1,720,963 research outputs found
Death and After-life Rituals in the eyes of the Shona : Dialogue with Shona Customs in the Quest for Authentic Inculturation
No full textZugl.: Bayreuth, Univ., Diss., 2011
Canisius Mwandayi. Loch, Irene ; Kügler, Joachim (Textformatierung)This volume is a passed PhD thesis handed at Universität Bayreuth, Germany. The author examines burial customs and rituals among the Shona and sees a definite pattern comparable to the Judeo-Christian practices. He contends that these practices among the Shona were a preparation for the Gospel of Christ or ‘preparatio evangelica’ as Vatican II would identify this phenomenon. He laments the fact that the early Missionaries did not make full use of this preparation which would have laid the foundation for the fullness of the Gospel message they brought. On the contrary, some Missionaries sought to destroy the foundation instead of building on it, a temptation which lingers to this day, given the different conceptions of these customs and rituals by different theologians and evangelizers. The author argues strongly and with conviction in favour of the foundation for Christian evangelization, which tradition has already put in place, as embodied in the death and after life rituals among the Shona. Given the controversy concerning the rituals among some, the author assumes a Christ-like approach, who asks his disciples, ‘Who do you say I am’ (Mk.8:29). Individuals and communities will respond to this question in unique ways and should not be coerced. Jesus does not coerce his disciples but invites them to respond in love. He leaves them to mature in the faith until he can challenge Peter saying, ‘Do you love me more than these?’ (Jn.21:15). The author embarks on a similar loving process of affirmation and positive critical analysis in the hope that the past will help propel the Shona into the present and future of Christ. The author charts a new and interesting way of reading Scripture in the light of the Shona death and after life rituals.Der Band analysiert die Probleme im Umfeld der Integration von Schona-Bestattungstraditionen in christliche Kirchen, inbesondere in die katholische Kirche in Simbabwe
The rise of African christian consciousness: exploring the trajectories in the africanisation of the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe (1934 – 1982)
No full textUntil Lions write their own history, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunterâ€- so goes an African proverb. The truism of such a wisdom saying among Africans is validated when one takes a look at the planting of Christianity in Africa. Most accounts told and retold the achievements made by the early Christian missionaries and hardly is there mention of the evangelised. Taking a third world perspective, this paper examines the struggle by African converts to add an African flavour to the new religion they had
received. Focusing on the Catholic Church, in particular, the paper discusses the process and challenges faced in trying to come up with a Christianised Kuchenura Munhu Rite. The zeal and determination shown to see such a rite see the light of day shows that Africans were not just mere receptors but major players in the process of Christianization of Africa
Rethinking Multiculturalism in Africa and Diaspora : A Tussle with Biblical Perspectives
No full textThe advocacy in Western nations of embracing all the new cultures that have moved into Western countries in recent decades (defined here as multiculturalism) is not just a Western phenomenon but is what actually underpins African philosophy expressed in the Zulu maxim “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” (“a person is a person through other persons”). In recent years, however, a number of world leaders have come to speak out against multiculturalism, expressing concerns about integrating immigrants through multiculturalist policies. Africa too, has not been left out; the eruption of xenophobic attacks in South Africa is enough proof that multiculturalism is also failing even on the African continent. What boggles my mind is what to say of multiculturalism, has it really failed, can it be regarded as not divinely willed? That multiculturalism appears not to be God’s design for humanity finds support in some biblical passages: God confusing people’s languages (Gen. 11:1–9) and Acts 17:26 which says God “has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings” (Acts 17:26). But can one really conclude that it is God’s intention that different ethnic groups should not stay together? Concluding so, however, appears to militate against the other biblically accepted position that “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:54). Paul in Eph. 2:14–17 talks of Christ’s death as a unifying element between Jews and gentiles. It is against these vexing positions that this article, using a cosmopolitan approach, seeks to interrogate the relevance of multiculturalism in this contemporary ag
Disenfranchisement and blessedness: a reading of the Hagar and Ishmael story in the context of the Shona and Muslim communities of Zimbabwe: a liberation approach
No full textThe article focuses on the Hagar and Ishmael story in the context of the Shona and Muslim communities of Zimbabwe. It seeks to apply the muslim communities of Zimbabwe to the story of Hagar and Ishmael against the background of an ill-treatment of either second wives or first wives and their children in both the shona and muslim communities. It states that the choice of these communities as a case study stems from the fact that both the communities allowed for polygamy as a value system
'Eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth' - in search for lasting peace in Southern Africa
No full textThe history of our motherland Africa has been characterised by numerous and complex ups and downs. the greater part of the journey, however, which Africa has travelled, is marked with tears. this paper evaluates efforts which have been made to try and wipe these tears. noting some weaknesses in the peace initiatives that have been put in place to find lasting peace on the continent, the paper proposes to evoke the age-old biblical injunction: 'eye for an eye, tooth for tooth (Lev. 24:20; Dt. 19:21) as the effective route to bring lasting peace to Africa, and Southern Africa in particular
Towards a Reform of the Christian Understanding of Shona Traditional Marriages in Light of Ancient Israelite Marriages
No full textAs we celebrate 500 years of the great reformist, Martin Luther, among the most memorable and cherished ideas about him were his calls for a return to the Bible as well as reforms in the understanding of marriage. Departing from the traditional sacramental theology of marriage, Luther convincingly argued that since matrimony existed from the beginning of the world, and still continues even among unbelievers, there are no reasons why it should be called a sacrament of the church alone. Tapping from his reformist ideas, this paper argues for the place of Shona traditional marriages in light of celebrated traditional biblical marriages. The argument here comes against the past and current onslaught against African traditional marriages. Evaluated against the European white wedding, African traditional marriages have been rated as living in sin unless a marriage had been blessed in church. Had it been just a colonial ill-thought it could have been tolerable, but what is quite disturbing is that most pastors today continue to ridicule those who are traditionally married but not yet married in church. Engaging a pragmatic approach to the biblical text, this paper argues that if God blessed such marriages as Isaac to Rachel, Jacob to Leah and Rachel, Boaz to Ruth and others—which were contracted traditionally—there is no way His hand could be seen as short when it comes to African marriages. Since biblical marriages which were contracted traditionally were not sinful in nature, one can use such examples as a leverage to appreciate and defend Shona traditional marriages
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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