Karanga Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe

Karanga Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe PDF Author: Tabona Shoko
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317109627
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
Tabona Shoko contends that religion and healing are intricately intertwined in African religions. This book on the religion of the Karanga people of Zimbabwe sheds light on important methodological issues relevant to research in the study of African religions. Analysing the traditional Karanga views of the causes of illness and disease, mechanisms of diagnosis at their disposal and the methods they use to restore health, Shoko discusses the views of a specific African Independent Church of the Apostolic tradition. The conclusion Shoko reaches about the central religious concerns of the Karanga people is derived from detailed field research consisting of interviews and participant observation. This book testifies that the centrality of health and well-being is not only confined to traditional religion but reflects its adaptive potential in new religious systems manifest in the phenomenon of Independent Churches. Rather than succumbing to the folly of static generalizations, Tabona Shoko offers important insights into a particular society upon which theories can be reassessed, adding new dimensions to modern features of the religious scene in Africa.

Karanga Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe

Karanga Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe PDF Author: Tabona Shoko
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317109627
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 191

Get Book

Book Description
Tabona Shoko contends that religion and healing are intricately intertwined in African religions. This book on the religion of the Karanga people of Zimbabwe sheds light on important methodological issues relevant to research in the study of African religions. Analysing the traditional Karanga views of the causes of illness and disease, mechanisms of diagnosis at their disposal and the methods they use to restore health, Shoko discusses the views of a specific African Independent Church of the Apostolic tradition. The conclusion Shoko reaches about the central religious concerns of the Karanga people is derived from detailed field research consisting of interviews and participant observation. This book testifies that the centrality of health and well-being is not only confined to traditional religion but reflects its adaptive potential in new religious systems manifest in the phenomenon of Independent Churches. Rather than succumbing to the folly of static generalizations, Tabona Shoko offers important insights into a particular society upon which theories can be reassessed, adding new dimensions to modern features of the religious scene in Africa.

Karanga Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe

Karanga Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe PDF Author: Tabona Shoko
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317109635
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
Tabona Shoko contends that religion and healing are intricately intertwined in African religions. This book on the religion of the Karanga people of Zimbabwe sheds light on important methodological issues relevant to research in the study of African religions. Analysing the traditional Karanga views of the causes of illness and disease, mechanisms of diagnosis at their disposal and the methods they use to restore health, Shoko discusses the views of a specific African Independent Church of the Apostolic tradition. The conclusion Shoko reaches about the central religious concerns of the Karanga people is derived from detailed field research consisting of interviews and participant observation. This book testifies that the centrality of health and well-being is not only confined to traditional religion but reflects its adaptive potential in new religious systems manifest in the phenomenon of Independent Churches. Rather than succumbing to the folly of static generalizations, Tabona Shoko offers important insights into a particular society upon which theories can be reassessed, adding new dimensions to modern features of the religious scene in Africa.

Myths and Rituals

Myths and Rituals PDF Author: Vengesai Chimininge
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1728391806
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Myths and rituals in Zion Christian Church (ZCC) of Samuel Mutendi in Zimbabwe is a book that comes as a result of my thesis from the University of South Africa (UNISA). The two religious phenomena, myths and rituals, are presented in the light of the Zionists’ own testimonies. It is argued in this book that a lot of beliefs and practices in the ZCC are adapted and adopted from Karanga religiosity and lifestyle. The book explained the critical role played by myths and rituals in the origins and development of the ZCC of Samuel Mutendi in Zimbabwe. As we read throughout this book, we are going to see that myths and rituals are treated as two sides of the same coin in the ZCC worldview. The relationship between the two is thus inseparable. Among the members of ZCC, myths and rituals grow pari passu, that is, at the same time. In this case, we can see that in the ZCC ecclesiastical worldview, myths and rituals are of equal importance, not only in theory but also in practice. Indeed, they act as nectar that attracts a lot of people to join the ZCC since the two have a therapeutic value.

Death Rituals among the Karanga of Zimbabwe

Death Rituals among the Karanga of Zimbabwe PDF Author: John Chitakure
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666722650
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
One of the inescapable truths that humanity has to grapple with is the reality of death. The manner in which we die, or the cause of our death, may differ, but death remains inevitable. We may be afraid of it or not; we may try to evade it, or not, but death still comes. Although most religions promise the possibility of another life in the hereafter, there is no scientifically verifiable evidence about the reality of that life. Despite that lack of evidence, every culture performs death rituals meticulously to prepare the spirits of its deceased for whatever form of life that may be available. Death Rituals among the Karanga of Zimbabwe: Praxis, Significance, and Changes explores the causes of sickness and death, and the praxis of pre-burial, burial, and post-burial rituals of the Karanga of Zimbabwe in an attempt to unearth their original form and significance, to identify the changes that have taken place. It also provides a brief manual for the performance of some selected Karanga death rituals.

