relationship with the church it founded. First, it examines how mission policy contributed to significant schisms in the 1940s, giving rise to African independent churches. Second, it looks at how AIM interpreted and responded to post-war religious, political and social changes in Kenya. Third, it explores the reasons for AIM’s rejection of a proposed mission-church merger in the late 1950s. Fourth, this study investigates mission motives for resisting increased African pressure for devolution after independence in Kenya even while it helped establish the Association of Evangelicals in Africa and Madagascar. Fifth, it considers what happened to the mission and the church in the aftermath of a merger in 1971.

This thesis is about the social, political, and economic interactions that took place in and around the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) in two very different regions: north-eastern Tanzania and Zanzibar. The mission was for much of the period a space in which people could – often inventively – make a living through education, employment, and patronage. Indeed, particularly in the period preceding British colonial rule, most Christians were mission employees (usually teachers) and their families. Being Christian was, in one sense, a livelihood. In this era before the British altered the political economy, education had only limited appeal, while the teaching profession was not highly esteemed by Africans, although it offered some teachers the security and status of a regular income. From the 1860s to the 1910s, the UMCA did not offer clear trajectories for most of the Africans interacting with it in search of a better life. Markers of coastal sophistication, such as clothing or Swahili fluency, had greater social currency, while the coast remained a prime source of paid employment, often preferable to conditions offered by the mission. By the end of the period, Christians were at a social and economic advantage by virtue of their access to formal institutional education. This was a major shift and schooling became an obvious trajectory for future employment and economic mobility. Converts, many of whom came from marginal social backgrounds, sought to overcome a heritage of exploitative social relations and to redraw the field for the negotiation of dependency to their advantage. However, as this thesis shows, the mission also contributed to new sets of exploitative social relations in a hierarchy of work and education.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:21:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jose Luiz Izidoro.pdf: 360009 bytes, checksum: 2775fbb4b1ad79ca6f3b134f212e38f8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-03-08 / In recent times, it has become very important to explicitate the Christian experiences that existed in and co-existed with, or even were immersed in the extrapalestinian cultures, and which were protagonists in the project of the proclamation of the Christian kerygma. Those experiences were lived and realized in the period of Early Christianity and, without a doubt, contributed significantly to its expansion process. We present the passage of Acts 8,26-40, the episode of Philip and the Ethiopia n. What happens here is a dislocation of the missionary-geographical axis from Samaria to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza , and reaching back to Caesarea. The text opens up the horizon of Christian experiences to other peoples and nations represented in the figure of the Ethiopian eunuch. Taking Acts 8,26-40 in its Lucan redaction as a starting point, using exegetical methods and historical-literary resources, based on the theoretical reference to the concepts of ethnicity and ethnic boundaries, we intend to investigate the possibility of a Christian experience lived in Ethiopia, which constructed itself ethnically from the identities that interacted in the text, and which points out to the imaginary of Ethiopia s symbolic universe. Doing so, we reclaim, within Biblical Exegesis, hermeutical issues for our own theological, biblical, and pastoral practice, on the horizon of the identities and ethnic boundaries of the Africanamerican and Caribian universe. / Torna-se muito importante demonstrar as experiências cristãs que existiram e coexistiram juntas ou/e imersas nas culturas extrapalestinenses e que exerceram protagonismo no anúncio do querigma. São experiências cristãs vividas e realizadas no período do cristianismo primitivo, e que, sem dúvida, contribuíram significativamente para o seu processo de expansão. Apresentamos a perícope Atos 8,26-40. Trata-se do episódio de Filipe e o Etíope. Acontece um deslocamento do eixo geográfico-missionário de Samaria ao caminho que desce de Jerusalém a Gaza , retornando a Cesaréia. O texto abre o horizonte das experiências cristãs a outros povos e nações, representadas nesta perícope pela figura do Etíope eunuco. Partindo de Atos 8,26-40, na perspectiva da redação lucana como ponto de partida, por meio dos procedimentos exegéticos e dos recursos histórico- literários, apoiado no referencial teórico dos conceitos de etnicidade e fronteiras étnicas, nós pretendemos investigar a possibilidade de uma experiência cristã vivenciada na Etiópia, que se constrói etnicamente desde as identidades que interagem na perícope e que apontam ao imaginário do universo simbólico do Etíope. Assim, resgataremos na exegese bíblica pautas hermenêuticas para a nossa prática teológico-bíblica-pastoral no horizonte das identidades e fronteiras étnicas do universo afro americano e caribenho.

