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There is a tendency within the study of Islam to prioritize religious ideology over the lived experiences of ordinary Muslims. While affirming the significance of such ideology, Dr. Judy Wanjiru Wang'ombe suggests that it is equally important to understand how Islamic teachings are actually lived out within Muslim communities. Utilizing a cognitive anthropological framework and drawing from qualitative field data, this study examines the phenomenon of spirit possession as experienced by Borana Muslims in Marsabit County, Kenya. Dr. Wang'ombe analyzes the practices and beliefs of the Ayyaana possession cult in light of stipulations provided by official Islamic texts, specifically the Qur'an and Hadith as taught by their Muslim teachers, and explores the prominent gaps that often exist between tenet and practice.An excellent resource for scholars and practitioners alike, this study enhances anthropological understanding of contextual Islam as practiced in East Africa, while offering insight into local perspectives on the spirit world.

The practice of cursing remains a significant aspect of life in many African countries. This book addresses this practice with the seriousness it deserves, arguing that Christ is the ultimate curse remover.Dr. Elkanah K. Cheboi examines the meaning and implications of the Pauline statement in Galatians that "Christ became a curse for us." Drawing from biblical passages referencing judicial curses, and the widespread practice of cursing and blessing within the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman world, he investigates how the crucified and cursed Christ provides the ultimate solution to the power and dominion of curses. Demonstrating the insufficiencies of curse remedies, both in the ancient world and the modern African context, this study offers christological insight into the implications of Christ's death not simply for human sin but also human curses. Dr. Cheboi specifically examines parallels between the New Testament context and Kenya's Marakwet culture, where curses are still deeply feared as life-threatening and generational.Offering powerful insight into aspects of contemporary African culture not always fully understood, this book integrates biblical scholarship with practical application and is an excellent resource for pastors, missionaries, and theologians alike.

Foreword by Ah Young Kim Islam and Christianity are often presented as violent rivals facing each other across a gulf of insurmountable differences. Yet if Christians are to effectively engage Muslims with the gospel, they must learn to build bridges across this divide.This study explores the Muslim presence in Ghana, a nation once believed to be resistant to Islam, and analyses the missiological implications for Pentecostals, the fastest growing group of Christians in the country. Dr. Dieudonne Komla Nuekpe examines the shared spiritual heritage of Ghanaian Pentecostals and folk Muslims within the broader context of African traditional religion. He proposes that this shared heritage - with its emphasis on supernatural encounters and the spiritual realm - can provide common ground for Pentecostals seeking to peacefully and respectfully engage Muslims with the gospel. Identifying the existential, experiential, and theological needs at the heart of folk Islam, this book offers a practical guide for constructive Muslim-Christian engagement in Ghana and beyond. This study also challenges missiologists - both scholars and practitioners - to engage in critical contextualization that considers a culture's indigenous religious practices when seeking to build bridges to the gospel.

As humans, we think in images and cannot do otherwise. Thus, metaphor and imagery, often viewed as complex literary devices, are in fact the very building blocks of human thought and essential components for understanding the nature of God.Exploring how the God of Scripture reveals himself through metaphor and imagery, Dr. Adam Szumorek utilizes Cognitive Linguistics to help students, teachers, and preachers understand how meaning is communicated in Scripture and conceptualized within the human brain. He provides a theological framework for applying Cognitive Linguistics in biblical exegesis, demonstrating its value in aiding our understanding of biblical texts and in communicating that understanding to others through sermons that speak to people's minds, hearts, and imaginations. Both richly conceptual and deeply practical, this book equips readers to communicate the unseen, allowing others to taste, touch, and see the invisible yet incarnate God.

Dans cette étude, l'auteur a développé une méthodologie de recherche africaine de dialogue interreligieux, basée sur une expérience au pays Maxi au Bénin. Cette expérience a été réalisée chez un peuple verbomoteur, dans un contexte de vodun, pour la résolution de conflits impliquant des communautés chrétiennes.Ainsi, à partir de l'expérience de résolution des conflits entre les Églises Évangéliques des Assemblées de Dieu (EEAD) et le Vodun X¿byoso, l'auteur a formalisé une approche de résolution, nommée Modèle Africain de Dialogue InterReligieux (MADIR). Le MADIR s'applique quand une ethnie se divise en communautés conflictuelles pour cause d'introduction d'une autre tradition religieuse. C'est pourquoi les principes de résolution du MADIR reposent sur¿: ¿l'identité ethnique comme base de dialogue¿ et l'histoire culturelle pour rétablir la confiance mutuelle¿.Cet ouvrage est pour tous ceux qui s'intéressent à la résolution de conflits interreligieux ou à la recherche empirique chez le peuple verbomoteur et tous ceux qui oeuvrent dans des structures de développement allant à la rencontre du monde rural ou du peuple verbomoteur.

