The Bible and Politics in Africa

This volume is based on the International Bible Symposium “The Bible and Politics in Africa” which was held in summer 2010 in Kloster Banz (Germany). The IBS 2010 was organised by Prof. Kügler’s team at the Chair for New Testament Studies at Bamberg University and was generously funded and hosted by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Munich/ Kloster Banz. Some of the articles published here are based on papers presented at IBS 2010. The editors, however, added some articles to broaden the discussion and to also give a voice to those who could not be present at the symposium. The topic of Biblical influence on politics and of political uses of the Bible is of course not merely an African topic. Christian tradition has always stressed that it not only wants to show ways to heaven but also to reconstruct this world according to God’s will. However the topic seems especially relevant in African societies as many of them ascribe a paramount role to the “Word of God” and thus the Bible seems to be used most directly as a handbook for political actions. With their critical analytical approach the contributors of BiAS 7 try to meet this special challenge for Contextual Biblical Studies which has to be taken more serious than it used to be in academic research

PROPHETS, PROFITS AND THE BIBLE IN ZIMBABWE: Festschrift for AYNOS MASOTCHA MOYO

BiAS 12 examines the phenomenon of prophets and prophecy in contemporary Zimbabwe. By applying insights from biblical studies and other approaches, the volume sheds light on how this contentious phenomenon has been discussed in the Zimbabwean context. The different chapters highlight the role of the Bible, gender, media, literature and other perspectives have influenced attitudes towards prophets and prophecy in Zimbabwe. While the phenomenon has been principally associated with the new wave of Pentecostalism, it remains critical to appreciate pre-existing attitudes towards prophets from African Initiated Churches (AICs), as well as traditional healers in African Indigenous Religions (AIRs). Contributors to this volume have explored the complexities that characterize prophets and prophecy. The volume is of interest to scholars in biblical studies, theology, religious studies, political science, anthropology, philosophy and other disciplines. General readers, church leaders and civil society activists will also find the chapters in this volume valuable

From Text to Practice - The role of the Bible in daily living of African people today

That the Bible is a manual for daily living is attested in almost all Christian denominations, how this role is transformed into practice is clearly an area that remains a contested terrain among Christians. This volume is our modest contribution to looking at the relationship between the Bible and our practices. The central question that the articles in this volume respond to is: how is the Bible related to our daily life? This question is especially important on the African continent where religion appears to be gaining influence. Without taking anything away from western biblical scholars, African biblical scholars must also engage with the question: how do we put into practice the teachings of the Bible? This volume contains papers presented at the International Bible Symposium 2009 in Bamberg (Germany) and additional contributions

Animalia in fabula. Interdisziplinäre Gedanken über das Tier in der Sprache, Literatur und Kultur

Interdisziplinäre Untersuchungen über das Tier in der Sprache, Literatur und Kultur. Mitwirkende Fächer: Anglistik, Arabistik, Judaistik, Geschichte, Katholische Theologie, Kunstgeschichte, Romanistik, Slawisti

The Bible and Children in Africa

The relationship between the Bible and Children in Africa is a topic of highest relevance. This book is treating it in two main perspectives which often are intertwined: | The exegetical perspective “Children in the Bible” is dealing with the concepts of childhood in biblical texts, asking for example: How are children conceived in different texts. What is their status in family, society and church? What is their relation to God? What is the metaphoric use of childhood in biblical soteriology? What is the function and meaning of calling adult persons “children” (of God, or of the Apostle)? | The contextual perspective “African children of today and the Bible” is dealing with the different life settings African children find themselves in and how the Bible is present in these life settings. Here the questions for example are: What is the status of children in family and society? How are traditional concepts of childhood changing under the conditions of poverty, HIV/AIDS and violence? How are the ideas and ideals of childhood influenced by the Bible? What is the role of the Bible in child-education? Can children’s rights be established with help of the Bible? This volume of BiAS 17 is collecting the papers presented at the 2012 BiAS meeting in Gaborone, Botswana, with some additional contributions

Multiplying in the Spirit: African Initiated Churches in Zimbabwe

This volume was motivated by the realisation that AICs continue to be a significant player on Zimbabwe’s spiritual market. Members of predominantly Apostolic, but also Zionist, churches are highly visible in both rural and urban areas. Prophets from AICs are constantly in the news, alongside advertising their competence in urban areas. Thus it is high time to bring AICs being an important part of recent social reality in Zimbabwe back into academic focus. BiAS 15 at the same time is ERA 1 which means that this volume opens a new sub-series to BiAS which is meant to explore religion in Africa in all its manifold manifestation, be it Christian or not

The Bible and Violence in Africa. Papers presented at the BiAS meeting 2014 in Windhoek (Namibia), with some additional contributions

BiAS 20 contains papers presented at the BiAS meeting 2014 in Windhoek (Namibia), with some additional contributions. Scholars from Nigeria, Cameroon, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Germany are dealing with the urgent question of how the Bible is involved in the widespread use of violence in political, social, religious, and gender conflicts. One leading question is how to deal with the textual representation of violence in the Bible. It is taken up by more general hermeneutical contributions. The other leading question is how biblical texts and/or concepts are used to cause and justify violence. This is taken up by a greater number of articles which deal with concrete societal and political contexts in Zimbabwe and other African countries. The conference in Namibia was supported as a Humboldt-Kolleg on the Bible and Violence in Africa by the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation