Unmasking The African Ghost

The story of Africa is a ghost story with two plots. One is foreign or imported and the other indigenous or local. The foreign plot has its origin in colonial history. The indigenous plot is African in origin. But both plots end in the same place: African trauma and culture complex. These narratives create in modern Africa a splintered consciousness and the political and economic conditions that lead to physical and psychological violence. Unmasking the African Ghost is both a theological exploration of the reasons the political and economic systems in African countries have failed and a proposal for the paths toward recovery, anchored in the belief that Africa is a continent continuously trying to redefine its identity in the face of Eurocentrism. For the church in Africa to be a church at the service of its people, theology in Africa must take misery and oppression as the context for its reflections and its reconstruction of the social order. An African solution to African problems must be able to meet the needs of the time. It must look to the African past to draw from its riches--particularly the African sociopolitical ethic of ubuntu. It must also look ahead and draw from the best available sociopolitical system of modern states: liberal democracy. A hybrid of these two yields ubuntucracy. Ubuntucracy removes the ghosts of both Africa and its Western colonizers and begins a new story that can help Africa survive its double bind.

In recent decades there has been a seismic shift in world Christianity. Whereas formerly Christianity existed as a Caucasian Euro-American phenomenon, the majority of Christians today reside in the Southern Hemisphere, or the Global South. And what is true for the demographics of Christianity has followed lockstep for its theological developments. The era of German theologians setting the tone for global church are gone. Today, some of the loudest and most creative voices in theology speak from the emerging contingencies of the Global South, for example, promoting Latinx, Black, Caribbean, and Asian theologies and their influence often influences the conversation in the United States and Europe. In addition, just as the center of Christianity has moved geographically from north to south, so with theological seminaries in the west, which have declined as training centers for clergy. These events coincide with new theological centers are opening in Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Latin America. The bottom line is--contemporary Christianity today looks significantly different than it did a century ago, and publications have been slow to acknowledge, let alone describe and elaborate upon, this major shift to the largest religion in the world. These shifts guide our intentions in this book. Such a reference book, which could also be used as a textbook, therefore is very much needed. In fact, there is nothing like the contents of this single-volume book in the publishing market which allows for high-quality, interdisciplinary, and international dialogue.

Doing theology Under the Palaver Tree, in honor of one of Africa's foremost theologians, Elochukwu E. Uzukwu, is a momentous undertaking, which draws from the diverse African continent, her various peoples and rich natural resources. A down-to-earth God-talk that evokes the reign of God among us, the book is a theological treasure trove. The quality, depth, and range of the conversation partners in this volume represent a high-water mark of the best scholarship in Africa today on ecclesiology and the future of the African church and the world church. The authors, through dialoguing with multidisciplinary dimensions of theological thoughts, offer new language with which to engage foundational issues in theology, liturgical practices, communion and community, leadership and charism, the relationship between the local and universal church, and social engagement and cultural questions as well. In exploring the depth of this tome, with its methodological approaches in interpreting, understanding, and evaluating the changing faces of Christianity, scholars and theologians will be challenged to reflect on some of the most pressing current questions and issues facing the church in Africa and the world, in rebirthing the image of the people of God, and a synodal church under the iconic and symbolic African palaver tree.

​This book proposes a conceptual-empirical framework for exploring forms of continuity and change along psychosocial pathways in South African universities. It illustrates how the psychosocial pathways are grounded in the symbolic narratives and knowledges of young scientists, engineers and architects - all interlocutors in the research from which this book is based. Alala, Mamoratwa, Welile, Odirile, Kaiya, Amirah, Takalani, Nosakhele, Naila, Ambani, Khanyisile, Itumeleng, Ethwasa and Kgnaya provide collective standpoints in the multiplicities within and between the lived lives and told stories of young Black South African women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. In doing so, this compelling work advances possibilities for demythologising scientific endeavour as a white male achievement and shifting knowledge communities across gendered, racialised, class and national divides. This book presents an innovative narrative methodology, utilising the myth of the Minotaur to examine the state of the university at the heart of the hierarchical labyrinth in “post”-apartheid South Africa. Throughout the work the author wrestles with and self-reflexively highlights her own positionality as a white, middle-class South African woman to examine how this affects the production of this research in ways which serve to preserve the colonial knowledge system. With the rise of the Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall student movement in South Africa, demanding for the fall of institutionalised racial hierarchies, the author uses the cover image of narrative formations in the spirit of exploration to think with and through undulating networked forms that could possibly forge new psychosocial pathways towards decolonising and reinventing South African universities. This work offers a unique conceptual and methodological resource for students and scholars of psychosocial and narrative theory, as well as those who are concerned about the politics of higher education, both in South Africa and in other contexts around the world.

