JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA最新文献

The Hatatas of Zera Yaeqob and Welda Heywat are seen as the precursors of a written Ethiopian philosophy. Commentators on these texts such as Claude Sumner and Teodros Kiros argue that, one is able to locate the Cartesian mode of subjectivity in the Hatatas. Against this, this paper argues that the form of subjectivity found in the Hatatas of Zera Yaeqob and Welda Heywat is not fully demythologized and dwells in the background of religious authority, and therefore should not be identified with the Cartesian conception of the human subject. Alternatively, I argue that the goal of the Hatatas is attaining religious reformation. The form of subjectivity found in the Hatatas is founded on communal life and religious experience. The paper concludes that the Hatatas of Zera Yaeqob and Welda Heywat should be read as a call for religious renewal and ethical transformation.

This article is a product of an empirical study that argues that denominational worship praxis is a contested issue among Seventh-day Adventists (SDA s) in Nigeria today. Using analysis from fieldnotes and interviews, this article shows that there are some congregants who prefer to do worship as it was practiced by their denominational pioneers. This group keeps this memory sacred. Another group of Adventists contest the same past by leaning toward the Nigerian Pentecostal ethos. This contestation regarding the past combined with acceptance or rejection of cultural matters in the worship arena shows the diversity of Adventism in Nigeria. It also reveals how cultural and missionary traditions intersect and influence the local contemporary worship praxis of Adventist Christianity. Based on ethnographic findings, the article concludes that the example of conflicting visions of the past in one denomination (Seventh-day Adventists) in Nigeria contributes to a richer perspective in studies in world Christianity.

This paper makes an essential contribution by arguing that shifts in German colonial educational policy, which continued under British control, consistently favoured the spread of Christianity over Islam in Tanganyika. The paper also looks at how the two colonial powers used Article 6 of the Berlin Act 1884–1885, Article 438 of the Versailles Treaty, and Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant, as well as Command Paper No. 2374 of I925 that emphasised the protection of Christian missionaries and the provision of education by missionaries across British colonies in Africa. The aforementioned articles established colonial state-missionary partnerships and provided security to missionaries. The colonial authority’s protection of missionaries was essential to investing in the education sector, which became a centre for the spread of Christianity in the country. As a result, the spread of Christianity throughout the territory accelerated. The paper relies heavily on secondary and primary sources for this analysis.

Pentecostal denominations are undoubtedly spreading in Africa. While the proliferation of Pentecostal churches appears to be the resultant effect of church planting strategies and the works of the Holy Spirit, it is rather struggles from the power relations that serve as the underlying force behind the spread of these denominations. This is connected to the fact that Pentecostal churches govern themselves and hold real disciplinary powers that result in the subjectification of their adherents as docile bodies. This study therefore aims to analyze the roles as well as effects of the combination of the Spirit’s power and pastoral power that underlie the power relations, and result in the prevalence of breakaway among Pentecostal believers. Employing a literary criticism approach and using secondary data, the findings show that without careful understanding of power relations and openness of Pentecostal pastors to reason in their exercise of technologies of powers, the rising incidence of breakaway among Pentecostal denominations in Africa will undoubtedly continue.