Paul and the Environment: An Investigation of his Christology and Eschatology

The role that Paul has played in shaping Christianity cannot be overemphasized. His influence continues even in contemporary Christian communities. This paper attempts to show how the teaching of Paul can be used to address the present ecological crisis. Specifically, it looks at the Pauline doctrines of eschatology (1Thessalonians 4:13-5:3 and 1 Corinthians 15) and Christology (Romans 8:18-23). It underlines that since Paul considered the eternal world to be here on earth, his teaching can be used to promote environmental conservation. The same is true of his Christology which equates human beings with all the other created order

Teaching Old Testament Studies In Zimbabwe’s Theological Institutions In The HIV/AIDS Era

A ZJER article on teaching Religious Studies in the era of HIV/AIDS.There is no doubt that HIV/AIDS is humanity’s greatest enemy in this century. Millions of people have been affected and infected by this disease. In Zimbabwe statistics have it that about 2000 people die of HIV/AIDS related diseases every week. A lot of resources are spent in caring for the infected and the affected. With this scenario, HIV/AIDS no longer has to be seen as a medical problem.- It is now a social problem and so every sector of the society has to think deeply on how it can 'make a difference' in dealing with HIV/AIDS. This article argues that the teaching of Biblical Studies in Zimbabwe's theological institutions should be geared towards addressing the problem. It argues for the centrality of Biblical Studies in both theological institutions and Christian societies.' It shows how the Bible has been used to address human problems and how a Biblical studies course taking cognisancy of the HIV/AIDS problem can be rewarding. It ends by suggesting some topics and instructional methodologies to be used in teaching Biblical Studies in Zimbabwe's theological institutions in the era of HIV/AIDS

Musa W Dube and the study of the Bible in Africa

Peer reviewedThis article tells the story of Musa Dube’s interpretation of the Bible. It is not a biography of Dube’s personal life but rather a story of how she has contributed to the direction of African biblical scholarship; it is a story of how biblical scholars can participate in the life of Christian communities. The article begins with a brief biography of Dube. This section is followed by a panorama of the history of African biblical scholarship. The methods Dube uses to interpret the Bible are then reviewed. The article concludes by showing that although Dube has built on a foundation that was laid by earlier African biblical scholars, her contribution has been revolutionary.Research Institute for Theology and Religio

The Bible in Context. Essay Collection

This volume opens the series BiAS. Bible in Context is a collection of 9 essays discussing how biblical texts are read and interpreted in different contexts. The book discusses such contexts as Bible translation, HIV and AIDS, urban feminist Christology, denominationalism, conversion in African Christianity, environmental crisis, political conflict, land reform and women dress code. It analyses the ways in which context determines the reading processes and interpretations given to specific biblical texts. The book basically demonstrates that biblical interpretation is influenced by the contexts of the readers and the interpreters

Introduction: Religion-Regime Relations in Zimbabwe:Co-operation and Resistance

This chapter provides the background to the volume. It outlines the longstanding debate on the relationship between politics and religion in scholarship in general. The chapter illustrates how the debate has been handled in diverse contexts and draws out the implications for the discourse in Zimbabwe. It highlights how the concepts of politics and religion are inventions and states the volume’s preferred approach, namely regarding politics and religion as mutually interacting systems of power. It draws attention to how the post-Mugabe and post-Tsvangirai context in Zimbabwe calls for new investment in seeking to understand the politics-religion dynamic. Focusing on the dynamics of the “Second Republic,” the chapter describes how Emmerson Mnangagwa, the President, and Nelson Chamisa, his closest challenger, have appropriated and deployed religious ideas in their politics. It also summarises the chapters in the volume

Faith and HIV prevention: The conceptual framing of HIV prevention among Pentecostal Botswana teenagers

Background There is a huge interest by faith-based organizations (FBOs) in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in HIV prevention interventions that build on the religious aspects of being. Successful partnerships between the public health services and FBOs will require a better understanding of the conceptual framing of HIV prevention by FBOS to access for prevention intervention, those concepts the churches of various denominations and their members would support or endorse. This study investigated the conceptual framing of HIV prevention among church youths in Botswana; - a country with one of the highest HIV prevalence in the world. Method Participants were 213 Pentecostal church members (67% female; age range 12 to 23?years; median age?=?19?years). We engaged the participants in a mixed-method inductive process to collect data on their implicit framing of HIV prevention concepts, taking into account the centrality of religion concepts to them and the moderating influences of age, gender and sexual experience. After, we analysed the data using multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to map the ways the church youths framed HIV prevention. Results The findings suggest the church youth to conceptually frame their HIV prevention from both faith-oriented and secular-oriented perspectives, while prioritizing the faith-oriented concepts based on biblical teachings and future focus. In their secular-oriented framing of HIV prevention, the church youths endorsed the importance to learn the facts about HIV and AIDS, understanding of community norms that increased risk for HIV and prevention education. However, components of secular-oriented framing of HIV prevention concepts were comparatively less was well differentiated among the youths than with faith-oriented framing, suggesting latent influences of the church knowledge environment to undervalue secular oriented concepts. Older and sexually experienced church youths in their framing of HIV prevention valued future focus and prevention education less than contrasting peer cohorts, suggesting their greater relative risk for HIV infection. Conclusion A prospective HIV prevention intervention with the Pentecostal church youths would combine both faith and secular informed concepts. It also would need to take into account the ways in which these youth interpret secular-oriented health concepts in the context of their religious beliefs

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

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

Gay Rights, the Devil and the End Times: Public Religion and the Enchantment of the Homosexuality Debate in Zambia

This article contributes to the understanding of the role of religion in the public and political controversies about homosexuality in Africa. As a case study it investigates the heated public debate in Zambia following a February 2012 visit by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who emphasised the need for the country to recognise the human rights of homosexuals. The focus is on a particular Christian discourse in this debate, in which the international pressure to recognise gay rights is considered a sign of the end times, and Ban Ki-moon, the UN and other international organisations are associated with the Antichrist and the Devil. Here, the debate about homosexuality becomes eschatologically enchanted through millennialist thought. Building on discussions about public religion and religion and politics in Africa, this article avoids popular explanations in terms of fundamentalist religion and African homophobia, but rather highlights the political significance of this discourse in a postcolonial African context