Johannes Rebmann

This book is the revised and enlarged second edition of a biography of the missionary and linguist Johannes Rebmann (1820-1876), a Christian from Germany who worked in 19th-century East Africa. Rebmann was deeply influenced by the Movement of Pietism in his homeland Württemberg. He was trained to be a missionary in Basel, Switzerland, for the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS). From its base in London the CMS sent him to the Muslim-ruled and slavery-ridden Mombasa area of present-day Kenya. There he stayed for 29 years before returning home to Gerlingen near Stuttgart, blind and sick, soon to die. Rebmann was a faithful witness of Christ in word and deed. He experienced a lot of suffering and opposition, but was instrumental in establishing the Church in East and Central Africa. His lexicographical work facilitated succeeding missionaries. He compiled vocabularies of the Swahili and N(y)ika languages. Together with Salimini, a slave captured near Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi) by the Swahili Arabs, he made a dictionary of the ‘Kiniassa’, an important language in Central Africa, which is now usually called Chichewa.

Describes the customs, housing, and food of the Masai; how they live on a daily basis; and how they have dealt with modern forces, such as wildlife preserves, tourism, and money.

Christianity in Eurafrica is an impressive book, meticulously researched and well written by a professional scholar. The first chapter includes some valuable historiographical guidelines for writing and understanding the History of the Church. In its first part, the book traces the history of the Church in the Middle East and Europe, explaining the roots of theological diversity to this day. In the second part, the author narrates how the Faith moved south, took root in African soil and grew independently. Many pictures and illustrations serve to further enliven the account. Steven Paas, taught Theology in Malawi for many years. He writes from a deep knowledge of and love for the Lord’s Church, especially in Africa and Europe. This textbook on the history of Christianity in two continents fits with the curricula of institutions of theological training in Africa and the West. The content is especially aimed at students who prepare for the ministry and for Christian education. The book is, however, also invaluable for all scholars of the History of Christianity.

This book deals with the new dynamics of Islam in East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Comoros) and its attempt to expand through various missionary activities. As Muslim reformers have done elsewhere in the world, the reformers in East Africa are fighting for an Islamic awakening. The central argument of this book is to say that although these activities are supported by contributions from transnational networks, their origins go back to the frustration of Muslim communities of East Africa with politics, education, and professional training. The other argument is to show that this Islamic awakening is not just about the Salafi or Muslim Brothers trend, it concerns also Shī‘a, Sufi, Muslim Bible Scholars and others alike. All these trends mimic each other while competing against each other at the same time. They also take the same position vis-à-vis the various Christian groups.

"Fascinating...adds many interesting details to what we know of the President’s heritage." --David Remnick, TheNewYorker.com On January 20, 2009, a few hundred men, women, and children gathered under trees in the twilight at K’obama, a village on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. Barack Obama’s rise to the American presidency had captivated people around the world, but members of this gathering took a special pride in the swearing in of America’s first black president, for they were all Obamas, all the president’s direct African family. In the first in-depth history of the Obama family, Peter Firstbrook recounts a journey that starts in a mud hut by the White Nile and ends seven centuries later in the White House. Interweaving oral history and tribal lore, interviews with Obama family members and other Kenyans, the writings of Kenyan historians, and original genealogical research, Firstbrook sets the fascinating story of the president’s family against the background of Kenya’s rich culture and complex history. He tells the story of farmers and fishermen, of healers and hunters, of families lost and found, establishing for the first time the early ancestry of the Obamas. From the tribe’s cradleland in southern Sudan, he follows the family generation by generation, tracing the paths of the famous Luo warriors—Obama’s direct ancestors—and vividly illuminating Luo politics, society, and traditions. Firstbrook also brings to life the impact of English colonization in Africa through the eyes of President Obama’s grandfather Onyango. An ambitious and disciplined man who fought in two world wars, witnessed the bloody Mau Mau insurrection, and saw his country gain independence from white rule, Onyango was also hot-tempered and autocratic: family lore has it that President Obama’s grandmother abandoned the family after Onyango attempted to murder her. And Firstbrook delves into the troubled life of Obama’s father, a promising young man whose aspirations were stymied by post-independence tribal politics and a rash tendency toward self-destruction—two factors that his family believes contributed to his death in 1982. They say it was no accident, as described in the president’s memoirs, but rather a politically motivated hit job. More than a tale of love and war, hardship and hard-won success, The Obamas reveals a family history—epic in scope yet intimate in feel—that is truly without precedent.

This highly sympathetic and deeply personal account of Malawi's experience of colonialism has particular poignancy as it is written from the marginal perspective of a mixed-race child in a race-conscious society. The author also has a keen eye for the Scottish dimension in Malawi's story. Historically revealing, politically provocative, and humanly intriguing, this book will be a rewarding read for anyone seeking a better understanding of the people who made Malawi the country it is today.

This book deals with Christian Zionism, and in a wider sense with the phenomenon of Israelism. By Israelism, I mean a certain kind of literal reading of the Scriptures. God’s revealed plan for Israel and the Jewish people are construed by many in such a way that Jews are to receive a higher status or a lower place than all other nations. These two opposite positions have many gradations, from moderate to extreme. The most extreme consequences are glorification and degradation, idolization and hatred, Philo-Semitism and Anti-Semitism. Christian Zionism Examined emphatically asserts that the Bible provides absolutely no basis for this literal way of reading and understanding the prophetic word in the Holy Scriptures. God’s promises of redemption and judgment to Old Testament Israel have never meant to be solely fulfilled to one particular ethnic people and geographical area; i.e., only modern Israel or only the Jewish people. Redemption and judgment are fulfilled in Christ. In him, those promises (or predictions) have received a final meaning for all nations, essentially for all creation. The completion of that fulfillment will take place upon his return; in the perfection of his kingdom or his universal rule; and in the final judgment.

Pacifying Missions interrogates the variegated and contested ways that missionaries imagined, articulated, and enacted peace, considering its complex entanglements with violence in the British Empire. The volume brings together world leading historical scholarship on issues of increasing contemporary valence.