‘The Glory is Here!’ Faith Brands and Rituals of Self-Affirmation for Social Responsibility in Kenya

Female Pentecostal-Charismatic (PC) church leaders have a quest to legitimize their leadership at all levels. This quest for acceptability and legitimacy to the congregation they lead can be daunting especially in the context of a male dominated religious field such as we have in Kenya. Some female PC leaders in Kenya manage the desires and beliefs of their audiences through religious programmes and slogans that enhance social participation and solidarity. This article examines the programme and slogan ‘The Glory is here’ broadcasted by one Kenyan female PC church leader, Margaret Wanjiru of Jesus is Alive Ministries (JIAM). Through the faith brand ‘The Glory is here’, Wanjiru, in the marketing of religion, distinguishes herself from others in the market place and promotes her product and services in order to develop a consumer base. Her programme as a female PC Televangelist functions as an empowering ritual of self-affirmation of women. Both her faith brand and repeated rituals of self-affirmation serve to enhance her solidarity with women of all ages, and serve as social and psychological support to the community

AFRICAN WOMEN AND REVIVAL: THE CASE OF THE EAST AFRICAN REVIVAL

ABSTRACT Fed up with conventional religion, people have pursued a revival or an awakening. This article examines the twentieth century East African revival and its impact to womenfolk. The East African revival as a movement sought to transform the spiritual situation of the missionary Church. It came about due to amongst other things, uncertainty of the times and the slothfulness of the Church. The East African revival had enormous implications on families culturally, socially and even economically. This article brings to fore characteristics of Balokole women after conversion exemplified in their dress code, cleanliness and confessional practice. It highlights significant changes to the lives of womenfolk in their cuisine, hospitality and in their rejection of versions of polygyny. It further shows that revival focused attention on the home beyond cleanliness and hospitality even as married women were frequently among the first to hear their husband's confessions of their behaviours such as drinking, abuse or adultery

Conflitos entre os direitos fundamentais: a objeção à transfusão de sangue em incapazes por motivos religiosos das Testemunhas de Jeová

Trabalho realizado a partir de uma pesquisa doutrinária e jurisprudencial a respeito da negativa dos responsáveis legais à transfusão de sangue por motivos bíblicos dos adeptos da religião Testemunhas de Jeová. O estudo traz os direitos individuais fundamentais do paciente incapaz presentes na Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988 que, são deixados de lado ao tornar ímpar a escolha dos responsáveis. A autonomia da vontade, o direito à vida, a dignidade da pessoa humana e o direito à liberdade religiosa é destacado como os principais direitos que, juntamente com o Código de Ética Médica, entram em conflito. O trabalho não busca discriminar ou menosprezar a religião dos responsáveis legais, mas sim, busca evidenciar os direitos do paciente incapaz e trazer uma melhor convivência entre médicos, pacientes e familiares. Para um melhor entendimento dos conflitos, está presente no trabalho os motivos das Testemunhas de Jeová para com a recusa à transfusão de sangue e uma análise jurisprudencial de um caso concreto discutindo todos esses conflitos

Practices in higher education policy : gender-related access as a policy issue

Over the years, higher education in Kenya has been characterised by gender disparities. A gendered analysis of admissions at University illustrates a low representation of females. But, the Kenyan governments’ policies in higher education, should have attended to this problem. Hence, this study seeks to examine the governments’ gender-related access policy making processes in higher education. This thesis discusses how the gender-related access policy making process in Kenya’s higher education can be analysed. It highlights the government of Kenya’s adoption of gender-related access policies following the 1990 Education For All (EFA) Jomtien Conference, which includes a pressing need of addressing gender equity issues in education, especially in ensuring access to education for girls and women, and removing barriers that hamper their active participation. Further, this study shows that it is useful to distinguish between different stages in the gender related access policy making process. However, the separations between the stages are not black-and-white and decision-making continues in the implementation and evaluation stages. Consequently, policy making is a complex, iterative process that may not be predetermined from start to finish. This study indicates the intricacy of coming up with policy issues or problems, policy objectives and policy instruments. However, there are challenges in the implementation of gender-related policies thus this thesis posits competing views in the practices of policy making and implementation in Kenya, by EFA and through the work of non governmental organisations, in this case FAWE. Consequently, this thesis explores the governments’ policy making practice with regards to gender-related access policy formulation and implementation in Kenya’s higher education

Healer

This book explores the established field of healing narratives in the New Testament by focusing on the remembered tradition regarding Jesus’ healings and comparing them with those of other healers, such as Asclepius. A sub-theme to the book is to investigate the reception of Jesus as healer in various African communities. The book exposes the various healing methods employed by Jesus such as exorcism, touch and the use of spittle. Like any other healing performances that reflect the healthcare system of a given culture, Jesus’ healings were holistic: healing the bodily pain, restoring households and combatting stigmatisation and marginalisation. The book demonstrates Jesus’ healing activities as “shalom” performances that seek to re-establish peace in all its social dimensions. With regard to the reception of Jesus as healer in the African context, the book elaborates the sacrificial lamb motif and the need for restoring a relationship with God. All the contributions in the book present a unique and original perspective in understanding Jesus as healer from an African healthcare system

