Bachelor of Arts in Theology

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    Death Rituals among the Chagga Of Tanzania: A Pastoral Challenge
    (Tangaza University College., 2002-02) Kessy, Marcel G.
    This thesis is a study of Chagga death rituals, their pastoral challenge to the mission and their significance for Christian inculturation. In this chapter we are going to focus mainly on; the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, the research hypotheses, scope and organization of the study, methodology and finally limitations of the study. My choice of this topic has been prompted by many questions raised by the Catholic church in Moshi diocese - Kilimanjaro Tanzania about the Chagga funeral rites, and other commemorative rituals connected with the dead. In most of African cultures, people value their traditional practices very much. Some of these practices are categorized according to their values in the society. Among these practices are the rituals performed for the dead, the spirits and for appeasing the ancestors. In some other places, some rituals are performed for the living. One finds these rituals and sacrifices having cosmological and vertical dimensions. But after Christianity had been introduced to the African people, these cultural and traditional practices have been deteriorating. In most of East Africa, especially among the Chagga, in Central Africa, where I did my pastoral work, and the several places I visited in 1998, these traditional practices have been considered as a kind of double standard by the missionaries. You find that on the one hand keep the traditional practices are very strong and most valued. Some of these practices are being performed in hidden places while others are done openly. On the other hand, Christianity is very strong and explicitly practiced. This does not only apply to funeral rituals but also in every kind of traditional beliefs and practices. The teachings which African people received from the early Missionaries were very negative to their cultural and traditional practices. They were told that their traditional practices were pagan and devilish. People grew up in this mentality and this led many to perform these traditional practices secretly out of fear. According to Mzee Bernard Kiwory, "the people fear that spirits of the clan will turn against them, harm them and even cause death in the family". During funeral rites among the Chagga, you find that traditional rituals are performed first and then Christian ones follow later. The traditional rituals are done secretly and hurriedly before the arrival of the priest who comes to conduct the Christian funeral service. I have seen these in many places where I have attended funerals or burials. In these practices, I discovered that most of what is practiced traditionally is related to what is done by Christians. This has prompted me to deepen my understanding through this study in order to discover more about our culture. The aim is to find out the good elements which can be incorporated in Christian funeral rites as one way of bringing the Gospel message closer to the Chagga People. It is obvious that, not every thing which is practiced traditionally is positive and can be incorporated in Christianity. Some traditional practices have very good elements which can be useful for inculturation while some are against Christian values.
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    Death among the Luos of Kenya: A Pastoral Challenge
    (Tangaza University College, 2001-02-07) Okwadha, Dominick
    The Luo are a Nilotic people with a rich base of traditional knowledge about their cultural beliefs, practices and environment. The Luo of Kenya inhabit the territories bordering Lake Victoria— to the North and South of Nyanza gulf, extending into Tanzania. The Luo are both agriculturalists and pastoralists. Grain, fish and milk make up their main diet. Cattle used to be a chief criterion for judging wealth but today it is scarce. Sheep and goats are also kept. For the Luos, nothing is done without having in mind the Supreme Being (Nyasaye). There is always religious meaning and implication to everything. All things, events and phenomena alike are interpreted in terms of the divine will. Accordingly, nothing happens simply by mere chance. Death too does not just strike a blow without a reason. There must be something communicated by each and every kind of death. The rituals on the other hand are not performed just at the surface level as such. They directly bridge the living to the spiritual world. This essay is focused on the basic principles that underline the Luo understanding of death, the relevant and common rituals and other contemporary issues which need to be addressed in the present society. "Death among the Laos of Kenya: A Pastoral Challenge" is centred on a few questions which seem to be common among the other ethnic groups of Africa. These are the questions on the origin of death and its meaning; what will come after death. It should be emphasized that the concept of death, the destiny of human being and life after death, has been, among the Luo, a part of an orally transmitted wealth of proverbs, songs, myths, prayers, religious ceremonies and various rituals of daily life. The insight