Text in German / This doctoral thesis deals with the changes the youth grapple with in Southern Ghana today. These changes permeate all fabrics of society, from the traditional society with its values to the modern society that is undergoing radical social changes. The First Part presents to the reader the traditional Akan Society. It points out how it has assisted young people to get into the world of the adult. It gives an insight into the traditional religions, the rites and practices associated with them and their relation to young people. The Second Part deals with the History of the Presbyterian Youth Work from its inception to the present day. The Presbyterian Church of Ghana was set up in the early 20th Century from the toils of the Basel Mission and the United Free Church of Scotland. This new Christian way of life brought a clash between two world views: the traditional African Religion (ATR) and the Christian Religion that brought about, so to say, farreaching consequences to the culture and the development of the country. Part three focuses attention on the present changes in the Ghanaian Society. It shows the effects of migration and the economic conditions on the Ghanaian Society at the turn of the 21st Century especially for young people. Part four sums up the findings and discusses them on the basis of two leading concepts: Contextualization and Identity. I evaluated a contextualization project of a church parish in southern Ghana. Here are, in my opinion, the first signs that could show the way into the future, i.e. a way of preaching the Gospel within the context of the traditional mindset of the local people by taking into account the Ghanaian Culture and with due regard to the feelings of the youth. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

Estimates suggest that seventy percent of Muslims follow folk Islam (popular Islam), rather than the orthodox Islamic faith. Most methods for reaching Muslims with the Gospel have concentrated on one of two broad approaches with a third blending the first two methods. Apologetic, polemic and dialogue techniques argue that Christianity is more valid or reasonable than Islam. Other approaches consist of contextualized methods seeking some common ground between Christianity and Islam. Apologetic arguments have not been very effective with folk Muslims because cognitive propositions fail to answer the “why” questions posed by popular Islam. Most contextualized methods also miss the mark with folk Muslims; they rarely attend Islamic worship, observe the five pillars of Islam, or read the Qur’an. A few missiologists propose a fourth category for reaching Muslims – contextualizing according to their worldview. This thesis explores what are the best approaches for evangelizing folk Muslims who are particularly influenced by African Traditional Religion (ATR). The Beja tribe of the Sudan and the Sukuma tribe of Tanzania serve as case studies. I argue for a contextualized approach to folk Muslims, addressing their unique worldviews. ATRinfluenced folk Muslims lean toward a fear-power worldview, while the Sufis among them hold to an existential- transcendent worldview. Each group, therefore, necessitates a different evangelism approach. The first chapter presents preliminary matters, the research question, a literature review, and a rationale for the thesis. The second chapter analyzes the case study example of Beja folk Islam. Chapter three examines folk Islam and its relationship to orthodox Islam,including further illustrations from the Beja tribe. The fourth chapter explores the subject of ATR and its relationship to folk Islam. The Sukuma tribe of Tanzania serves as a base-line model of ATR for a comparison with Beja folk Islam. Chapter five introduces the topic of contextualization in Muslim evangelization and assesses the effectiveness and validity of methods that have been used. Chapter six suggests worldview approaches for reaching ATR and Sufi-influenced folk Muslims. The final chapter summarizes the thesis content, reviews the response to the research question, and analyzes the implications of the findings of the case study. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

Biblical and Ancient Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Semitic Languages)

This study was about death rituals among the Karanga of Nyajena, Masvingo, Zimbabwe, who are a sub-group of the Shona people. This inquiry’s primary purpose was tripartite in outlook. First, it described the Karanga causes of sickness and death, and Karanga death rituals. Second, it explored the significance of these rituals to the Karanga people. Third, the study traced and identified the changes in the practice and significance of some of the rituals. The overall goal of this inquiry was to compose a brief manual for the performance of some of the Karanga death rituals. The inquiry divided the Karanga death rituals into three major categories, namely, pre-burial rituals, burial rituals, and post-burial rituals. The investigation employed qualitative research traditions, particularly ethnography, in the collection and interpretation of the relevant research data, in pursuit of the goals mentioned above. Postcolonial theory was used to give a theoretical framework to this study. This study was necessitated by the need of a written manual on the performance of Karanga death rituals. The study compiled the participants’ narratives concerning the praxis, meaning, and changes in the Karanga death rituals in an attempt to analyze and write them down for posterity. The inquiry found out that although the praxis of the rituals was still rememberd by many Karanga people, some of them were no longer performed, and their significance had been lost. Although the study acknowledged the inevitable dynamism of culture, it held that every ethnicity should have some cultural or religious constants so that its identity is not lost. Hence, the Karanga of Nyajena should retrace their footsteps back to their death rituals in order to rediscover and reaffirm their battered cultural identity and integrity. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Phil. (Religious Studies)

