Abstract"Spear Masters contends that in Africa there exists only one religion with a vast array of "denominations." African religion is expressed in a different way by each of the denominations, which creates confusion for those who believe that there is more than one African religion. Spear Masters presents information about some of the larger and most significant expressions of the sole African religion, so that the reader will understand the relationship between God the creator and the notions of the relationship with the family and community. The term "spear master" relates to the integrity and ethics that had to accompany the maker and user of the spear in ancient African societies. The essence of religion presented in Spear Masters is the deification of one's society and nation, and making sacred the traditions and rituals of the ordinary lives of the people."--BOOK JACKET

AbstractIn this study, I explore particular aspects in which the relationship between Pentecostal music and secular music has become prominent in Kampala, Uganda. Particularly, I examine how Pentecostal music artists have drawn inspirations from secular popular music scene particularly in the style of singing, dance movement, recording, marketing and the general performance context. The study examines the nature of Pentecostal music introduced by the European missionaries, the process of making Pentecostal music, and tries to establish the factors responsible for the similarities between Pentecostal music and secular popular music. The study seeks to find out the meaning and significance of the changing Pentecostal music to a popular style. It also traces the origin and growth of Pentecostalism and its sacred music, focusing on how this sacred music has changed over time specifically in Uganda. This ethnographic study has been developed using research findings, literature related to Pentecostal movements in Uganda and Pentecostalism in general, Pentecostal music and the secularization and sacralization processes. The study indentifies the actors of Pentecostal music and examines the artistic role each plays. In this study, I also outline a number of factors responsible for this emerging genre among them prayer, evangelization, income earning, entertainment, music awards together with the health and economic problems experienced by ordinary Ugandans as some of the issues addressed by Pentecostal music lyrics. In the conclusion, the diversity of Pentecostal churches in Kampala, in relation to acculturation and commercialization are identified as key factors in the shaping of the secularization and sacralization processes. Similarly, the study shows that sacralization and secularization are complementary processes.

AbstractIn his latest book, The Power of the Blood, Morris Cerullo will reveal to you how the spiritual principle of Passover, ordained by God in Old Testament times, can be applied to present day life. The following prophetic truths will change your life: • The blood of Christ is applied at the moment of salvation. • The blood cleanses you of all sin. • The blood brings total justification before God. Just as the Passover blessings were poured out in the Old Testament, so the Lord is waiting to pour out supernatural blessings upon you. This is your time to receive a fresh revelation of the power of the blood.

AbstractIn West Africa where animal sacrifices and offerings of blood are fed to hungry gods, is there hope of the gospel bringing life in the presence of death?

AbstractThe hymn "Tuku­tendereza Yesu" is a staple of Kenya's booming Christian music industry. Across modern East Africa, the song is hard to avoid. But just why is it so successful?

AbstractChristian theology evolves out of questions that are asked in a particular situation about how the Bible speaks to that situation. This book, African Christian Theology, is written to address questions that arise from the African context. It is intended to help students and others discover how theology affects our minds, our hearts, and our lives. As such, it speaks not only to Africans but to all who seek to understand and live out their faith in their own societies. Samuel Kunyihop understands both biblical theology and the African worldview and throws light on areas where they overlap, where they diverge, and why this matters. He explores traditional African understandings of God and how he reveals himself, the African understanding of sin and way the Bible sees sin, and how the work of Christ can be understood in African terms. The treatment of Christian living focuses on matters that are relevant to Christians in Africa and elsewhere, dealing with topics such as blessings and curses and the role of the church as a Christian community. The book concludes with a discussion of biblical thinking on death and the afterlife in which it also addresses the role traditionally ascribed to African ancestors.

AbstractThe Closing Ceremony continues with ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’, the Eucharistic prayer and institution, the Lord’s Prayer, ‘The Lamb of God’, and ‘Dona Nobis Pacem.

