Undergraduate Projects/Long Essays

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The Suffering of the Innocent In Job
(Tangaza University College, 1999-02) Ngendandumwe, Jean-Claude
This essay is divided into two major parts: Part one is an Exegesis that contains a selection of texts. It deals mainly with different understandings of the suffering of Job by different personages in the Book of Job: The three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar), Job himself, Flihu, and God. Part Two deals with the theology of the text, and some pastoral implications.
Prophetic Commitment to the Word of God
(Tangaza University College, 1999-02-12) Mulenga, Augustine
I have always been fascinated by and marvelled at the courage of Israel's classical prophets. This admiration lies especially in their ability to articulate the situation 'as it is' and 'as it can be'. For instance, when self-satisfied leaders oppressed the poor, prophetic voices named the brokenness of the covenanted community, and when every aspect of Israel's life was subject to painful experience, prophetic voices imaged a new life for a people whose spirits were broken and crushed. Although they differ vastly from one another, Israel's classical prophets show a strong conviction that their vocation together with their mission originates from the Holy One of Israel. In this connection and according to the Old Testament, their messages are often prefaced by the formula: 'Thus says the Lord' or concluded by the phrase: 'It is the Lord who speaks'. Properly speaking, it was the word of God that moved Israel's great prophets into an open confrontation with their audience, denouncing sin and proposing a new future. This essay explores the commitment of Israel's great prophets to the word of God so as to highlight the challenges which this commitment poses to the ministry of the church in Zambia* today. We do not intend to undertake a painstaking study on each one of the classical prophets vis-à-vis the word of God, but to select some specific elements, especially from the prophets Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah of Jerusalem, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Deutero- Isaiah, which can help us arrive at a better understanding of what prophetic commitment entails.The first two chapters investigate the implications of the commitment of Israel's great prophets: chapter one presents the call of the prophets as starting point of the prophetic commitment, and chapter two surveys the twofold dimension of the prophetic mission. The third chapter elaborates the challenge that the great prophets pose to the ministry of the church in Zambia, especially in the situation where the majority of the people have apparently no strength to think about the future because they have nothing to feed on today. Within the vision of faith, we hold that authentic Christian praxis that leads to social transformation through the works of justice and love emanates from a closer analysis of human reality in the light of the word of God. With a view to shed the light of God's word upon the human reality in Zambia today, our approach in this paper seeks and draws from the Bible the nourishment that is capable to inspire the local church in her task of sustaining God's people in their struggles and in their hopes for a better life. As far as possible, we shall develop our theme in a chronological manner.
Luke's Teaching on Poverty in his Gospel and Acts.
(Tangaza University College, 1999-02-12) Stybor, Marek
The intention of my work is to demonstrate that the disciples' obligation to help the materially poor is based on God's care for them expressed through Jesus' attitude according to the Luke's Gospel, and the commitment of the Early Christian Community according to Acts of the Apostles. 1 intend to follow the exegetical approach. First of all, I have to tried to familiarize myself with the texts of Luke-Acts pertaining to my topic by referring to various commentaries and relevant authors. And then, I have developed the material in three parts. In the first part, I have outlined God's attitude to the poor as revealed through the person of Jesus. Here, there is a message to the world which God wants to communicate through the presence of the poor, I have emphasized this. I have referred to the various passages from the Gospel of Saint Luke and the heart of this chapter is the Year of Favor (Lk. 4:18), where Jesus announces his mission as that of proclaiming the good news to the poor. This part of my work develops the theme of God's attitude towards the poor, as revealed in the person of Jesus. In the second chapter I talk about the disciples' fulfillment of the obligation to help the poor. Here, I have analyzed the lifestyle of the Early Christian Community vis a vis the poor, according to the Acts of the Apostles. The lifestyle of the Early Christian Community, according to Luke-Acts, will help us to understand the obligation of disciples to help the materially poor. Their concern for the needy brother and sister reflects the divine concern for the poor. The present day application is contained in the third chapter of my work. My concern in this final part is the challenge which the poor give to the religious who are to be today's disciples of Jesus in a special way. How are we going to face the challenges given to us as people consecrated to God by those who are oppressed, persecuted and suffering because of hunger and other-itijuitices? This is the burden of this chapter. The main guiding question of my work is: What message does Luke-Acts communicate to the Christian disciples concerning their attitude toward the poor? I hope my work answers this question as we go through the text of Luke-Acts from the perspective of the situation of the materially poor in relation to God, and the Early Christian Community's attitude towards them.
Towards An African Christian Job
(Tangaza University College, 1998-02-21) Amooti, John Mungereza
Since the third phase of Africa's systematic evangelization begun in the nineteenth century,a lot of work has been done by missionaries and promoters of the African mission. However we must point out that much emphasis was put on Sacramentalization other than in depth evangelization. And so we have ended up with masses of nominal Christians baptised but not efficiently evangelised. On the other hand,Africa is experiencing many and diverse problems,famine,drought,ethnic conflicts,economic dependence,political turmoil,disease and solutions do not appear on the horizon. Many of the Baptised Christians,having failed to find answers of their struggle and suffering,slide back to their traditional beliefs which apparently seem to offer some help and consolation. As a missionary,having grown up among my people,the Batagwenda,l have shared in their struggles of life in situations of suffering. In my theological training,I was amazed to discover that Job of the Old Testament was as well struggling with his own suffering but does not seem to offer us a meaningful answer. It is clear to me that many people in Africa can identify themselves with Job of the Old Testament As Job needed Christ to give him a meaningful answer to his sufferings,my people also and indeed many Africans should look up to Jesus to give them meaningful consolation in their sufferings. As Missionariesi started asking myself during my theological training what we could offer to the majority of the people suffering in Africa Which consolation do we give and how do we preach to them? Many have been confused by the traditional beliefs and now how do we correct them and how do we bring them back to the faith?. This paper is a long reflection on the whole question of suffering. My conviction is that even amidst suffering,we are able to remain faithful to our faith. However this does not mean that we passively suffer,but where possible we should denounce situations that bring suffering and always actively promote life.
