The relationship between sacred (communal, public) and profane / No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1994.

Text in English / The membership of the African Independent Churches is growing day by day. Research into the growth ohhis phenomenon is being conducted by various scholars. G.C. Oosthuizen studied the African Independent Churches in general, and the Shembe Church, in particular. This study examines Oosthuizen' s research of the African Independent Churches by analysing the three books that he devoted specifically to the Shembe Church. A set of five criteria is developed to evaluate Oosthuizen as a researcher. The study finds that his background and formation affected the research he conducted and contributed to the type of picture he portrayed of the Shembe Church. Oosthuizen, as a scholar of religion, sometimes allowed his theological interests to influence his research. As an empirical researcher Oosthuizen attempted to let the AICs "speak for themselves" but his theological interests caused him to make value judgements which influenced his research findings. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Text in English / The membership of the African Independent Churches is growing day by day. Research into the growth ohhis phenomenon is being conducted by various scholars. G.C. Oosthuizen studied the African Independent Churches in general, and the Shembe Church, in particular. This study examines Oosthuizen' s research of the African Independent Churches by analysing the three books that he devoted specifically to the Shembe Church. A set of five criteria is developed to evaluate Oosthuizen as a researcher. The study finds that his background and formation affected the research he conducted and contributed to the type of picture he portrayed of the Shembe Church. Oosthuizen, as a scholar of religion, sometimes allowed his theological interests to influence his research. As an empirical researcher Oosthuizen attempted to let the AICs "speak for themselves" but his theological interests caused him to make value judgements which influenced his research findings. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

This study examines the sacred dance in the Nazaretha Church and Isaiah Shembe's hymns as “agency” and not “response” (Coplan, 1994: 27). A number of studies on the Nazaretha Church and Isaiah Shembe posit that Shembe created his popular texts (especially the sacred dance) as a response to colonialism and the oppression of black people. In countering such a proposition I argue that in exploring the sacred dance we need to look at the motivation for members to participate in the dance. With that view in mind, I examine the sacred dance and the hymns as examples of a popular culture which is both „transnational‟ and „transglobal‟, to use Hofmeyr‟s terms (2004). This is because it is common in the Nazaretha Church that members taking part in the sacred dance claim to be doing so on behalf of their dead relatives, as it is believed that ancestors are able to participate in those dances through the bodies of their living relatives. In return, those in the ancestral realm will reward the living performers by offering them „blessings‟. In the Nazarite Church, and through performances like the sacred dance, the physical and spiritual worlds are perceived to be integrated. I therefore examine these hymns and performances as examples of popular culture “that is more than sub- or trans-national, [that] is trans-worldly and trans-global” (Hofmeyr, 2004: 9). In other words, I examine the sacred dance as performances and the hymns as texts whose audience is not only living people but also people in heaven. This means my study goes beyond the view that Nazarite performances are rituals of empowerment for the members, a majority of whom are economically, socially and politically marginalised (Muller, 1999), to look at them as significant on their own account. In undertaking the abovementioned task, I examine these hymns and performances in relation to “oral testimony of their significance to the people who [perform] and [listen] to them” (White, 1989: 37). Oral testimony of dreams and miracles suggests that Nazarite members who take part in the sacred dance do so primarily because of the imagined relationship between the individual and divine power. As Mbembe states, “it is the subject‟s relation to divine sovereignty that serves as the main provider of meanings for most people” (2002: 270). I argue that Nazarite members take part in the sacred dance mainly as an attempt to “manage the „real world‟ on the basis of the conviction that all symbolisation refers primarily to a system of the invisible, of a magical universe, the present belonging above all to a sequence that opens onto something different” (270). / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

African encounter with the Bible is different from their encounter with Christianity. This thesis looks at different stages of African reception and appropriation of the Bible in African prophecy. The appropriation of the Bible by Africans is important to look at because it allows them to use their own thought pattern in order to understand the Word of God. Isaiah Shembe (1870-1935) is one of the AlC's prophets who sought to revitalize his Zulu community after the dispossession of their cultural identity in the name of Christianity. He did .. this through his different hermeneutical interpretation of imibhalo eNgcwele (Holy Scriptures) and through his maintenance and revival of social customs. When missionaries came with the Bible in Africa there also came with them colonialists and it is evident that the two went together. Africans did not only see the Bible as a tool for western colonialism but also as a book of numinous powers. However, it was not long before Africans realized that there was nothing wrong about the "Book" because when they could read it for themselves they realized that the Book portrays a life that is similar to theirs. The researcher sought to separate the Bible from Christianity in order to understand different stages of the reception of the Bible in Africa. This thesis, then looks at the appropriation of the Bible in African prophecy. It argues that in African prophecy the Bible is used to renew African society. This is done by examining and contrasting the material of two Zulu prophets Isaiah Shembe and George Khambule. These two prophets who emerge in the time of the destruction of the Zulu society have a religious experience that sought to restore and renew Zulu community. This is seen in the way they interpreted and enacted the promise of the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation among their communities. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006. / Draper, Jonathan A.

