Thesis (M.A. in Biblical Studies)--Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 2000. / Includes photocopy of The constitution of the Musama Disco Christo Church, compiled by M. Moses Jehu-Appiah [1959]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-79).

Thesis (M.A. in Biblical Studies)--Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 2000. / Includes photocopy of The constitution of the Musama Disco Christo Church, compiled by M. Moses Jehu-Appiah [1959]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-79).

Thesis (M.A. in Biblical Studies)--Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 2000. / Includes photocopy of The constitution of the Musama Disco Christo Church, compiled by M. Moses Jehu-Appiah [1959]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-79).

The Christian faith in God is undergirded by the good news of God's intervention in human life. This intervention of God is good news because the sin of humankind has resulted in alienation with God as well as rendering humankind incapable of restoring fellowship with God. This good news of God's intervention in human affairs through the act of His son Jesus Christ is the centre of Christian kerygma. One outstanding feature of this proclamation is celebration. Salvation offered and given to ailing humankind is cause for celebration for God has paved the way for reconciliation. In Black preaching this note of celebration is remarkably achieved in the extravagant use of figures of speech and imagery drawn from traditional African religiosity, for the African human life in whatever state and condition is cause for celebration. The African responds to life at all levels of encounter with celebration. In sorrow and joy, in sad moments and moments of delight, in want and in plenty, the voice of the African will always rise up in spontaneous acts of celebration. In normal human conversation the use of the African idiom and allegory drawn from their cultural worldview creates unique style. In the use of these the African past is expressly drawn into the present to emphasize the belief in life as a gift from God, a gift to be acknowledged and celebrated. Therefore living through all sorts and conditions of life sharpens the deep feeling and expression of this celebration. The song, praise and dance for the African therefore flows from this spiritual engagement with God in life. The biblical message and the daily experience of life is for the African preacher a stage from which the human drama with God is understood. The nature of God is seen in relation to God's encounter with sinful humankind. God's mercy and grace inspires humans to live their life in confident trust in God. The vicissitudes of life for the African have no dampening effect for life rather they sharpen the awareness of God's surpassing mercy and sustaining steadfastness upon his creatures. Thus in similar vein with the African moroki, the Black preacher calls and inspires his/her audience to celebrate, to engage with life in perfect African celebration.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1978.

This study investigates the function of dreams and visions in the Shembe church at Inanda. It looks at who Isia Shembe (the church founder) and his lineage are to Shembeites, the nature of the relationship between Shembe and the amadlozi (ancestors) and what roles they play in Shembeite life. The data was collected using qualitative methodology - in-depth interviews that were transcribed and where necessary, translated. The study is best understood within a structural-functionalism framework, which accounts for the social and cultural aspects of the religion. The study concludes that Isia Shembe and his lineage are generally thought of as prophets through whom God works. Shembe and the amadlozi often work as a unit and perform the roles of converter, purveyors of good fortune and guides or directors. In addition, Shembe solely performs the roles of cultural leader and mediator between Shembeites and the amadlozi and between Shembeites and God. Dreams and visions function to guide Shembeites, as communication with the spiritual realm, as a method of conversion and as re-affirmations of faith. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

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.

During the period 1884-1925 Ethiopian-type schisms from mission churches occurred for a number of reasons. Generalisations of these reasons have been made by numerous authors. By generalising the causes of schism the particular reasons why each independent church 1 eader 1 eft the mission church are ignored. The thesis shows how each schism was due to unique circumstances in the mission church as well as to factors, for example, the personal feelings of the independent church leader. In each case there was a point of no return when the founder of the independent church no longer felt he could accept the status quo. There were two government commissions that investigated the independent or "separatist" churches during these years - the South African Native Affairs Commission of 1903-1905 and the 1925 South African Native Affairs Commission which investigated the "Separatist Churches". The testimony of the white government officials and missionaries and the black church leaders has been compared with the findings in the reports. Four case studies are investigated to show how general causes of schism may occur for a number of years until a reason, peculiar to the particular independent church, manifests itself and leads to the formation of an independent church. The case studies are the Ethiopian Church and related independent groups, the independent churches which joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1896 with the Ethiopian Church but later left to form their own churches, for example the Order of Ethiopia, schisms from the Presbyterian Church during the 1890' s and the Independent Methodist Church. / Christian, Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th (Church History)

This study encompasses an anthropological investigation of healing practices in the Zion Christian Church with reference to the Marabastad congregation in Pretoria (Tshwane), South Africa. The Zion Christian Church functions as an extremely successful healing ministry, and can thus be characterised as a spirit-type African Initiated Church, a type known to attract members through healing activities. The concepts of ill-health, health, healing and curing are crucial to understanding the church’s role, as all activities at the Zion Christian Church revolve around the attainment of absolute health. The embedded nature of healing in the church is explored through an analysis of the spatial and material aspects of the church’s healing practices, including codes of conduct, roles of participants, religious services, and intangible and tangible instruments of healing. The study is further contextualised against the broader history of the emergence and growth of African Initiated Churches from the late 19th century onwards / Anthropology & Archaeology / M.A. (Anthropology)

German text / Die vorliegende wissenschaftliche Arbeit befasst sich mit den amaZioni, die den größten Teil der südafrikanischen AIC-Bewegung („African Independent/Indigenous/Initiated Churches“) ausmachen. Für die meisten Theologen stellen die amaZioni eine synkretistische christliche Kirchenbewegung dar, die in ihren Ritualen und Gottesdienstformen starke Einflüsse von traditionellen afrikanischen Religionen (ATR) aufweist. Nicht desto trotz öffnen sich viele der amaZioni-Kirchen gegenüber biblischer Lehre durch Missionare. Um eine solide Grundlage für die Missionsarbeit zu schaffen, befasst sich die vorgeschlagene Arbeit damit, wichtige Bedürfnisse der amaZioni zu erforschen, so dass diese als Anknüpfungspunkte für die weitere Evangeliumsverkündigung genutzt werden können. / The proposed research examines the needs of the amaZioni, who are part of the South African AIC-movement. The amaZioni, as one of the largest religious groups in South Africa, are viewed by most theologicans as syncretistic christian churches. It is obvious that their common believe system as well as their rituals show a strong influence of african traditional religions (ATR). But nevertheless, many of the members of the Zion-churches are opening up for bible teaching provided by missionaries. In order to establish a solid base for the future mission work the proposed research focuses on finding out the amaZioni's needs, so that this needs can be used as reference points in the endeavour of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the missionaries. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)