This study is the product, chiefly, of fieldwork, undertaken in Sierra Leone, which sought to interview and experience contemporary Limba religio-cultural practices. Using a systematic approach, the goal was to provide a broader understanding of Limba religion, as well as to discover the effect of Limba religiosity, and the tenacity with which the Limba hold to their culture and religion, on the National Pentecostal Limba Church (NPLC) over the past three decades. The study begins with an introduction, which outlines its objectives and structure, the research methods, and its general outline. This is followed by a basic introduction to the socio-history of the Limba people, their origin, environment, language, politics, economy and other socio-cultural characteristics, in order to provide an understanding of the background on which their religion is formed. The heart of the study is a detailed examination of Limba religious beliefs and their intersection with Christianity. It includes a definition of Limba religion and its components. This seeks to identify the current state of Limba religion amidst the changes it has experienced and continues to experience as a result of internal and external influences, and to provide a template for this study, an analysis of the Limba belief in a supreme creator God whom they call Kanu Masala, his epithets, attributes and activities, Limba worship and worship methods, the Limba understanding of the spirit world, humankind, sin and salvation, and the roles of sacred specialists. The study concludes with an examination of the causes of the tenacious loyalty with which some Limba Christians hold to their traditional religious beliefs and practices, their reluctance to part with them, and the effects of their dual religiosity on the NPLC, as well as the church's response, and the resulting reciprocal effects over the past three decades in Sierra Leone. This study fills a gap in the extant literature about the ethno-theological landscape of Sierra Leone, and provides a detailed study on the intersection of African Traditional Religion and Christianity. / Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics / D.Th. (Systematic Theology)

This study is the product, chiefly, of fieldwork, undertaken in Sierra Leone, which sought to interview and experience contemporary Limba religio-cultural practices. Using a systematic approach, the goal was to provide a broader understanding of Limba religion, as well as to discover the effect of Limba religiosity, and the tenacity with which the Limba hold to their culture and religion, on the National Pentecostal Limba Church (NPLC) over the past three decades. The study begins with an introduction, which outlines its objectives and structure, the research methods, and its general outline. This is followed by a basic introduction to the socio-history of the Limba people, their origin, environment, language, politics, economy and other socio-cultural characteristics, in order to provide an understanding of the background on which their religion is formed. The heart of the study is a detailed examination of Limba religious beliefs and their intersection with Christianity. It includes a definition of Limba religion and its components. This seeks to identify the current state of Limba religion amidst the changes it has experienced and continues to experience as a result of internal and external influences, and to provide a template for this study, an analysis of the Limba belief in a supreme creator God whom they call Kanu Masala, his epithets, attributes and activities, Limba worship and worship methods, the Limba understanding of the spirit world, humankind, sin and salvation, and the roles of sacred specialists. The study concludes with an examination of the causes of the tenacious loyalty with which some Limba Christians hold to their traditional religious beliefs and practices, their reluctance to part with them, and the effects of their dual religiosity on the NPLC, as well as the church's response, and the resulting reciprocal effects over the past three decades in Sierra Leone. This study fills a gap in the extant literature about the ethno-theological landscape of Sierra Leone, and provides a detailed study on the intersection of African Traditional Religion and Christianity. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Systematic Theology)