Political, economic and military powers have woefully failed in their attempts to transform societies around the world, particularly in the African context. As poverty, corruption, and bad leadership continue to pervade nations and undermine human flourishing, the global community needs to respond with creativity, innovation and collaboration.Drawing on empirical research and utilizing an interdisciplinary approach that engages both development and theology, this study explores the church's role - both spiritual and pragmatic - in facilitating societal transformation in African countries, specifically Nigeria. The power of religion is often overlooked within development frameworks, but is a profoundly significant resource. Highlighting the importance of ecclesiastical leadership in mobilizing religious communities to partner with sociopolitical and economic institutions, Dr. Obaji Agbiji argues for a development framework that recognizes religious practitioners as indispensable partners in the quest for societal transformation.Offering insight for both scholars and practitioners, this sustainable transformative approach to development bridges the gap between theory and practice and challenges church and civil leadership to take concrete steps to combat societal ills and see nations transformed for the better.

For almost 1,400 years, Christians have wrestled with appropriate ways to defend their claims to truth in the context of Islam. Dr. Suheil Madanat proposes that the answer lies neither in the antagonization of polemics nor apologetic arguments rooted in Western legal systems, but instead in utilizing the authority of Islamic law itself.While evidence for the resurrection has been legally examined since the seventeenth century, legal apologetics has primarily utilized secular law systems such as Anglo-American common law. In this study, Dr. Madanat tests evidence for the crucifixion and resurrection against Islam's fixed theocratic law of Sharia. Offering an overview of the evolution and constitution of Islamic law, Dr. Madanat examines how eyewitness testimonies and confessions in the New Testament hold up against Islam's strict standards for evidence. Authenticating the Gospels using the same standards Islamic scholars use to defend the authenticity of the Qur'an and Sunna, Madanat examines the testimonies of the four evangelists, the confessions of James and Paul, and the circumstantial evidence offered by archeology, church history, and the Christian impact on civilization.This book engages with Islam and its sacred texts seriously and with respect, providing a powerful resource for those interested in apologetics and comparative religion.

The colonial definition of development has not served Africa well. While Western assessments have generally revolved around a nation's GDP, infrastructure, and the like, African cultures, and the Yoruba people in particular, have traditionally measured development in relation to the amount of peace experienced in a society and the wellbeing of its people.In this study, Dr. Wole Adegbile examines the political, theological, and cultural contexts of contemporary development activity in Africa, including the impact of modernization theory on African nation-states. He then draws on traditional Yoruba political thoughts and practices, including the similarities between the Yoruba conception of a thriving community and the biblical principle of shalom, to formulate a contextual political theology of development that would holistically address cultural identity and spiritual restoration. Rooted in the intersection of Scripture and traditional African values, this book suggests a way forward for African society, its political leaders, and the church.

Today's youth grow up immersed in digital technology. This presents a unique challenge to the church as it seeks to faithfully make disciples of the next generation. What does it look like - theologically and practically - to minister contextually to those whose lives are permeated by social media and digital culture?In this in-depth study, Dr. Vo Huong Nam offers both social and theological insight into the task of discipling youth in the digital age. He examines the impact of digital media on both society and young people and offers an overview of Christian responses to the changing technological landscape. Engaging such authors as John Calvin, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Henri Nouwen, he develops a constructive theology of spiritual formation relevant to the context of twenty-first century youth. He explores the implications of this theology on church practice, urging the church to take seriously its call to be all things for all people. Drawing specific examples from youth ministry in Vietnam, he addresses practical questions of application and contextualization and suggests that silence, solitude, and prayer are spiritual disciplines uniquely vital for the digital age. This book is an important resource for all those involved in discipling young people and longing to see today's youth come to fullness of life in Christ.

How does Christ call his people to engage the societies, cultures, and politics of the nations they call home? From prioritizing patriotism over faith to withdrawing from the public sphere entirely, the struggle to navigate the intersection of an earthly and heavenly kingdom remains an ongoing challenge for Christians around the world.Bridging cultures and time periods, Dr. Surya Harefa brings Abraham's Kuyper's ecclesiology to bear on questions of Japanese Christian engagement within the political sphere. Harefa offers a contextually robust exploration of evangelical Japanese approaches to ecclesiology and political involvement. Taking care to place Kuyper's conception of the church within Kuyper's own political and historical context, careful lines of application are drawn between Kuyper's theological perspectives and the need for an active Japanese church engaged in all spheres of life.This book is an excellent resource for those seeking to equip Christians to engage politically as followers of Christ for the good of the church and their nations. It also provides an example of the rich and powerful insight offered by exploring Western and non-Western theologies within their diverse contexts and in conversation with each other.

Dans cette étude, l'auteur s'attache à analyser les six lettres rapportées dans Esdras¿1-6, dont cinq sont attribuées aux autorités perses. Leur thème central est le Temple, riche de signification dans l'histoire biblique. L'auteur s'appuie sur l'analyse rhétorique biblique pour identifier et présenter les structures de ces lettres, les fonctions du Second Temple et les motivations des différents acteurs de l'époque perse derrière sa reconstruction. Ce travail de recherche aborde également de façon générale les temples juifs dans le Proche-Orient ancien et la langue utilisée dans les lettres.