This unique collection of "UNMASKING THE SILENCE - 17 Powerful Slave Narratives in One Edition" has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards. Contents: Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Freedom Fighter & Statesman 12 Years a Slave - Memoir of Solomon Northup, a Free-Born African American Who Was Kidnapped and Sold into Slavery The Underground Railroad (William Still) - stories of 649 slaves who escaped to freedom through a secret network formed by abolitionists and former slaves Harriet: The Moses of Her People – Story of the Woman Who Led Hundreds of Slaves to Freedom as the Conductor on the Underground Railroad Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Harriet Jacobs) Narrative of Sojourner Truth - leading abolitionist and women's rights activist The Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano - Former Slave, Seaman & Freedom Fighter Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington - the Visionary Educator, Leader and Civil Rights Activist The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave – Memoir that Influenced the Anti-Slavery Cause of British Colonies Father Henson's Story of His Own Life – by Josiah Henson who was the inspiration for the character of Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin, anti-slavery influential novel which made a crucial impact on America's conscience by illustrating slavery's affect on families The Willie Lynch Letter: The Making of Slave! The Confessions of Nat Turner The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave - Autobiography that Influenced the Anti-Slavery Cause of British Colonies Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (William and Ellen Craft) Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom (Louis Hughes) Narrative of the Life of J. D. Green, a Runaway Slave (Jacob D. Green) Behind The Scenes: 30 Years a Slave & 4 Years in the White House (Elizabeth Keckley)

Andrew M. Mbuvi makes the case for African biblical studies as a vibrant and important emerging distinct discipline, while also using its postcolonial optic to critique biblical studies for its continued underlying racially and imperialistically motivated tendencies. Mbuvi argues that the emergence of biblical studies as a discipline in the West coincides with, and benefits from, the establishment of the colonial project that included African colonization. At the heart of the colonial project was the Bible, not only as ferried by missionaries, who often espoused racialized views, to convert “heathens in the distant lands,” but as the text used in the racialized justification of the colonial violence. Interpretive approaches established within these racist and colonialist matrices continue to dominate the discipline, perpetuating racialized interpretive methodology and frameworks. On these grounds, Mbuvi makes the case that the continued marginalization of non-western approaches is a reflection of the continuing colonialist structure and presuppositions in the discipline of biblical studies. African Biblical Studies not only exposes and critiques these persistent oppressive and subjugating tendencies but showcases how African postcolonial methodologies and studies, that prioritize readings from the perspective of the marginalized and oppressed, offer an alternative framework for the discipline. These readings, while destabilizing and undermining the predominantly white Euro-American approaches and their ingrained prejudices, and problematizing the biblical text itself, posit the need for biblical interpretation that is anti-colonial and anti-racist.

Wrongly Diagnosed exposes the true source and nature of addiction that has been hidden, denied, and disbelieved. It provides correct information as it relates to God and recovery using the Word of God. It reveals the misrepresentation of God in the twelve-step program and exposes the deception of its concept of spirituality and a higher power. Wrongly Diagnosed is an unflinching look at the true nature of addiction. Pastor Johnson gives the reader an inside look at this national tragedy and the path he has found to healing. This book is the work of a refreshingly honest and engaging writer who repays the time you invest in him with substantial hope. Sharilyn Grayson, Freelance Editor As a co-dependent, and mother of four children married to a cocaine addict, I found this book to be extremely enlightening into the issues and struggles of an addict. It is insightful, informative and an honest look at what an addict goes through during and after their addiction. Monica Grier Wrongly Diagnosed is biblically sound with information that helps to identify our true source of power to be free from addiction, which is Christ. It has revealed to us, the strategies of Satan's counterfeit behavior. The masking and delusional practice of lies and deception orchestrated by our adversary the devil. Pastor Maria Salas, Joshua & Caleb Ministry. Bell Garden, CA John Johnson is an ordained pastor, a Certified Alcohol and Drug counselor RAS, CSC. He was the Co-founder and Director of the Wings of Healing Alcohol and Drug ministry at Greater Bethany Community Church in Los Angeles, CA 1991 to 1999. Freed from $300-$400 a day heroin and cocaine habit. In 19 Years of recovery, he has never had one day of withdrawals, cravings or a desire for drugs.

This volume of essays covers all phases and geographical areas of African literature, including lesser known areas such as oral literature, literature written in African languages and Lusophone literature. Also included are articles on Caribbean literature, developments in South African theatre, and two articles on African film. Several writers receive special attention: Chinua Achebe, Maryse Conde, Wole Soyinka, Niyi Osundare, Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Hampate Ba. Also included are the key-note addresses by Achebe, Conde and Osundare.