AbstractOverview of efforts by some churches in Botswana to help children orphaned by the death of their parents from AIDS. Includes interviews with some church leaders.

AbstractIn response to K. N. Ngwa's study of Exodus 2 (see #1038), D. begins by recounting African regional wars during his high school and university years, then turns to Ngwa's essay as a "multilayered cultivation of a language that enables us to talk and think about the past, the present, and the future not only in the war-torn African state of Cameroon . . . as well as throughout the world," but where, however, there are "no motifs . . . of complete escape from Pharaoh" (p. 899). How might Africa reengage colonialism? D. points to the African traditions of hospitality and tricksterism. The midwives were such tricksters, as were Moses's mother and sister. D. casts Ngwa's reading as an example of the kind of trickstering that needs to take place today in Africa. See also ##1036, 1038, 1039. [Abstracted by: Paul L. Redditt] Abstract Number: OTA39-2016-JUN-1037

AbstractThe article first compares the apocryphal Acts with the ancient novel, highlights the function of nostalgia in both sets of texts, and considers the connection between the tendency to characterize women as rich and the authorship of the apocryphal Acts. Next it compares the apocryphal Acts with the Pastoral epistles (especially 1 Timothy) in an attempt to illuminate the agenda of the former (nostalgia for a past that actually existed but is now under threat). Finally it considers the history of women in African Independent Churches in Southern Africa in light of the apocryphal Acts to empower women in Southern Africa and elsewhere to claim their his/herstory against gender discrimination in the church and society.--C.R.M. Abstract Number: NTA44-2000-2-1477

AbstractIn the globalization era, justice-seeking feminist theologies are challenged to sharpen and reposition themselves to speak to the issues of the time by adopting new methods, topics, and frameworks. Consequently, “the boundaries of theology need to be redrawn in the light of the creation of new global cultures” and “crucial to the task of rewriting the story of feminist theology in the light of globalization is reflecting on the nature of a theological perspective it makes.” This chapter explores the interrelations of globalization, a world scripture (the Bible), and the vision of feminist theologies.

AbstractThe chapter investigates the link between modern colonialism, violence and biblical texts in the African context.

AbstractThis article explores how the HIV and AIDS epidemic became a revealing moment in history--highlighting the structures of power within the relationships that we inhabit and their ill-health. This stretched from highlighting the fractures of gender relations, marriage, social ethics, economic distributions, sexual and age disparity, among other things. In so doing, the HIV and AIDS epidemic turned the light on the darkness of our relationship, calling for new imaginations and for justice to be served to and with all.

AbstractThis substantially revised edition has been expanded to include 16 new essays and a new section on postcolonial readings of scripture. It also contains a new introduction and an afterword by the editor, calling attention to new developments in biblical interpretation.

AbstractD. presents fictional letters of Orpah to Ruth, which would never have been preserved because they reflect an oral culture. Those letters depict Orpah as one who returned to her own older mother, just as Ruth followed Naomi, her older mother-in-law. See also #1854. [Abstracted by: Jon L. Berquist.] Abstract Number: OTA24-2001-OCT-1857

AbstractThis article is an amalgam of four talks given over several days at The Community of Women and Men in Mission Conference. The overall title `Who do you say that I am?' covers the subjects of Jesus the Liberator, The Healer, The One Who Empowers, and The One Who Sends Us. The author explores these issues in the context of Africa and opens a very illuminating set of questions.

AbstractNoting that the ways of interpreting the Bible now practiced in the West are patriarchal and oppressive of those in other parts of the world, Dube offers an alternative interpretation that attends to and respects needs of women in the two-thirds world. In a provocative and insightful reading of the book of Matthew, she shows us how to read the Bible as decolonizing rather than imperialist literature.