AbstractThe study is a response to the call for papers on African issues and it focuses on the theme of blood. The chapter seeks to answer the following questions: Why is blood, the sanctity of life, associated with defilement? How can the good and purity of life which blood symbolizes come out of impurities? How is the practice of blood manipulation represented in biblical texts? How can bodily refuse in this case blood be conceived as a symbol of purity, power and danger? How do readers of biblical texts understand the textual representations and interpretations of blood? Does each mode of blood manipulation rituals function as communicative symbols? Our response to these questions is threefold. First, we consider the sanctity of blood in relation to its purity and power. This is followed by an examination of danger beliefs associated with blood and lastly by an analysis of the sacred/taboo or purity/danger dichotomy within the context of the Old Testament and the New Testament as well as of the Shona Afro-Christians.

AbstractGod has given us the weapons we need to keep Satan in his rightful place of defeat. Joyce Meyer shows us how to access them

AbstractThis film explores spirit possession in the healing complex of the Tumbuka speaking peoples of northern Malawi. The program focuses on healers called nchimi who employ elements of Christianity and traditional spirit beliefs in the medical practice creating a syncretic form of religious healing.

AbstractOriginally published 1935.

AbstractOriginally published 1935.

AbstractIn this dissertation, the researcher discusses the topic: The Communicative Power of Sacrifices: A Predominantly South African Perspective with Special Reference to the Epistle to the Hebrews'. It investigates blood sacrifices among Xhosa people, and includes some Zulu and Tsonga thoughts, as well as a few examples from elsewhere in Africa. The research findings support the fact that both animal and human blood sacrifices are still performed today. The comparison between biblical blood sacrificial rituals and African ones reveals striking similarities and a few differences. The existence of such similarities poses a pertinent question: to determine whether or not African traditional religious sacrifices, like biblical sacrifices, could also be acknowledged as originating from God. This seems indeed difficult, because such an affirmation would suggest that God has revealed Himself through African traditional religious sacrificial rituals, and would therefore call into question the unique and exclusive biblical claim to revelation. Neyrey's (2005) model of benefactor-client, benefactor-patron has been instrumental in illustrating the mutually influential communication and exchange existing between deities and their worshippers. In order to obtain benefactions from superiors, subordinates have to use inducement and influence - inducement has to do with all sorts of gifts and services, while influence refers to reasons for doing what one does, hence requests, petitions and the like. In religious terms, inducement is called sacrifice, and influence is called prayer. The intensification of the materialisation of anticipated benefits by worshippers entails the multiplication of interactive contact through blood sacrificial rituals, as well as the strengthening of ties between deities and their worshippers, creating a seemingly unbreakable bond. The results of this study's qualitative, empirical research in Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal and North West provinces have substantiated the above ideas. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the communicative power of the blood sacrifice of Jesus provided worshippers with eternal salvation, forgiveness of sins and the removal of guilt feelings. Unlike Old Testament animal blood sacrifices, Jesus' once and for all blood sacrifice has communicated powers for soteriological, psychological and sociological benefits. This superior power should be scholarly defended through amicable dialogue.

AbstractThis landmark volume, the first of two, assesses the prospects and promise of Lutheran theology at the opening of a new millennium. From four continents, the thirty noted and respected contributors not only gauge how such classic themes as grace, the cross, and justification wear today but also look to key issues of ecumenism, social justice, global religious life, and the impact of contemporary science on Christian belief.

AbstractThere are established internationally recognised standards of assessing translation quality; however, it is the means of determining their appropriateness and acceptability in different social contexts that is debatable. The article traces discourse fidelity through some selected linguistic and aesthetic criteria of compliance with the standards of “accuracy”, “adequacy”, “correctness”, “correspondence” and “fidelity” in the target language translation process. These criteria are then tested for aesthetic equivalence through the analysis of the translation of the historically compelling text, the Luganda evangelical epic TukutenderezaYesu (We praise you Jesus) of the international Anglican Revival Movement into a modern Runyankore video-recorded and choreographed version. To this end, the author draws on cultural semiotics, functionalist and textual theoretical models that take translation quality assessment beyond linguistic acceptability. Among other findings, one note that beyond the translator’s linguistic skills, the emphasis in tracing discourse fidelity and aesthetic adequacy in translation, needs to be placed on the sensitivity to the discourse in question, the “situationality” of the translated text, the translator’s interpretative ability and the information/communication technology used to circulate the final product.

