Making a good death: AIDS and social belonging in an independent church in Gabarone

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 16 March 1998In September 1997, the Botswana Government sponsored the second annual Month of Prayer intended to involve churches in HIV/AIDS education and prevention efforts. At the opening ceremony for this Month of Prayer, B.K. Sebele, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, announced that about 148,000 HIV infections had occurred in Botswana between 1992 and 1997, and that 25% of the national population between ages 14 and 49 were currently estimated to be HIV-positive. He went on to remark that churches have an important role to play in setting an example of sexual morality. Sebele argued that by advocating faithfulness in marriage, church leaders might succeed in inducing people to change their sexual behavior. Government and churches have, however, multiple and potentially conflicting agendas in AIDS prevention efforts, as has become apparent, for instance, in tensions over the advocacy of condom use. In this paper I take a somewhat different perspective on such multiple agendas. Rather than focusing on what religious leaders tell their followers about marriage and sexual morality, or how church participants understand sexual commitment, I concentrate on how members of a particular independent church in Old Naledi, a former squatter community in Gaborone, come to terms with one another's illness and death. Over the past two years, the Utlwang Lefoko (Hear the Word) Apostolic Church has lost three of its members, including the husband of the founding Bishop, as well as numerous close relatives who had not attended their church. In this context, the primary anxiety of many church members is how to transform experiences of illness and death into affirmations of their faith and of their social belonging. This concern is not necessarily the same as those of public health officials and AIDS educators, and it is important to appreciate its legitimacy. In order to illustrate this issue, I present here a case study of an illness and death of a woman member of Hear the Word, who passed away in May 1997 at age 22. I have been involved in this church since 1993, when I began to develop a student-teacher and disciple-minister relationship with the Bishop

Men in the Remaking: Conversion Narratives and Born-Again Masculinity in Zambia

The born-again discourse is a central characteristic of Pentecostal Christianity in Africa. In the study of African Christianities, this discourse and the way it (re)shapes people’s moral, religious, and social identities has received much attention. However, hardly any attention has been paid to its effects on men as gendered beings. In the study of men and masculinities in Africa, on the other hand, neither religion in general nor born-again Christianity in particular are taken into account as relevant factors in the construction of masculinities. On the basis of a detailed analysis of interviews with men who are members of a Pentecostal church in Lusaka, Zambia, this article investigates how men’s gender identities are reshaped by becoming and being born-again and how born-again conversion produces new forms of masculinity. The observed Pentecostal transformation of masculinity is interpreted in relation to men’s social vulnerability, particularly in the context of the HIV epidemic in Zambia

Барокова образність творів Івана Величковського

Статтю присвячено вивченню образної системи збірок Івана Величковського, а також художньо-виражальних стилістичних прийомів, якими послуговувався поет. Доведено вплив на формування духовних текстів літературних тенденцій бароко. Свідчення тому є риторизм, динамічність, експресивність викладу, що досягається концентричним, або акафістним, способом організації образного матеріалу. Охарактеризовано витоки образної системи його робіт, що беруть початок в Античності, а потім збагачуються християнською традицією і являють собою барокове утворення. Ключові слова: бароко, біблійні сюжети, образи й мотиви, символ, інтерпретація, тематика.Статья посвящена изучению образной системы сборников Ивана Величковского, а также художественно-выразительных стилистических приемов, которыми руководствовался поэт. Доказано влияние на формирование духовных текстов литературных тенденций Барокко. Свидетельство тому – риторизм, динамичность, экспрессивность изложения, символичность образов, достигающаяся концентрическим, или акафистным, способом организации образного материала. Охарактеризированы истоки образной системы работ писателя, берущей начало в Античности, обогащенной христианской традицией и превратившейся таким образом в явление барокко. Ключевые слова: барокко, библейские сюжеты, образы и мотивы, символ, интерпретация, тематика.The article “Baroque imagery of Ivan Velychkovsky’s creative activity” deals with the least explored subject of the early Ukrainian literature- creative activity of an outstanding baroque writer of the XVII-th century Ivan Velychkovsky. The results of the historiography analysis of the poet’s creative activity are presented in this article. Thems of the spiritual and secular lyrics, imagery and stylistic means of Ivan Velychkovsky’s works are investigated. Close connections of the heritage of Ivan Velychkovsky with the Bible and hagiographic plots are determined. Keywords: baroque, the Bible’s plots, images and motives, symbol, interpretation, thems

“Catch the word”: Violated contracts and prophetic confirmation in African American Pentecostalism

The image of a violated social contract has long held a distinctive place in African American Christian thought about injustice. This essay discusses the efforts made by members of Pentecostal churches in Buffalo, New York, to enter into forms of contract with God that supersede the broken social contracts they see as devaluing their lives. These believers listen to God’s words as expressed in prophetic utterances for “confirmation” of the significance of events. In their view, “catching the word” through faithful listening enables them to create social commitments on their own terms, whereas their creative capacities are liable to be alienated from them if they listen improperly. Applying David Graeber’s revisionist treatment of “fetishism” as a form of social creativity, this essay explores how believers create their blessings within a dialogic space involving themselves, God, the devil, and pastor- prophets with exceptional abilities to listen to and convey the terms of the divine contract

Grasping, trust, and truth-on-balance

Comment on Werbner, Richard. 2015. Divination’s grasp: African encounters with the almost said. Bloomington: Indiana University Press