AbstractThis volume foregrounds biblical interpretation within the African history of colonial contact, from North Atlantic slavery to the current era of globalization. It reads of the prolonged struggle for justice and of hybrid identities from multifaceted contexts, where the Bible co-exists with African Indigenous Religions, Islam, and other religions. Showcasing the dynamic and creative approaches of an emerging and thriving community of biblical scholarship from the African continent and African diaspora, the volume critically examines the interaction of biblical texts with African people and their cultures within a postcolonial framework. While employing feminist/womanist, postcolonial, Afrocentric, social engagement, creative writing, reconstruction, and HIV/AIDS perspectives, the authors all engage with empire in their own ways: in specific times, forms, and geography. This volume is an important addition to postcolonial and empires studies in biblical scholarship. The contributors are David Tuesday Adamo, Lynn Darden, H. J. M. (Hans) van Deventer, Musa W. Dube, John D. K. Ekem, Ernest M. Ezeogu, Elelwani B. Farisani, Sylvester A. Johnson, Emmanuel Katongole, Malebogo Kgalemang, Temba L. J. Mafico, Madipoane Masenya (ngwan'a Mphahlele), Andrew M. Mbuvi, Sarojini Nadar, Elivered Nasambu-Mulongo, Jeremy Punt, Gerrie Snyman, Lovemore Togarasei, Sam Tshehla, Robert Wafawanaka, Robert Wafula, Gerald West, Alice Y. Yafeh-Deigh, and Gosnell L. Yorke.

AbstractThe paper explores the African communal ethic of ubuntu and its possible contribution to prevention of HIV and AIDS and tocommunal healing in general.

AbstractThis paper is primarily based on fieldwork research, carried out by different researchers over the ten years 1993-2003. It will explore the position of women in the church of Botswana, by examining: a Women from different church backgrounds, that is, mainline churches, African Independent Churches, and evangelical churches. b How and why they became leaders and their experiences in church and society. c Models of gender empowerment that emerge from the studies.

AbstractAssesses the traumatic experiences of Batswana, exploring concepts of remembering and forgetting healing and positive living.

AbstractUsing contextual, postcolonial, gender and liberation perspectives, the article seeks to read the Bible in the light of aging processes

AbstractThis article reviews the gendered Pentecostal Bible as documented by various researchers. It assesses how the prophetic-spirit framework encounters and functions within the framework of the inerrant but patriarchal written word. The Spirit framework is an oral canon that opens spaces of gender empowerment. Yet Pentecostal scholars problematise the supposedly liberating Spirit, highlighting that it sometimes denies the materiality of human existence and inhabits the constraining parameters of patriarchal church structures. The article suggests that in addition to the Spirit-Word framework, new Pentecostal theological categories, such as healing and deliverance and the prosperity gospel need to be investigated for the new spaces they open for gender justice. ‘The authority of the Bible as the word of God, and the experience of the Holy Spirit form two of the most important sources of Pentecostal theology’ (Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu 2004:390).

AbstractMusa W. Dube As a young girl, one of the derisive comments I frequently heard at our family retail shop was: “Dilo ke lona le tsile le tlola melolwane le melolwane; dinoka le dinokana, le tsile go bapala kwano. ” That is, “you came crossing one boundary after another, one river after another to trade in our country. ” The subtext in the statement was that we were foreigners who did not deserve, or had merely been favored to access economic resources in Botswana. My parents and five of my eldest siblings were born in Zimbabwe, and the last five of us were born in Botswana. Before we migrated to Botswana, it had happened that the village where my parents lived was declared a white man’s ranch. Indigenous people in the area were given two choices: to remain in their homes and assume the status of servants to the owner...

AbstractThis article discusses the different families of the New Testament literature; its the historical and cultural background. Thereafter, the article samples from each genre to analyse constructions of gender in the gospels, history, epistles and apocalyptic literature of the New Testament.

AbstractThe chapter explores translations of Christian hymns and scriptures during the modern colonial times, investigating how colonial ideology permeated these works. It also summaries African scholarly research that has investigated the area, from various regions and languages of the continent.

AbstractThe global HIV and AIDS epidemic has been a context of great suffering: stigmatization, death, grief, orphaned children and impoverishment. It is an attack on life and its quality. Moreover, the most marginalized groups such as women, homosexuals, youth, blacks and the poor have been at the center of the storm of the epidemic. With millions dead, and other millions living with HIV, and with millions of orphaned children globally, the epidemic has been an apocalyptic event that raises significant theological questions. Who is God? Where is God? Does God Care? The same questions are asked about Christ by communities and individuals who are living with HIV and AIDS. How then should we read the Bible in such a global context? This lecture will share the imperative to read the Bible in the context of HIV&AIDS, which calls for frameworks of reading for the affirmation of life, justice, the body, sexuality and compassion among others. "There will be no end of AIDS without ensuring respect and dignity of all people, equity in access to health services and social justices," Prof Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, AIDS 2014 International Conference.

AbstractThe article explores contemporary neo-liberal structures relationship with modern colonial histories, while investigating its gender and theological implications.

AbstractThe article utilises narrative, feminist, postcolonial and HIV and AIDS frameworkd to read Mark 5:21-43

AbstractThe article explores biblical texts and African oratures, foregrounding new questions concerning HIV and AIDS and the various context of precolonial, struggle for independence, post-independence, cold war and globalization. The story of Mark 5: 21-43 is read within these various contextS, underlining the possibility of liberation through the trope of resurrection.

AbstractThis paper discusses my activities in the classroom and beyond to address African contexts of the HIV and AIDS crisis. Alongside an account of my strategies, encounters and journeys, I discuss the activist Gugu Dlamini and Mmutle, a trickster of African folklore. Both act as inspirations for the role of change agent.

AbstractIntroductionProblematizing of Frameworks of AIR(s)Community, Postcolonialism, and FeminismThe Future of Feminist African Religion

AbstractThe chapter explores the construction of space, postcoloniality, religion and gender among African writers.

AbstractThe article investigates how Purple Hibiscus utilizes intertextuality and explores the intersection of class, gender, race, postcoloniality and violence in a context of theological imagination represented by two siblings, who express their Roman Catholic faith differently. The character of Papa Eugene, whose extreme religiosity and violence pervades the book, is depicted as a colonized subject, who embodies epistemic violence of a colonial past. The decolonizing postcolonial feminist perspective of the book is best modeled by the character of Aunty Ifeoma and how she expresses her Christian faith as an African woman. Whereas, Aunty Ifeoma is an articulate intellectual, women of different status are shown to use different means of resisting patriarchy and violence in the quest for liberating relationships, thereby modeling various expressions of feminist agency. This paper, therefore, explores the intersectionality of gender, class, race, religion, postcoloniality and power in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s debuting novel, Purple Hibiscus set in a political context of a military coup in Nigeria.

AbstractThe book of Genesis tells the story of many patriarchs of Israel. Abraham, who was promised the nation of Israel, is one of the central founding fathers of Israel (Gen 12: 1, 3). Abraham has two sons, Ishmael and Isaac through, respectively, Hagar and Sarah. There is a story behind how he came to have sons by two different mothers: Sarah and Abraham were married, but they had no children. Sarah, who believed that the Lord had closed her womb (Gen. 16: 2), said to Abraham, “ Go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children...

AbstractExploring the implications of teaching in the HIV and AIDS death zone of the early 2000s, this article underlines how the context generated a teaching crisis and demanded multiple responses. HIV and AIDS called into question established scientific knowledge, methods, and theories, highlighting their inadequacy. University classroom boundaries had to be extended to include the community outside the academic halls, thereby necessitating curriculum transformation concerning the content, justification, and methods of teaching. While HIV and AIDS generated silence and death, responsive teaching methods had to create a space of breaking the silence, healing, and working out a theology of resurrection.

AbstractThe book explore biblical portrayal of commercial sex and analysis the interpretation, particularly feminist readers.

AbstractAbstract In biblical translation, tradition has long persisted that the so-called source text should have the lion’s share, an approach that served to suppress and colonise indigenous cultures. From modern colonial times to the contemporary global era, biblical translation theories and agenda have remained largely steeped in the colonial ideology of muted recipient communities. The Tiv translation of Hamlet models a different approach. In Robert Moffat’s translation of Setswana Bible in 1840-1857, it is clear that the indigenous people had not even asked for the translation nor were their voices valued in the process. Almost three decades later, Batswana began responding to a completed translation, demonstrating that a written document does not surpass the power of the oral canon, which is held in the memory of the indigenous community.

AbstractThe article uses the format of ten commandments to give 10 critical issueds of HIV and AIDS engagements

AbstractThe massive growth of Pentecostal Charismatic Churches (PCCs) constitutes a Pentecostal kairos in the global history of the Christian movement. In its current form, the Pentecostal movement spreads itself into politics, economics, cultural and social spheres, interacting with various disciplines all at once. Yet the massive growth and impact of PCCs has not attracted equivalent attention from scholars of religion in the African continent. This article highlights the PCCs’ kairos and the pentecostalisation of religion and society. It also challenges African scholars of religion to undertake interdisciplinary collaborative research projects in order to make meaningful contributions to the methods and theoretical implications for teaching religion in the PCCs kairos.

AbstractAfrican oratures consist of a significant corpus of trickster stories. This article investigates indigenous frameworks of reading texts by exploring the philosophical stance of Mmutle, the trickster of Southern Africa, by analyzing eight stories. The analysis of the Mmutle trickster discourse highlights four postures of reading for liberation. First, the vulnerable and oppressed should keep a permanent vigil toward the powerful and always watch out for their interests without fail. Second, the vulnerable and oppressed should be willing to be in solidarity with other vulnerable and oppressed members of the society and to use teamwork. Third, sharp and transgressive thinking skills are vital weapons of resistance, survival, and liberation. Fourth, the Mmutle trickster philosophical framework demands skills of rewriting and redirecting a story toward new and unexpected ends in the service of resistance, survival, and liberation.

AbstractThis article seeks to trace the fussy boundaries of religion and the public space in the modern colonial archive of southern Africa. It investigates how drawing such boundaries became a central strategy in translating indigenous cultures into sin and creating guilt in communities that did not observe the sacred and secular boundaries. The article uses the attestations of the 19 th century letters to Mahoko a Becwana, a London Missionary Society public paper, printed from Kuruman. While the Batswana worldview kneaded religion and all spheres of individual and collective public space, modern western colonial perspectives claimed otherwise. This paper analyses the letters for the intrusion of colonial religion into the public space of Batswana; the colonial agenda to translate key cultural beliefs and activities into the realm of evil and the various responses it initiated – thereby uncovering that perhaps the separation of religion from state has always been a mythological and ideological construction.

AbstractThis article seeks to trace the fussy boundaries of religion and the public space in the modern colonial archive of southern Africa. It investigates how drawing such boundaries became a central strategy in translating indigenous cultures into sin and creating guilt in communities that did not observe the sacred and secular boundaries. The article uses the attestations of the 19th century letters to Mahoko a Becwana, a London Missionary Society public paper, printed from Kuruman. While the Batswana worldview kneaded religion and all spheres of individual and collective public space, modern western colonial perspectives claimed otherwise. This paper analyses the letters for the intrusion of colonial religion into the public space of Batswana; the colonial agenda to translate key cultural beliefs and activities into the realm of evil and the various responses it initiated - thereby uncovering that perhaps the separation of religion from state has always been a mythological and ideological construction.