Text in German, summaries in English and German / This dissertation is a missiological research on reports of first and second generation missionaries from the Hermannsburg mission society in Germany. The missionaries worked for their lifetime among the Batswana. An important point in the first chapter is the attempt to clarify the theological foundation for the understandung of inculturation, from which my conception later arose. The second chapter deals with the founders of the Hermannsburg missionary society and describes the spiritual background of the missionaries. The following three chapters cover the work of the missionaries, in each case father and son at Dinokana, Bethanie and Phokeng chronologically from 1857 - 1940. Special attention is given to their socio-cultural expierences and traditional-religious knowledge. The last chapter evaluates the work of the missionaries and takes into account the present missiological debate on mission. Here again it becomes clear what I mean by Inculturation. / Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine missionsgeschichtliche und -theologische Untersuchung uber die ersten beiden Generationen Hermannsburger Missionare unter den Batswana in Transvaal. Im ersten Kapitel stelle ich verschiedene Konzepte zum Verstandnis von lnkulturation vor, aus denen ich Anstosse fur meine eigene Konzeption gewonnen habe. Das zweite Kapitel beschreibt die spirituelle Herkunft der Missionare und ihre theologische Pragung. In den folgenden drei Kapiteln untersuche ich die Arbeit der Missionare, jeweils Vater und Sohn, auf ihren Stationen Dinokana, Bethanie und Phokeng von 1857 - 1940 in chronologischer Reihenfolge. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf den sozio-kulturellen Erfahrungen und traditionell-religiosen Erkenntnissen dieser Missionare. Das letzte Kapitel enthalt eine Bewertung der Missionsarbeit und beleuchtet sie auf den Hintergrund der gegenwartigen missionstheologischen Diskussion. Besonder in diesem Kapitel wird noch einmal deutlich wie ich Inkulturation verstanden habe. / Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

Text in German, summaries in English and German / This dissertation is a missiological research on reports of first and second generation missionaries from the Hermannsburg mission society in Germany. The missionaries worked for their lifetime among the Batswana. An important point in the first chapter is the attempt to clarify the theological foundation for the understandung of inculturation, from which my conception later arose. The second chapter deals with the founders of the Hermannsburg missionary society and describes the spiritual background of the missionaries. The following three chapters cover the work of the missionaries, in each case father and son at Dinokana, Bethanie and Phokeng chronologically from 1857 - 1940. Special attention is given to their socio-cultural expierences and traditional-religious knowledge. The last chapter evaluates the work of the missionaries and takes into account the present missiological debate on mission. Here again it becomes clear what I mean by Inculturation. / Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine missionsgeschichtliche und -theologische Untersuchung uber die ersten beiden Generationen Hermannsburger Missionare unter den Batswana in Transvaal. Im ersten Kapitel stelle ich verschiedene Konzepte zum Verstandnis von lnkulturation vor, aus denen ich Anstosse fur meine eigene Konzeption gewonnen habe. Das zweite Kapitel beschreibt die spirituelle Herkunft der Missionare und ihre theologische Pragung. In den folgenden drei Kapiteln untersuche ich die Arbeit der Missionare, jeweils Vater und Sohn, auf ihren Stationen Dinokana, Bethanie und Phokeng von 1857 - 1940 in chronologischer Reihenfolge. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf den sozio-kulturellen Erfahrungen und traditionell-religiosen Erkenntnissen dieser Missionare. Das letzte Kapitel enthalt eine Bewertung der Missionsarbeit und beleuchtet sie auf den Hintergrund der gegenwartigen missionstheologischen Diskussion. Besonder in diesem Kapitel wird noch einmal deutlich wie ich Inkulturation verstanden habe. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

This study explores the relationship between Christianity and autochthonous (indigenous, pre-Christian) worldviews and practices amongst the Aandonga of Owamboland, Northern Namibia. Using participant contributions from a series of Contextual Bible Study (CBS) sessions (with groups of men, women, and children), and supplemented by ethnographic contextualisation, it challenges the oft-contended notion that Christian worldviews and practices have erased the significance of African Traditional Religion for Ndonga (or wider Owambo) communities. The enduring significance of autochthonous worldviews and practices is explored using responses to six biblical texts, each of which relates to at least one of three themes: bodies, spirits, and landscapes. The study examines feasting bodies (The Parable of the Wedding Banquet), bleeding bodies (The Haemorrhaging Woman), and possessed bodies (Legion). It considers possession spirits (Legion), natural spirits (the so-called ‘Nature Miracles’), and ancestor spirits (Resurrection appearances). Perspectives on landscapes are highlighted particularly in relation to aspects of the natural environment (the ‘Nature Miracles’) and the locations explored by an itinerant demoniac (Legion). Responses to the texts engender, inter alia, discussions of contemporary perspectives on diviner-healers (oonganga), witchcraft (uulodhi), the homestead (egumbo), burial grounds (omayendo, oompampa), spirits (iiluli, oompwidhuli), ancestors (aathithi), material agency (for example, apotropaic amulets), and the ‘traditional’ wedding (ohango). Having analysed the ways in which autochthonous worldviews informed participants’ interpretations of the particular texts considered (Matthew 22:1-14 & Luke 14:7-11; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:26-39; Mark 4:35-41 & 6:45-52; Luke 24), each set of interpretations is brought into conversation with professional biblical scholarship. The study therefore highlights the ways in which these grassroots, ‘contextual’ interpretations might nuance New Testament interpretations returned by the Academy, particularly by highlighting the highly contextual nature of the latter.