L'articulation de cette thèse découle d'une curiosité sur la façon dont les croyants africains contemporains urbains comprennent le Saint-Esprit. Les portraits que les théologiens africains ont dressés de la compréhension africaine du Saint-Esprit, semblent être basés sur un paradigme théologique dichotomique: la religion traditionnelle africaine et la tradition chrétienne occidentale, qui avait créé la dissonance dans la scène académique. Ce paradigme soulève un débat de continuité et de discontinuité entre les êtres spirituels des deux traditions, les esprits traditionnels et le Saint-Esprit. Cette thèse va prendre une attention particulière sur les travaux de Elochukwu Uzukwu et de Matthew Michael, qui figurent parmi les quelques théologiens africains ayant travaillé sur la compréhension de l'Esprit Saint. Uzukwu soutient la continuité fondée sur l'orientation théologique des églises indépendantes africaines, tandis que Michael s'est rangé du côté de ceux qui déclarent la discontinuité, se basant sur l'orientation théologique évangélique. Ces théologiens, qui adoptent des positions opposées en s’appuyant sur leurs orientations théologiques respectives, défendent des positions théologiquement bipolarisées de la pneumatologie africanisée et de la religiosité africaine. Étonnamment, le débat en cours parmi les théologiens n'a pas accordé beaucoup de place à la religiosité des croyants laïcs, ni à son étude empirique. Par conséquent, cette thèse a décidé d'interroger les croyants africains laïcs sur qui le Saint-Esprit est pour eux, en espérant que cette étude pourrait régler la dissonance persistante dans le terrain académique. Les voix des laïcs africains contemporains ont rapporté des récits vivants à la façon dont ils ont théologisé les deux mondes spirituels pour définir le Saint-Esprit dans une foi africaine. Leurs voix, qui ont été introduites dans le domaine universitaire, ont apporté des idées novatrices et des découvertes. Elles ont révélé comment la compréhension africanisée du Saint-Esprit présentée par les théologiens Africains ont été la position de la minorité des croyants, bien qu'elle ait fût représentée comme si elle était une pneumatologie africanisée populaire. À l'inverse, le paradigme bipolarisé sur lequel les théologiens africains articulaient la compréhension africanisée du Saint-Esprit semblait même dépassé. Par conséquent, sur la base des voix du terrain, cette thèse développe des propositions, pour une compréhension africanisée du Saint-Esprit, qui pourraient être pertinentes pour la religiosité urbaine de nos jours. Par les voix inédites à qui elle offre une ouverture, cette thèse appelle à réévaluer l'articulation entre le Christianisme et la religion traditionnelle en Afrique. / The articulation of this thesis derives from a curiosity on how the urban contemporary African believers understand the Holy Spirit. The portrayals African theologians have drawn of the African understanding of the Holy Spirit, seems to be based on a dichotomized theological paradigm: the African traditional religion and the Western Christian tradition, which had created dissonance on the academic stage. This paradigm raises a debate of continuity and discontinuity between the spiritual beings of the two traditions, the traditional spirits and the Holy Spirit. Elochukwu Uzukwu and Matthew Michael, whom this thesis will take a special attention, figure among the few works of the African theologians about the understanding of the Holy Spirit. Uzukwu supports continuity based on the African Independent Churches’ theological orientation, whereas Michael sided with those stating the discontinuity, grounds on the Evangelical theological orientation. These theologians, whom take opposite stances based on their respective theological orientations, represent theologically bipolarized stances on Africanized Pneumatology and the African religiosity. Surprisingly, the ongoing debate among the theologians did not accord much room to the lay believers’ religiosity nor on their empirical studies. Therefore, this thesis has decided to inquire the lay African believers on whom the Holy Spirit is to them hoping that this study could settle the dissonance persisting on the academic field. The voices of the contemporary lay African believers brought vivid accounts on how they have theologized the two spiritual worlds to define the Holy Spirit into an African faith. Their voices that were introduced to the academic field have brought innovative insights and discoveries. It revealed how the Africanized comprehension of the Holy Spirit presented by the African theologians were the stance of the very minority of believers, although it were wrapped as if it was a popular Africanized Pneumatology. Conversely, the bipolarized paradigm on which the African theologians were articulating the Africanized understanding of the Holy Spirit even appeared to be outmoded. Therefore, based on the voices of the ground, this thesis develops proposals for an Africanized understanding of the Holy Spirit that could be relevant and pertinent to an urban contemporary African religiosity. The unheard voices that this thesis brought its attention to call to re-evaluating the articulation between Christianity and Traditional Religion in Africa.

Orthodox Christianity came to the Banyore people of western Kenya in 1942. The Banyore are Bantu speaking people whose language belongs to the Luhya group of languages. The Banyore live near the Uganda border; they are thought to be related to the famous Uganda Kingdom of Bunyoro Kitara. The first Christian missionaries among the Banyore were Protestants who came from South Africa in 1905. . The Orthodox faith reached Bunyore in 1942, through a Kenyan missionary from central Kenya, Bishop George (Arthur) Gathuna, and Fr Obadiah from Uganda. The point of note here is that the first Orthodox Christian missionaries to introduce the Orthodox Christian faith to the Banyore people were Kenyans. I shall examine the relation between Orthodox Christianity and Banyore culture, and show how Orthodox Christianity, in dialogue with the Banyore people, became indigenised in Bunyore culture. Thus Orthodox Christians in Bunyore do not see Orthodoxy as something foreign, but as something that has become part of their own culture. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)