“Piercing the veil into Beliefs”: Christians Metaphysical Realities vis-à-vis Realities on African Traditional Medicine

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-99
Author(s):  
J. Mawere ◽  
R.M. Mukonza ◽  
A. Hungwe ◽  
S.L. Kugara
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Medicine ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
World Order ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
The Bible ◽  
African Traditional Medicine ◽  
Pentecostal Churches ◽  
Traditional Practitioners ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Insight Into

This paper centres on the contentions between the use of African Traditional medicine and convoluted beliefs among some Christianity groups. It is argued that most Pentecostal churches in Africa vilify African cultural practices and deter their converts from using African traditional medicine. Feelings of disgrace and trepidation when asked about traditional healing frequently make it difficult, particularly for the individuals who have become Christians and have acknowledged western medicine, to reveal their insight into non-western treatments. Against this backdrop, the primary aim of this paper is to unveil the conflict between Christianity and the use of African traditional medicine. The broad aim is to create a platform for a conjectural dialogue towards appreciation for a ‘new world order’ that necessitates an integration of African Traditional Religion and Christianity through adopting a comprehension of cultural differences. The paper draws in the existing scholarly literature on the contention that Pentecostalism do not acclimatize with cultural practices of the African indigenous people preceding persuading them about switching to God who is introduced in the Bible. It has been established that as per the Bible and Christian teachings, the use of traditional medicine is a cursed thing. The authors recommend a confrontation of the healing crisis in Africa through fostering cordial cooperation and of biomedicine, African traditional practitioners and Christian groups.

scholarly journals Reading Psalm 90 in the African (Yoruba) perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David T. Adamo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
African Culture ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
New Words ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Critical Methodology ◽  
Small Collection ◽  
African Context

Psalm 90 stands at a critical juncture in the overall scheme of the Psalter. It is also the first Psalm of the small collection which constitutes Book IV of the Psalter. Psalm 90 can be regarded as one of the magisterial Psalms. Psalm 90 is unique in four ways: (1) Psalm 90 is the first Psalm of Book IV with new words after the unresolved ending of Book III; (2) it is the only Psalm with a superscription dedicated to Moses; (3) Psalm 90 is the most popular and attested text of the Bible according to archaeological facts; (4) the chapter is the theological heart of the Psalter with its emphasis on God’s time and his reign. Unfortunately, however, many scholars have not paid much attention to how these Psalms are used as amulets, talismans, and medicine as attested by archaeological documents uncovered. The purpose of this article is to examine Psalm 90 in the African (Yoruba) context which has been supported by archaeological documents of Psalm 90 uncovered. Psalm 90 has been considered as a Psalm of protection, healing and success.Intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary implications: ‘Reading Psalm 90 in the African context’ interprets Psalm 90 in the light of African culture. It deals with biblical studies, exegesis, African traditional religion, and African cultural practices using historical-critical and African biblical hermeneutical methodologies. The Euro-American way is challenged, and African biblical hermeneutics methodology presents a legitimate historical-critical methodology.

“Is there no balm in Gilead?” : Exploring Effects of Traditional Medicine on Reproductive Health of Rural Women in Allandale, Mpumalanga

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-61
Author(s):  
O. Mdhluli ◽  
S.L. Kugara ◽  
P.E. Matshidze ◽  
T.D. Mdhluli
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Traditional Medicine ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Traditional Health ◽  
African Traditional Medicine ◽  
Traditional Practitioners ◽  
Study Participants

The negative reports associated with traditional medicine come from bogus traditional practitioners who expose women to the harmful consequences of concoctions supplied and administered on them. However, factors such as people’s confidence in traditional medicine and the high costs associated with conventional Western medical treatments lead most rural women to traditional medicine usage. This study is grounded in critical and sociocultural theory. An explorative qualitative research was used. Data were collected through open-ended questions, non-participant covert observations as well as focus group discussions and then analysed using the thematic analysis method. The study participants consisted of seven rural women, five traditional health practitioners, three elderly people and 3 Western-trained doctors who were all sampled using non-probability sampling methods (purposive and snowball sampling) in Allandale village. The findings of the study showed that African traditional medicine plays a pivotal role in reproductive health care by offering readily available, cheap, culturally oriented and accessible health care for most rural women. Thus, the study recommends an introduction of a regulatory framework on the production, storage, use and trade of African traditional medicine.

Spiritualism in Raymond Carver’s Work

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 214
Author(s):  
Viola Kita
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Good Thing ◽  
Raymond Carver ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Christian Writer ◽  
Spiritual Reading ◽  
Insight Into

Raymond Carver’s work provides the opportunity for a spiritual reading. The article that offers the greatest insight into spirituality is William Stull’s “Beyond Hopelessville: Another Side of Raymond Carver.” In it we can notice the darkness which is dominant in Carver’s early works with the optimism that is an essential part of Carver’s work “Cathedral”. A careful reading of “A Small Good Thing” and “The Bath” can give the idea that they are based on the allegory of spiritual rebirth which can be interpreted as a “symbol of Resurrection”. Despite Stull’s insisting in Carver’s stories allusions based on the Bible, it cannot be proved that the writer has made use of Christian imagery. Therefore, it can be concluded that spirituality in Carver’s work is one of the most confusing topics so far in the literary world because on one hand literary critics find a lot of biblical elements and on the other hand Carver himself refuses to be analyzed as a Christian writer.