This study which is the product of library research and fieldwork seeks, on account of the persistent marginalisation of African Traditional Religion (ATR) in Sierra Leone by Islam and Christianity, to investigate the place of ATR in inter-religious encounters in the country since the advent of Islam and Christianity. As in most of sub-Saharan Africa, ATR is the indigenous religion of Sierra Leone. When the early forebears and later progenitors of Islam and Christianity arrived, they met Sierra Leone indigenes with a remarkable knowledge of God and a structured religious system. Successive Muslim clerics, traders, and missionaries were respectful of and sensitive to the culture and religion of the indigenes who accommodated them and offered them hospitality. This approach resulted in a syncretistic brand of Islam. In contrast, most Christian missionaries adopted an exclusive and insensitive approach to African culture and religiosity. Christianity, especially Protestantism, demanded a complete abandonment of African culture and religion, and a total dedication to Christianity. This attitude has continued by some indigenous clerics and religious leaders to the extent that Sierra Leone Indigenous Religion (SLIR) and it practitioners continue to be marginalised in Sierra Leone's inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. Although the indigenes of Sierra Leone were and continue to be hospitable to Islam and Christianity, and in spite of the fact that SLIR shares affinity with Islam and Christianity in many theological and practical issues, and even though there are many Muslims and Christians who still hold on to traditional spirituality and culture, Muslim and Christian leaders of these immigrant religions are reluctant to include Traditionalists in interfaith issues in the country. The formation and constitution of the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone (IRCSL) which has local and international recognition did not include ATR. These considerations, then beg the questions: * Why have Muslim and Christian leaders long marginalised ATR, its practices and practitioners from interfaith dialogue and cooperation in Sierra Leone? * What is lacking in ATR that continues to prevent practitioners of Christianity and Islam from officially involving Traditionalists in the socio-religious development of the country? Muslim and Christians have given several factors that are responsible for this exclusion: * The prejudices that they inherited from their forebears * ATR lacks the hallmarks of a true religion * ATR is primitive and economically weak * The fear that the accommodation of ATR will result in syncretism and nominalism * Muslims see no need to dialogue with ATR practitioners, most of whom they considered to be already Muslims Considering the commonalities ATR shares with Islam and Christianity, and the number of Muslims and Christians who still hold on to traditional spirituality, these factors are not justifiable. Although Islam and Christianity are finding it hard to recognise and include ATR in interfaith dialogue and cooperation in Sierra Leone, ATR continues to play a vital role in Sierra Leone's national politics, in the search and maintenance of employment, and in the judicial sector. ATR played a crucial part during and after the civil war. The national government in its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report acknowledged the importance and contribution of traditional culture and spirituality during and after the war. Outside of Sierra Leone, the progress in the place and level of the recognition of ATR continues. At varying degrees, the Sociétié Africaine de Culture (SAC) in France, the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), the Vatican, and the World Council of Churches, have taken positive steps to recognise and find a place for ATR in their structures. Much about the necessity for dialogue and cooperation with ATR can be learnt in the works and efforts of these secular and religious bodies. If nothing else, there are two main reasons why Islam and Christianity in Sierra Leone must be in dialogue with ATR: * Dialogue of life or in community. People living side-by-side meet and interact personally and communally on a regular basis. They share common resources and communal benefits. These factors compel people to be in dialogue * Dual religiosity. As many Muslims and Christians in Sierra Leone are still holding on to ATR practices, it is crucial for Muslims and Christians to dialogue with ATR practitioners. If Muslims and Christians are serious about meeting and starting a process of dialogue with Traditionalists, certain practical issues have to be considered: * Islam and Christianity have to validate and accept ATR as a true religion and a viable partner in the socio-religious landscape of Sierra Leone * Muslims and Christians must educate themselves about ATR, and the scriptures and teachings of their respective religious traditions in order to relate well with Traditionalists These are starting points that can produce successful results. Although at present Muslims and Christians in Sierra Leone are finding it difficult to initiate dialogue and cooperation with Traditionalists, all hope is not lost. It is now the task of the established IRCSL to ensure the inclusion of ATR. Islam and Christianity must remember that when they came as strangers, ATR, played host to them and has played and continues to play a vital role in providing hospitality, and allowing them to blossom on African soil. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D.Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)