Karanga Mythology

Karanga Mythology PDF Author: Herbert Aschwanden
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Newly reissued, this remains a rare work on the systems of interpretation and meaning, mythological traditions and realities of the Karanga people in Zimbabwe. The author considers the Karanga's cosmology, as a system of psychological and biological expressions, and in relation to mythological feeling and thinking. Topics covered include: creation myths; mythologies of the symbols of life and death; incest and marriage problems; forbidden sexual intercourse; pregnancy and birth; mythology as experienced reality; the mythology of an image of god; and the mythology of the night. Further cultural sources drawn on are Shona proverbs, which are to some extent included in the work. Throughout the study, the author aims to apply appropriate African, rather than narrowly Western, systems of interpretation and analysis to his material.

Rational Ancestors

Rational Ancestors PDF Author: James Leland Cox
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
This text explores the ways in which science, as a confession of faith, interacts with the faith of indigenous Africans to produce a horizon of understanding. Part One contains the author's own analyses and application of theories relevant to the study of African indigenous religions. Parts Two and Three are comprized of edited versions of the oral literature and ritual descriptions obtained by phenomonlogy students in the University of Zimbabwe in 1991 and 1992.

African Pentecostalism, the Bible, and Cultural Resilience

African Pentecostalism, the Bible, and Cultural Resilience PDF Author: Biri, Kudzai
Publisher: University of Bamberg Press
ISBN: 3863097130
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
"This volume, based on a PhD thesis submitted to the University of Zimbabwe, investigates the resilience of Shona religion and culture among ZAOGA Pentecostal Christians. Whereas the Pentecostal ideology suggests that 'old things' have passed away, it appears that 'old things' continue to have high significance for the 'new'. The book demonstrates how belief in avenging spirits, witches and witchcraft, value of words spoken prior to death, the role, status and significance of women, belief in unnatural events, liturgy and salvation have remained relevant to the lives of ZAOGA Shona converts. The patterns of continuity, discontinuity, extension, collaboration, contradiction, re-interpretation and rejection between Shona traditional religion and culture and ZAOGA are explored, challenging the framing of African Pentecostalism as a mere imitation and parroting of US theology. The conclusion is that while ZAOGA self-consciously presents itself as a sophisticated, trans-national and progressive Pentecostal movement, members continue to wrestle with Shona indigenous beliefs and practices. An African womanist framework is adapted to challenge ZAOGA to promote the well-being of women." --

African Traditional Religion Encounters Christianity

African Traditional Religion Encounters Christianity PDF Author: John Chitakure
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532618549
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
Right from the beginning of humankind, God has never deprived a people of his grace and revelation. In fact, God uses people’s environment and culture to communicate his will. There is no single religion that can claim to have the exclusive possession of God’s revelation, for God is too immense to be confined within one faith. Hence, it was erroneous, blasphemous, and misleading for some of the early Christian missionaries to Africa to claim that they had brought God to Africa, a mentality that implied the non-existence of God in Africa before their arrival. Of course, God was already in Africa, but the missionaries either failed to discern his presence or just disregarded the traces of his existence. This book explores the religious beliefs, practices, and values of the indigenous people of Africa at the time of the early missionaries’ arrival, with particular reference to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It also evaluates the extent of the missionarie’s successes and challenges in converting Africans to Christianity. It finally surveys how African Christians have remained attached to the indigenous religious beliefs that used to provide answers to their existential questions.

Decolonizing Ecotheology

Decolonizing Ecotheology PDF Author: S. Lily Mendoza
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725286424
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Decolonizing Ecotheology: Indigenous and Subaltern Challenges is a pioneering attempt to contest the politics of conquest, commodification, and homogenization in mainstream ecotheology, informed by the voices of Indigenous and subaltern communities from around the world. The book marshals a robust polyphony of reportage, wonder, analysis, and acumen seeking to open the door to a different prospect for a planet under grave duress and a different self-assessment for our own species in the mix. At the heart of that prospect is an embrace of soils and waters as commons and a privileging of subaltern experience and marginalized witness as the bellwethers of greatest import. Of course, decolonization finds its ultimate test in the actual return of land and waters to precontact Indigenous who yet have feet on the ground or paddles in the waves, and who conjure dignity and vision in the manifold of their relations, in spite of ceaseless onslaught and dismissal. Their courage is the haunt these pages hallow like an Abel never entirely erased from the history. May the moaning stop and the re-creation begin!

A Phenomenology of Indigenous Religions

A Phenomenology of Indigenous Religions PDF Author: James L. Cox
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350250740
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
This book compiles James L. Cox's most important writings on a phenomenology of Indigenous Religions into one volume, with a new introduction and conclusion by the author. Cox has consistently exemplified phenomenological methods by applying them to his own field studies among Indigenous Religions, principally in Zimbabwe and Alaska, but also in Australia and New Zealand. Included in this collection are his articles in which he defines what he means by the category 'religion' and how this informs his precise meaning of the classification 'Indigenous Religions'. These theoretical considerations are always illustrated clearly and concisely by specific studies of Indigenous Religions and their dynamic interaction with contemporary political and social circumstances. This collection demonstrates the continued relevance of the phenomenological method in the study of religions by presenting the method as dynamic and adaptable to contemporary social contexts and as responsive to intellectual critiques of the method.