Deux mouvements théologiques et culturels actuellement en croissance rapide suscitent un intérêt mondial, Ibandla lamaNazaretha et les Rastafari. Fondé par le Zulu prédicateur Isaiah Shembe pendant les années 1910, Ibandla lamaNazaretha prend son origine d’une église hiérarchique célébrant dans des temples extérieurs dans la province de KwaZulu-Natal et inclut maintenant un certain nombre de factions regroupées autour de la péninsule de l’Afrique du Sud. Le groupe des Rastafari, quant à lui, né en Jamaïque, a commencé comme une idéologie à plusieurs têtes qui a fleuri dans des zones éparses de l’île des Caraïbes. Il découle des interprétations d’une prophétie généralement attribuée à Marcus Garvey, concernant un roi devant être couronné en Afrique (circa 1920), et qui fut appliquée aux années 1930, avec le couronnement de Ras Tafari Makonnen comme Haile Selassie I, 225e empereur d’Éthiopie. Les adhérents et sympathisants de ces deux mouvements se comptent en dizaines de millions et ils exercent plusieurs types d’influences, tant aux niveaux politique, théologique, social que culturel, en particulier en Afrique et dans les Caraïbes aujourd’hui. Cette thèse soutient que les deux, Ibandla lamaNazaretha et les Rastafari, perpétuent un amalgame entre le « Naziréat » de l’Ancien Testament (Nombres 6:1-8) et le « Nazaréen » de l’évangile de Matthieu (2:23), à travers la dévotion à un seigneur contemporain: Haile Selassie I dans le cas du mouvement Rastafari et Isaiah Shembe dans le cas du mouvement Ibandla lamaNazaretha. Dans ce cadre théologique, à la fois les Rastafari et Ibandla lamaNazaretha ont réanimé les anciens rites de purification judaïques du naziréat jusque-là disparus, et les ont également adaptés, dans le contexte du messianisme, aux préoccupations postcoloniales de l’autochtonie. Grâce à la persistance de l’autochtonie, l’influence des idéaux indiens de résistance non-violente, et l’appropriation des différents thèmes bibliques, les deux mouvements africains noirs ont habilité avec succès leurs membres « dépossédés ». Ils l’ont fait par la création de communautés liminales, alors que des modes de vie agraires et auto-suffisants s’épanouissent en dehors des auspices d’une élite dominante : une herméneutique du nazaritisme unifie les diverses racines hybrides africaines, judaïques, chrétiennes, indiennes, et européennes. / Two rapidly growing theological and cultural movements currently sparking global interest are Rastafari and Ibandla lamaNazaretha. Founded by the Zulu preacher Isaiah Shembe during the 1910s, Ibandla lamaNazaretha originated as a hierarchical church order that worships at outdoor temples in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and currently comprises a number of splinter groups centralized around the Southern African peninsula. Rastafari, however, born in Jamaica, commenced as a multi-headed ideology that blossomed in scattered pockets across the Caribbean island and stemmed from the interpretations of a prophecy generally attributed to Marcus Garvey about a king to be crowned in Africa (circa 1920) as applied to the 1930 coronation of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Haile Selassie I, 225th Emperor of Ethiopia. Today, Ibandla lamaNazaretha and Rastafari comprise adherents and sympathizers numbering in the tens of millions and their presences connote varying degrees of political, theological, social, and cultural influence, especially in Africa and the Caribbean today. This dissertation argues that both Ibandla lamaNazaretha and Rastafari perpetuate a conflation between the “Nazirite” from the Old Testament (Numbers 6:1-8) and the “Nazorean” of Matthew 2:23 through the hailing of a contemporaneous saviour: i.e. Haile Selassie I for Rastafari and Isaiah Shembe for Ibandla lamaNazaretha. Within this theological framework, both Rastafari and Ibandla lamaNazaretha have provided renewed life to the long defunct Ancient Judaic purification rites of the Nazirite, but have also adapted them in the context of messianism for the benefits of Africanness and the postcolonial concerns of indigeneity. Thus, through the persistence of indigeneity, the influence of Indian ideals of peaceful resistance, and the appropriation of various biblical themes, both Black African movements have successfully empowered the dispossessed by creating liminal communities wherein expressions of agrarian self-reliance flourish outside the auspices of a subjugating elite; a hermeneutic of naziritism unifies the discernable African, Judaic, Christian, Indian, and European hybridic roots.

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.