While a Christian understanding of divine judgement tends to focus on the afterlife, the Hebrew Bible is far more concerned with divine retribution as something experienced in this life. Yet if the same God enacts both, should there not be significant continuity between biblical accounts of divine retribution, whether experienced in this world or the hereafter?In this study, Dr. Angukali Rotokha provides an overview of Old Testament and Second Temple sources that express conceptions of post-mortem judgement. Alongside these passages, she examines the perspective on judgement presented in Deuteronomy, with its orientation towards divine retribution as experienced on this side of death. She explores Deuteronomy's varying emphases on the impersonal, anthropocentric, theocentric, and limited aspects of divine retribution, as well as the relevance of these conceptions to the descriptions of post-mortem judgement found in Isaiah, Daniel, 1 Enoch, and 2 Maccabees. In clarifying points of continuity and discontinuity between earthly and post-mortem divine retribution, she provides a foundation for deeper insight into the Judeo-Christian understanding of both God's judgement and God's grace.

Ce travail est une élucidation du rapport de l'Esprit au Fils incarné selon Abraham Kuyper, homme politique et théologien réformé néocalviniste. Cette relecture de l'abondante oeuvre théologique de Kuyper montre ce que l'Esprit a accompli dans la vie et l'oeuvre de Jésus¿: de la conception du Fils jusqu'à son ascension, suivie de sa glori cation, l'étude cerne l'implication de l'Esprit à tous les niveaux.L'auteur apporte un éclairage sur la pensée de Kuyper, encore trop méconnue dans les milieux francophones, et une recherche approfondie et novatrice sur sa riche pneumatologie. Cet ouvrage unique au regard de sa thématique est pour tous ceux qui souhaitent approfondir leurs connaissances de l'oeuvre de l'Esprit en Christ et mieux connaître Kuyper et la théologie réformée.

Dans cet ouvrage, Fara Daniel Tolno s'interroge sur les enjeux de l'évangélisation des Peuls musulmans du Fouta-Djallon en République de Guinée. L'approche de cette réflexion suit le modèle de contextualisation critique de Paul Hiebert et analyse la culture, la vision du monde et l'identité peule afin de comprendre comment communiquer l'Évangile de manière pertinente pour le contexte peul. Ce travail de recherche missiologique revient sur l'histoire de l'évangélisation des Peuls et réévalue les approches utilisées. Il met en lumière des pistes concrètes pour l'évangélisation et l'implantation d'Églises parmi les Peuls aujourd'hui et intègre la vision peule du monde (le pulaaku) dans la réflexion sur la communication de l'Évangile. Ce volume a été publié en collaboration avec le Réseau évangélique de missiologues pour la francophonie (REMIF).

Communication requires more than a lexical understanding of words. Language relies on the background understanding of the speaker and hearer - an understanding that cannot be taken for granted when communicating cross-culturally.In this study, Dr. George Mbithi Mutuku brings to life a deeper understanding of emotion, specifically anger, in the Hebrew Bible. Utilizing frame semantics and undertaking a comparative study of ¿¿¿ and ngoò as conceptualized in Hebrew and Akamba cultures, respectively, Mutuku argues that ngoò would have been the best rendering for the Hebrew concept ¿¿¿ in the K¿kamba Bible. So doing, he demonstrates the value of exploring words and meanings in their cultural contexts and offers a powerful warning against the assumption that any word - even the word of God - carries universal meaning divorced from that context. He reminds us that God's word is communicated to us cross-culturally, so we must take seriously the responsibility of transferring its meaning across languages.

The gospel of Christ is a gospel of peace, yet Christianity has not escaped the specter of religious violence. The legacy of the church has not only been one of patient suffering and forgiving love but also of brutal bloodshed. With tensions between Christians and non-Christians on the rise in many areas of the world, the question of how the church is to respond to religious violence is a pressing one, encompassing issues of ecclesiology, theology, and missiology.Dr. Mipo E. Dadang explores the contextual realities that have led some believers in Northern Nigeria to embrace violence as a justifiable response to persecution. Drawing on extensive interviews, he provides an overview of the history of the church in the region, the impact of local theologies and traditions on mindsets and behaviors, and the insight of local believers into the catalysts, and solutions, to violent conflict. Alongside this phenomenological study, he provides a powerful biblical and theological foundation for understanding bloodshed as a violation of God's created order. He weaves together biblical teachings, the example of the early church, and the theology of Martin Luther to demonstrate that the people of God are called to reject, prevent, and eliminate violence, replacing it with creative alternatives. This deeply powerful book has implications for every Christian seeking to live out the gospel of Christ in peaceful co-existence with their neighbors.

Are Christians meant to experience suffering? This question has long been a contentious one within the church. Christ is risen, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, yet sickness, poverty, and persecution continue to be daily realities for Christians around the world.In this study of martyrdom and persecution in the early church, Rev. Dr. Kwaku Boamah reminds us that there is no Christianity without a cross and that suffering has played a prominent role in church theology and tradition since the time of Christ. Examining second- and third-century apologetic texts and martyr narratives, he utilizes a systematic comparative approach to create a holistic picture of the extreme challenges facing Christians under the Roman Empire. Drawing parallels to the history of persecution and martyrdom in his homeland of Ghana, Boamah locates the experience of African Christianity firmly within the larger narrative of church history, reminding Christians that they are not alone in their suffering but are members of a global, unified whole.