The History of the Judahite Bench Tomb

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Suriano
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Insight Into

The history of the Judahite bench tomb provides important insight into the meaning of mortuary practices, and by extension, death in the Hebrew Bible. The bench tomb appeared in Judah during Iron Age II. Although it included certain burial features that appear earlier in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, such as burial benches, and the use of caves for extramural burials, the Judahite bench tomb uniquely incorporated these features into a specific plan that emulated domestic structures and facilitated multigenerational burials. During the seventh century, and continuing into the sixth, the bench tombs become popular in Jerusalem. The history of this type of burial shows a gradual development of cultural practices that were meant to control death and contain the dead. It is possible to observe within these cultural practices the tomb as a means of constructing identity for both the dead and the living.

Humanism, the Bible, and Erasmus’s Moral World Order

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Tubau
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Just War ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Just War Theory ◽  
World Order ◽  
Moral Order ◽  
Moral Formation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Moral World

This chapter sets Erasmus’s ideas on morality and the responsibility of rulers with regard to war in their historical context, showing their coherence and consistency with the rest of his philosophy. First, there is an analysis of Erasmus’s criticisms of the moral and legal justifications of war at the time, which were based on the just war theory elaborated by canon lawyers. This is followed by an examination of his ideas about the moral order in which the ruler should be educated and political power be exercised, with the role of arbitration as the way to resolve conflicts between rulers. As these two closely related questions are developed, the chapter shows that the moral formation of rulers, grounded in Christ’s message and the virtue politics of fifteenth-century Italian humanism, is the keystone of the moral world order that Erasmus proposes for his contemporaries.

Jan II van Coninxloo en zijn werkzaamheden voor het benedictinessenklooster van Groot-Bijgaarden bij Brussel

1998 ◽  
Vol 112 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 104-126
Author(s):  
Frank Van Der Ploeg
Keyword(s):  
Significant Part ◽  
The Veil ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between the Brussels painter Jan 11 van Coninxloo (ca. 1489-1561 or later) and the Benedictine convent of Groot-Bijgaarden. In earlier publications by J. Maquet-Tombu the link between certain members of the Van Coninxloo family and the Vorst convent have already been pointed out. A new chapter can now be added. In the archive of Groot-Bijgaarden convent are two books in which payments made by the prioresses Françoise and Catherine van Straten for the dccoration of the convent and the church are recorded. The books list a separate item for painting and polychrome work. Here, for the first time, the name Jan van Coninxloo crops up in connection with a sum paid for painting the side panels of the main altar. Van Coninxloo was also paid for painting organ doors, a vaulted ceiling and for 'rough painting'. Four triptychs by Van Coninxloo have also been preserved; they were commissions from women of noble birth who had taken the veil. The names of three of these nuns are known: Anthonine de Locquenghien, Berbel van dcr Noot and Marie Brant. The fourth was called Barbara (Berbel). In view of all this material it may be concluded that Van Coninxloo played a significant part in the decorative appearance of the convent church. He was responsible for triptychs on altars dedicated to St. Anne, St. John and St. Benedict. He also painted the smaller triptych with the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin, the panels of the high altar, doors for an organ and (part of) the ceiling decorations. The article offers a new insight into the context of a group of paintings and adds a number of works to Jan 11 van Coninxloo's oeuvre.

scholarly journals Emancipation from the Whirlwind: Piety and Rebellion among Jewish-American Post-Holocaust and Christian Liberation Readings of Job

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
David C Tollerton
Keyword(s):  
Modern World ◽  
Jewish American ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Theologically Conservative ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Political Radicalism ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Do So

This article focuses upon the manner in which the Book of Job’s dissonant messages of theological radicalism and conservatism have been utilised within discussion of two specific episodes of innocent suffering in the modern world – the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust and the suffering of the oppressed in the developing world. Overlaying the discussion, the following model is proposed: that, firstly, Christian liberation theologians emphasise the more theologically conservative messages that can be drawn from Job while asserting radical political opposition to those who possess power. Conversely, Jewish Holocaust theologians empathise with Job’s more theologically radical elements, yet do so within outlooks committed to conservatively maintaining the security and power of the state of Israel after two thousand years of Jewish powerlessness. This model is tested by focusing upon seven treatments of Job associated with liberation or Holocaust theologies. It is concluded that, although there are significant complications, in broad terms the model largely holds ”“ offering a comparative insight into contextual Christian and Jewish interpretations of the Bible in which political radicalism and theological radicalism are found to be at odds with one another.

scholarly journals Mark of the Spirit: Body Marks as Icons of Spirituality among the Dangme in Ghana

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
Alice Korkor Ebeheakey ◽  
Steve Kquofi ◽  
Eric Appau Asante ◽  
Charlotte Buerkie Nubuor
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
The Body ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Higher Power ◽  
The Will

In African traditional religion, priding oneself in the beliefs and practices of one’s culture is intensely essential. The driving force for this is mainly the need to satisfy the will of a higher power. Cultural practices, being a channel between the living, the dead and the spirits is one of the ways in which a group of people satisfy the will of these higher beings. Body marking, among the Dangme, forms a great deal of aspects of cultural practices which connotes spirituality. This study discusses the concept of spirituality as enshrined in the body marks of the Dangme people of Ghana. To obtain the relevant information needed, the qualitative approach to research has been adopted using interviews and observation as the main data collection tools. These give a rich and in-depth understanding of the body marks that are practiced for spiritual purposes among the Dangme. This paper is a collation of findings from studies conducted between February, 2012 and February, 2019. It is evident from the research that, marks for spiritual purposes seemed to be practiced irrespective of the clan individuals hail from. These marks are seen as methods (or modes) of maintaining direct contact and proving allegiance to the spirits that protect them as a people.

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