Afro-Christianity at the Grassroots

Its Dynamics and Strategies
Erscheinungsjahr 1994
ISBN: 978-90-04-10035-0
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 9, 260 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 246 mm, Gewicht: 632 g

Reihe: Studies of Religion in Africa

The spontaneous and rapid growth of indigenous African Christianity, especially in South Africa, has undermined the appropriateness of the term “mainline” for the traditional, denominational churches in the area. Some of these churches lost more than twenty-five percent of their membership in the period 1980-1990, while membership of the indigenous churches increased by a similar percentage in the same period. The contributions to this volume are based on grassroots research and each one treats some significant aspect within the life and work of this vast, self-motivating movement, a movement largely ignored for over a century by western-oriented Christianity. The work of these researchers clearly indicates how it is that African Indigenous Churches, with their holistic approach to religion - a feature of traditional African religion - serve as such a dynamic vehicle in effectively addressing the needs of their flocks. A further focus of the essays is on issues faced by these churches within their own church context.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Oosthuizen, G C

Kitshoff, M C

Dube, S W D

Weitere Mitwirkende

Tutu, Desmond

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein

Über Autor(innen)

Gerhardus C. Oosthuizen, Ph.D. (1955) in Philosophy, University of South-Africa, is Director of NERMIC, a research unit for New Religious Movements and Independent/Indigenous Churches under the University of Zululand. He has published extensively on independent/indigenous churches.
M.C. Kitshoff is Dean of the Faculty of Theology, University of Zululand.
S.W.D. Dube is Director of the Institute for Education and Human Development, University of Zululand.