Whole-genome sequencing of chronic lymphocytic leukemia identifies subgroups with distinct biological and clinical features

The value of genome-wide over targeted driver analyses for predicting clinical outcomes of cancer patients is debated. Here, we report the whole-genome sequencing of 485 chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients enrolled in clinical trials as part of the United Kingdom’s 100,000 Genomes Project. We identify an extended catalog of recurrent coding and noncoding genetic mutations that represents a source for future studies and provide the most complete high-resolution map of structural variants, copy number changes and global genome features including telomere length, mutational signatures and genomic complexity. We demonstrate the relationship of these features with clinical outcome and show that integration of 186 distinct recurrent genomic alterations defines five genomic subgroups that associate with response to therapy, refining conventional outcome prediction. While requiring independent validation, our findings highlight the potential of whole-genome sequencing to inform future risk stratification in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

African women’s theology and the re-imagining of community in Africa

African women’s theology has a commitment to the emancipation of women covering the several themes such as ecclesiology, hospitality, community, spirituality, sacrifice, ecology and missiology. African women’s theology examines African culture and demonstrates an understanding of women as a distinct group with inherent varieties within this category. Furthermore, African women’s theology incorporates experiences of African women in their perspectives while analysing women’s subordination. This article is a re-imagining of community in African theology. African theology has traditionally promoted the need to appreciate African culture and see to it that the integrity of African culture is upheld. However, in so doing, it laid an emphasis only on the positive aspects in African community and turned a blind eye to what was inherent in African community and not worthy to be reclaimed. CONTRINUTION : A closer look at African women’s theology provides a re-imagining of community as gleaned from Mercy Oduyoye and Teresia Hinga who assert that the quality of community in Africa ought to entail relationships, which promote reciprocity, mutuality, partnership and denounce hierarchies that promote power relations between men and women.http://www.hts.org.zaam2022New Testament Studie

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Meeting: Training Workshop, 22-25 Apr. 2004, Luo-Suba, KEMeeting: Community Exchange Workshop, 26-29 May 2005, Luo-Suba Kamba, K

An appraisal of the Pentecostal eco-theology and environmental consciousness among youths in Parklands Baptist Church, Kenya

The younger generation in different countries have been said to be growing into environmental consciousness. Are youths in the Kenyan religious landscape aware of the environmental issues? Is environmental consciousness evident among Pentecostal youths? On the one hand, environmental consciousness based on anthropocentric perspective promotes the view that only human beings and their interests are to be considered. On the other hand, environmental consciousness grounded in eco-centric viewpoint insists that natures' value cannot be reduced to only what promotes human well-being. The researchers adopted a descriptive design for the study. The tools for data collection included participant observation and literature review. Contribution: This article critically examines the Parklands Baptist Church (PBC) in Kenya vision 2040 strategy, sermons and congregational programmes in relation to environmental stewardship. It considers how through these, PBC youths are mobilised in practical ways towards creation care to grow an awareness for the environment. It further points to the ways in which religious communities such as churches could be important instruments in enabling youths to have conviction and nudge them to be conscious of the environment as a divine mandate. For analysis, this article considers tenets of a credible eco-theology at PBC and its applicability

CHANGES IN DONOR SUPPORT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN KENYA

For decades donors have played an important role in supporting higher education the world over. Kenya has not been an exception. There have been changes in donor investments in Kenyan higher education over the past 30 years. These changes have impacted the sector in various ways. From independence the responsibility for higher education in Kenya was borne by the state. This changed when two decades later the government introduced cost sharing, due to the influence of donors. This study discusses the changes that have taken place in the higher education sector in Kenya with regard to donor support. It focuses on two important donors in Kenya, the World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). From 1985 to 1989, 17 percent of the World Bank’s worldwide education-sector spending was on higher education. But from 1995 to 1999, the proportion allotted to higher education declined to just 7 percent. The technical and financial aspects of donor support are highlighted to draw out their contribution to Kenyan higher education. Higher education is identified as one of the sectors to advance the objectives of donors through development of skills. This study finds that in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, donors recommended reductions in support for higher education based on the assumption that it produced low returns on investment. Recent evidence suggests that higher education can produce both public and private benefits (Bloom et al 2006). Donors have now changed to acknowledge higher education as an important contributor to development. In the recent past there has been a general consensus in the donor arena that higher education in developing countries has been neglected for long enough (Mamdani 2006). Supporting higher education has been proposed by donors, but the resources to back up their commitment are still not in tandem with their recommendation. Keywords: Changes, Higher Education (HE), Kenya, Donor