AbstractLittle is known on the area of pastoral theological approaches used for premarital counseling during bridal showers in Botswana. Pentecostal pastoral counselors during Naomi/ Laban showers were interviewed about their premarital pastoral counseling work, on values and ethics of Botho/Ubuntu, how the ethic is manifested in a traditional society and how it can be used to construct and reconstruct gender. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected on 66 Naomi-Laban pastoral counselors who took part in the study in Gaborone and semi villages of Kanye, Ramotswa, Mochudi and Tlokweng between 1 st August 2016 and 31 st March 2017. The Naomi-Laban marital counseling group use the communal contextual, cross-cultural and hermeneutic pastoral theological approaches in their deliberations. They have adopted a new church family model that retains traditional values while taking contextual issues into cognizance. Naomi/ Laban constitute an engaging and useful group with experiences and skills that can be tapped by pastoral marital counselors. Their work represents a significant premarital counseling resource. Their approaches could however be made more relevant if they are beefed up with a participatory approach. The latter allows couples to explore their positions on several issues relating to marriage.

AbstractBotswana has experienced rapid urbanisation and industrialisation since independence, with people moving from the rural to the urban areas consequently. The quality of family and peer relationships and the spirit of communityhood have also deteriorated significantly over the years. However, few studies have investigated how people forge or reproduce significant values from the rural areas/traditional practices in the urban space. This study investigated the Botho/Ubuntu-driven practices of building community in the urban space in the form of Naomi and Laban, bridal and baby showers in Gaborone. Showers are gendered celebrations organised by women for a mother or father who will either receive a daughter or a son-in-law or for a woman who is engaged to be married or one who is about to become a mother, respectively. The study combined both quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry. The study first carried out secondary desktop analysis and, second, conducted fieldwork-based research. Themes such as social networks, social norms of mutuality, reciprocity, social support, collective efficacy, informal social control, mutual trust, empathy and reciprocity appeared in the study. Results show that participation in the showers could bring satisfaction, improved social relations, an increased sense of control and empowerment.

AbstractBotswana has experienced rapid urbanisation and industrialisation since independence, with people moving from the rural to the urban areas consequently. The quality of family and peer relationships and the spirit of communityhood have also deteriorated significantly over the years. However, few studies have investigated how people forge or reproduce significant values from the rural areas/traditional practices in the urban space. This study investigated the Botho/Ubuntu-driven practices of building community in the urban space in the form of Naomi and Laban, bridal and baby showers in Gaborone. Showers are gendered celebrations organised by women for a mother or father who will either receive a daughter or a son-in-law or for a woman who is engaged to be married or one who is about to become a mother, respectively. The study combined both quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry. The study first carried out secondary desktop analysis and, second, conducted fieldwork-based research. Themes such as social networks, social norms of mutuality, reciprocity, social support, collective efficacy, informal social control, mutual trust, empathy and reciprocity appeared in the study. Results show that participation in the showers could bring satisfaction, improved social relations, an increased sense of control and empowerment.

AbstractThe paper explores Setswana and biblical moral teachings on the environment as well as their functions in the preservation of the Earth. It will also look at how contemporary profit-oriented relationships with the Earth constitute moral degeneration. Lastly, the paper will discuss how some Setswana perspective on the environment can constitute Earth friendly ways of reading the Bible for the revitalization of the Earth community as a whole. This paper demonstrated that in reading the Biblical narrative of Genesis 8:20, 9:17 God was not making a covenant only with men but rather God was making a covenant with the Earth using Noah as a representative of the whole creation. Consequently, Setswana Ecological biblical hermeneutics used in this paper offers an Earth friendly perspective of reading the Bible.

AbstractThe expectation and arrival of a baby has always played a significant role in many societies across the globe. For simple reasons, babies are perceived as blessings from God. Hence, there is the need to shower the mother-to-be and her unborn baby with gifts and advice in preparation for welcoming, not only the bundle of joy, but also the new additional member into the family. The article is based on data that were collected from baby showers in greater Gaborone over a period of twelve months. The concept of Botho/Ubuntu cuts across as one of the major initiatives that drive baby showers. The goal of this paper is to establish what baby showers entail, how these initiatives started and how they are conducted. But most importantly, the paper will argue that baby showers are a community building initiative in the urban space. The paper seeks to establish the extent to which baby showers are gendered, using analytical insights from the theory of the “good mother”.