AbstractRarely do the physical and the spiritual agree. But it is only in the matter of the blood that there seems to be an understanding and connection between them. The blood is the currency of value in the spirit realm, and the life we live in the physical realm is in the blood. Therefore, the blood is of universal importance to both realms. In this book, Pastor Uzor Ndekwu explains the limited role of blood in the Old Testament and the comprehensive deliverance package in the Blood of Jesus in the New Testament. He equally draws from his many years of experience as both Deliverance Minister and Counsellor to explain how the blood of living creatures can be used by demonic powers to hinder the destinies of people. In summary, in this book, you will learn about: 1. The importance of the blood as the foundation of the Old and New Testaments 2. The limitations of the Old Testament blood foundation 3. How the evil ones can use the blood to destroy or hinder the destinies of people 4. How you can use the Blood of Jesus Christ to nullify the works of darkness 5. How the Blood of Jesus Christ can be utilized as a Covenant of Exemption and Substitution

AbstractMusic video by Bernice Offei performing 'Mogya'. (C) 2014. Media Excel

AbstractThe African Church grapples with practical issues relating to its ability to survive rather than abstract theological matters. Most of the Africans feel more prone to be attacked by evil forces than to commit evil acts. The solution is found in the protective force of the blood of Jesus. This popular theology is sweeping like wildfire across denominational lines in our land. People pray and cover various objects with the blood of Christ as protection against demonic attacks, epidemics, natural disasters, accidents and other suchlike experiences. Does the blood of Christ have a physical and material protection? Does Scripture support prayer for the blood of Christ to protect against perceived enemies and dangers? In whose authority do we challenge is it in the blood or in the name of Jesus? Dr. Olarewaju in this article addresses these questions.

AbstractPraying by the blood of Jesus is highly crucial in spiritual warfare. The power in the blood of the Lamb is the ultimate. No power supersedes it. The blood has been shed. But it must be appropriated and applied. You have the checkbook but you must write the check, This book will teach you how to apply this principle and technique.

AbstractThis article intends to analyse the spirituality of the Azusa Street Mission with a view to achieving two things. Firstly, I will draw attention to an emphasis that seems almost wholly ignored in studies of early Pentecostalism: the blood of Jesus. Secondly, while drawing attention to the considerable prominence of this Christological-soteriological motif within the discourse of Azusa Street, I will seek to find a context for it that might help to explain it. This context will be explored in biblical, spiritual, and racial terms.

AbstractFaith in the blood of Jesus appears to have been part of the woof and warp of the spirituality of the very earliest days of Pentecostalism. Taking Sunderland in 1908-9 as a case study, it seems that some more or less vocal and often highly dramatic demostration of faith in ‘the precious Blood’ was an essential part of the whole baptism in the Spirit experience. Tracing the prehistory and rather short-lived history of early Pentecostal ‘Blood- Mysticism’ I will here examine in some detail how it worked then and suggest that some components of it may also be of use today.