Deux mouvements théologiques et culturels actuellement en croissance rapide suscitent un intérêt mondial, Ibandla lamaNazaretha et les Rastafari. Fondé par le Zulu prédicateur Isaiah Shembe pendant les années 1910, Ibandla lamaNazaretha prend son origine d’une église hiérarchique célébrant dans des temples extérieurs dans la province de KwaZulu-Natal et inclut maintenant un certain nombre de factions regroupées autour de la péninsule de l’Afrique du Sud. Le groupe des Rastafari, quant à lui, né en Jamaïque, a commencé comme une idéologie à plusieurs têtes qui a fleuri dans des zones éparses de l’île des Caraïbes. Il découle des interprétations d’une prophétie généralement attribuée à Marcus Garvey, concernant un roi devant être couronné en Afrique (circa 1920), et qui fut appliquée aux années 1930, avec le couronnement de Ras Tafari Makonnen comme Haile Selassie I, 225e empereur d’Éthiopie. Les adhérents et sympathisants de ces deux mouvements se comptent en dizaines de millions et ils exercent plusieurs types d’influences, tant aux niveaux politique, théologique, social que culturel, en particulier en Afrique et dans les Caraïbes aujourd’hui. Cette thèse soutient que les deux, Ibandla lamaNazaretha et les Rastafari, perpétuent un amalgame entre le « Naziréat » de l’Ancien Testament (Nombres 6:1-8) et le « Nazaréen » de l’évangile de Matthieu (2:23), à travers la dévotion à un seigneur contemporain: Haile Selassie I dans le cas du mouvement Rastafari et Isaiah Shembe dans le cas du mouvement Ibandla lamaNazaretha. Dans ce cadre théologique, à la fois les Rastafari et Ibandla lamaNazaretha ont réanimé les anciens rites de purification judaïques du naziréat jusque-là disparus, et les ont également adaptés, dans le contexte du messianisme, aux préoccupations postcoloniales de l’autochtonie. Grâce à la persistance de l’autochtonie, l’influence des idéaux indiens de résistance non-violente, et l’appropriation des différents thèmes bibliques, les deux mouvements africains noirs ont habilité avec succès leurs membres « dépossédés ». Ils l’ont fait par la création de communautés liminales, alors que des modes de vie agraires et auto-suffisants s’épanouissent en dehors des auspices d’une élite dominante : une herméneutique du nazaritisme unifie les diverses racines hybrides africaines, judaïques, chrétiennes, indiennes, et européennes. / Two rapidly growing theological and cultural movements currently sparking global interest are Rastafari and Ibandla lamaNazaretha. Founded by the Zulu preacher Isaiah Shembe during the 1910s, Ibandla lamaNazaretha originated as a hierarchical church order that worships at outdoor temples in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and currently comprises a number of splinter groups centralized around the Southern African peninsula. Rastafari, however, born in Jamaica, commenced as a multi-headed ideology that blossomed in scattered pockets across the Caribbean island and stemmed from the interpretations of a prophecy generally attributed to Marcus Garvey about a king to be crowned in Africa (circa 1920) as applied to the 1930 coronation of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Haile Selassie I, 225th Emperor of Ethiopia. Today, Ibandla lamaNazaretha and Rastafari comprise adherents and sympathizers numbering in the tens of millions and their presences connote varying degrees of political, theological, social, and cultural influence, especially in Africa and the Caribbean today. This dissertation argues that both Ibandla lamaNazaretha and Rastafari perpetuate a conflation between the “Nazirite” from the Old Testament (Numbers 6:1-8) and the “Nazorean” of Matthew 2:23 through the hailing of a contemporaneous saviour: i.e. Haile Selassie I for Rastafari and Isaiah Shembe for Ibandla lamaNazaretha. Within this theological framework, both Rastafari and Ibandla lamaNazaretha have provided renewed life to the long defunct Ancient Judaic purification rites of the Nazirite, but have also adapted them in the context of messianism for the benefits of Africanness and the postcolonial concerns of indigeneity. Thus, through the persistence of indigeneity, the influence of Indian ideals of peaceful resistance, and the appropriation of various biblical themes, both Black African movements have successfully empowered the dispossessed by creating liminal communities wherein expressions of agrarian self-reliance flourish outside the auspices of a subjugating elite; a hermeneutic of naziritism unifies the discernable African, Judaic, Christian, Indian, and European hybridic roots.

The Shembe Church's integration of African Traditional Religion and Christianity has been met by many challenges. This merger has been rejected by both African traditionalists and Christians. The Shembe Church has been met by intolerance even though the movement in some ways creates multiculturalism between different people and cultures. This thesis documents the Shembe Church's ideas and practices; it discusses how the Shembe Church combines two ideologies that appear to be at odds with each other. In looking at Shembe ideas and practices, the thesis discusses African religion-inspired rituals like ukusina, ancestral honouring, animal sacrificing and virgin testing. The thesis also discusses the heavy Christian influence within the Shembe Church; this is done by looking at the Shembe Church's use of The Bible and Moses' Laws which play a crucial role in the Church. The challenges the Shembe Church faces are another main theme of the thesis. The thesis looks at cases of intolerance and human rights violations experienced by Shembe members. This is done in part by looking at the living conditions at eBuhleni, located at Inanda, KZN. The thesis also analyses individual Shembe member's experiences and discusses how some members of the Shembe church experience the acceptance of the Shembe religion in South African society. This thesis concludes by trying to make a distinction between intolerance and controversy. I try to highlight the idea that what many Shembe followers see as discrimination and intolerance towards them is sometimes a difference in opinion from other cultural groups. Sometimes these differences are not geared towards criticising other religious groups or perpetuating intolerance.