I have in order to write this essay is basically to explain that the Luos conceive death as a departure and not a complete annihilation of a person. The person moves to join the company of the departed, and the only major change is the decay of the physical body, but the spirit moves on to another state of existence. Some of the words describing death imply that a person goes "home", which means that this life is Ile a pilgrimage, the real "home" is in the hereafter, since one does not depart from there. Death is cruel, it "stiffens", "cuts down" or "evaporates" a person, even if he / she continues to exist in the hereafter. This explanation doesn't contradict any Christian teaching. In this case, the way the Luos view death is in line with biblical understanding of death. My main concern is the question of rituals. Some rituals are "beautiful" and in line with Christianity. The problem is that of feasting at the time of death, levirate union, the question of where someone is to be buried and the famous present epidemic AIDS. Feasting after the death of someone brings poverty not only to the deceased's family, but also to the whole society. Due to the expense in transporting the body when someone dies should be looked at because it also brings poverty and misunderstanding in the community. AIDS is a serious problem that should be dealt with in a careful way. The mass spread of AIDS in Luoland is mostly due to levirate union and the society being adamant in accepting the real essence of it. Levirate union which most people call "wife inheritance", violates the biblical standard of marriage, which is one — man — with — one — woman affair. It also conflicts with the Christian belief that death means the end of the marriage union. It denies a widow's right to decide her own future and also puts a heavy financial burden on the widow. This is because the way levirate union was practised in the past is totally different to how it is contemporarily practised. I have tried to give some pastoral approach in various issues and some biblical references, which I do hope can bring several Sights in dealing with this problem.
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    African Death Rite Of Passage, Dialogue And Inculturation
    (Tangaza University College, 2000-02) Obbo, Stephen Benedict
    One of the objectives of this paper is to lead to a deeper understanding of the mystery of death and the rituals surrounding it. The term "death" is commonly understood as "end of life" - and human experience seems to echo this. From the African context, death is looked at as a moment of passing from the earthly life to another realm of life. It is a rite of passage like birth, Initiation into adulthood and marriage. Philosophically, death is defined as a separation of the intertwine aspects of the human person. That is, the body and the soul. From the christian perspective, death is a mystery which can be answered only by another mystery, the death of Jesus Christ. From the clinical or biological definition, death is the point when the brain's functioning stops. Because of the complexity and depth of the African death rites, only a few ethnic groupings have been considered in this paper for the sake of clarity and particularity. These are: The Luo and Abaluyia of Kenya; The lteso, Baganda, Jopadhola and Bakonzo of Uganda, The chagga, Hehe and Bena of Tanzania; and the Ndebele of Zimbabwe. An attempt has, however, been made to discern some similarities and differences between the Christian and African Traditional concepts of death. The conclusion proposes the need for dialogue and inculturation of the compatible African death rites with Christianity. During the course of research, I used certain methods. This includes interviewing aided by a tape recorder. The informants are mainly from Uganda and Kenya and are from different walks of life. I also used questionnaire and library work.
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    The Bakongo Concept of God And The Christian Revelation
    (Tangaza University College, 1999-02) Fumwasendji, Kapumba Symphorien
    Nobody knows God fully and no one of us has seen him, but the Son himself. However, human beings from the beginning have had their experiences of the Supreme Being in various ways. In this essay, our main concern is to show how the Bakongo people conceive their God. Who he really is for them? The Almighty, the creator, the invisible and so forth. Some Bakongo riddles, sayings, stories, and proverbs will be studied to support this hypothesis. We would compare some elements of the Bakongo beliefs with Christian ones. The similarities can be incorporated in people's faith. The dissimilarities, that is, those which are not compatible with the Good News, will need to be purified. Our goal is to show that in every human culture (Bakongo in this case) we can find something that is compatible with the Good News and facilitate the process of Inculturation of peoples' faith. Beside the general introduction and conclusion our essay will consist of these following chapters: I. Clarifications of terms. 2. God's names. 3. Nzambi for the Bakongo. 4. God's Attributes. 5. God Bakongo in Social and Religious life 6. Eschatology. 7. The Bakongo Concept of God and the Christian Revelation.