AbstractPentecostals and charismatics today are not known for placing great emphasis on the blood of Jesus, yet such was not always the case. Even a cursory reading of the popular literature produced by the earliest Pentecostals reveals that the atonement generally, and "the blood' in particular occupied a central place in their spirituality. Indeed, during the first two years of British Pentecostalism, the mere mention of 'the precious blood' appears to have had, for them, an almost magical power to make the devil flee and induce the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit. In this thesis, I have attempted to tell the story of when and how this emphasis on the blood of Christ began and progressed, culminating in early British Pentecostalism. The claims of this piece of research are limited to demonstrating, firstly. that there was continuity. There is an identifiable tradition of this style of spirituality that passed from generation to generation, especially within Evangelicalism, which reached its apogee in the earlier years of Pentecostalism. Secondly. I demonstrate that there was change. The different forms that the tradition took in response to changing conditions are described and analysed and the gradual disappearance of the tradition from within Pentecostalism is noted with possible reasons being offered. I have concluded this thesis by pointing out, firstly. the part these findings could play in opening up a discussion of the Christological roots of Pentecostalism. This aspect of Pentecostal origins could speak into current debates about Pentecostal identity that draw much from its distinctive pneumatology but which presently see less that is distinctive or identity depicting in its Christology. Secondly. this piece of work supplies resources that may be found useful in the wider Evangelical debate about the atonement. One common objection raised against the doctrine of penal substitution is that it does not obviously point the way to the ethical or spiritual transformation of the individual. In this thesis. a significant body of evidence is presented that shows how many individuals, almost entirely subscribers to a penal view of the atonement found ways of making their atonement theology personally transformative. Thirdly, this thesis offers a collection of data that may be found useful by those researching the interaction between Christianity, especially in its more radical forms, and the cultural forces brought to bear upon it.

AbstractAfter a brief lexical-semantic summary of the principal senses of דָּם in the Hebrew Bible (HB), our focus shifts to this word’s 21 occurrences in the Psalms. How widely and diversely was the notion of “blood” employed in the psalmists’ manifold prayers to the Lord? We then consider the practice of translation in two greatly contrasting sociocultural settings – Western versus African. What are some of the main challenges that translators confront when they attempt to convey the distinct “meanings” of דָּם meaningfully – with functionally equivalent content, intent, impact and appeal – in these two disparate contexts? In a Western setting, as expressed in English, the biblical, symbolically sacred understanding of “blood” is virtually non-existent, thus necessitating significant paratextual supplementation, whereas in an African linguistic environment, Chichewa for example, the ancient symbolical sense of “blood” and its contemporary connotations remain so powerful that it requires great care in translation in order to avoid possible misunderstanding or offense in the vernacular text. In the latter case and in certain Psalmic passages, it turns out that instead of some expression relating to “death”, one that rather conveys the notion of “life” may well be more accurate and acceptable, especially when uttered in prayer or praise to the Lord.

AbstractThis article offers the results of research in which two theological fields cooperated in order to investigate one specific repertoire of liturgical rituals. From the perspective of both Liturgical Studies, and its focus on the functioning of ritual within its cultural context, and Old Testament Studies, and a focus on how biblical critics understand certain rituals described in the Priestly texts in the Pentateuch, ritual burning and slaughtering in an AIC was studied. Ritual Studies is beginning to play a much more prominent role in the engagement with books such as Leviticus and Numbers and also in Liturgical Studies, and this article is an example of how these two disciplines can fruitfully cooperate in the study of liturgical rituals in an AIC in South Africa.

AbstractThis article proposes an African Christian theology of the blood of Jesus Christ which biblically explains and answers experiential questions raised in African historical and socio-cultural contexts. Through the process of conceptual analysis, articles on...

AbstractOne of the most common phrases heard in testimony, preaching, and song during the East African Revival (EAR) was the phrase ‘The Blood of Jesus Christ’. Taken from a rich biblical heritage, this phrase encapsulates a wide range of ideas concerning the work of the cross and the power of forgiveness in a believer's life. Whilst, as will be noted, the use of The Blood has been common to many revivals, this article examines especially the theology behind this phrase by looking at the most prominent of the EAR authors – Roy Hession. It investigates seven different applications of The Blood in a believer's life: The Blood as a testament that sin is forgiven, The Blood as cleansing the conscience, The Blood as victory over despair, The Blood as the remover of shame, The Blood as washing away sin, The Blood as the gateway of the Holy Spirit, and finally The Blood as the source of true fellowship. The theology of The Blood has a long history of use in the Church but it also comes with difficulties. To this end the article will investigate the legitimacy of the practice often found in Africa and some Pentecostal circles of invoking The Blood as protection against the demonic. The article closes by considering the reasons why speaking of The Blood in church can be uncomfortable yet is paradoxically of vital importance to revival.