God's Universal Love As It Is Expressed In The Parables Told By Jesus
(Tangaza University College, 1998-02) Cordova, Roberto Perez
When we realize that the parables are considered the master piece of Jesus' teaching and that they convey more accurately the mind and teaching of Jesus, one begins to wonder why Jesus said so and so Some writers say that Jesus spoke his parables to people in order to awake in them a new understanding of God. The new understanding of what the kingdom of God is all about In this paper we will analyze the way Jesus used the parables and then I will take some parables, after analyzing them according to the new scholars of Scripture, I will also look at them in a new context. Our context is today as we prepare ourselves for the Jubilee of Christ I will also treat the parables in a missionary context. The mission starts from the Father, and is conveyed to us by Jesus Christ. The Church plays an important role in this teaching ofJesus. I will speak of the parables from a universal and missionary point of view in which God offers, gives, demands and is always ready to ask for our response. We shall therefore realize that the parables are always a challenge to the hearer 'What do you say?' Each person must give his or her own response.
God's Option for the Poor
(Tangaza University College, 1998-02) Dim, Thaddeus
Twenty centuries of reflection on God's presence in Jesus by his followers, has produced a rich body of wisdom that we call Christian theology. This theology much more than a collection of texts is actually, an ongoing attempt to understand and respond to God's presence in history. - There are serious presuppositions behind this statement -.I So, one of the tasks of Theologians is to correlate between revelation and history; though related are still distinct. Lots of thinking members of the Christian Community, had responded in the past by articulating their faith in an intelligible way. As a result they came up with, new ideas, methods, theologies, etc. to the challenges facing them.' Today, as we approach the end of the third millennium, Christians face new challenges. By the use :science and technology, we have achieved remarkable material progress. We have also produced sprawling slums, nuclear war and possible ecological catastrophe, increase in injustice, poverty, oppression and marginalization of millions of people. The main issue here is, how do we correlate between God and our situation to come up with solution? Liberation theology which emerged in Latin America during the 1950s/ 60s, offered a solution that is more than economic or political action. It offered Christianity lived in a radical way; a gospel message that has its center of focus on the poor, and the eradication of poverty: "Option for the poor." "It is probably fair to say that the most important, as well as the most controversial issue in contemporary Christian theology, is what has become known as option for the poor." 3 This way of doing theology is both old and new. Old because, care of the poor has always been there from the time immemorial, as we shall see from old documents. Christian community, was commissioned to carry it on, but it seemed to have fall sight if it. Many religious institutions were started to bear witness to this, at least by their vow of poverty. But non of these became is headline news like Liberation Theology today, so it is new. In the Medellin conference of 1968, the Latin American Bishops committed themselves to being in solidarity with the poor; "to give preference to the poorest and most needy sectors of the society, and to arousing the consciousness of oppressed group and helping them become agents of their own development.' This amounted to an option for the poor, though the term itself was not used in the Medellin conference documents. At their 1979 conference at Puebla, the Latin American bishops reaffirmed their commitment to justice for the poor, despite determined opposition by some strong church leaders. One chapter of the final document of Puebla was entitled "A preferential option for the poor.' There was concern in the Vatican that, an option for the poor would be understood either as an exclusion of the rich, or worse still as a "class option" in the Marxist sense. Because of this Pope John Paul II insisted that "no one must be excluded" and that "preferential option for the poor. . . is not an ideological option; neither is it a matter of letting oneself be trapped by a false theory of class struggle.' With this radical call to opt for the poor, many church leaders in Third World countries, various religious congregations, and individuals began to confront injustice done to the poor. Africa needs this confrontation. I never knew how much poverty exists in Africa, and the magnitude of the people who suffer from it, until I came to Nairobi seven years age for my priestly studies. I visited the city and was slammed with countless street children roaming about, amid all the sky - scrapers. Back at home it is the same, but nobody questions them; and so they become dogmatic will of God. The opportunity to work with youths form the slums opened my eyes more to the reality. Then I start pondering, what use are my studies of theology? What is my credibility as a religious and a future minister to these poor people? Consequently I came to a conclusion that the whole situation need more reflection and evaluation. So this essay is a theological reflection born first of experience in the field, then studies and researches. I aim at letting ourselves be radically challenged by the word of God. The essay is divided into three parts, corresponding to SEE => JUDGE => ACT pastoral method. The first part context, is a description of the reality of poverty. The second part is devoted to the analysis of scripture and the church; leading to the third and last part which has pastoral recommendations. As we progress, a short introduction at the beginning, and a summary at the end will be given at each chapter. I appeal to the reader not to just enjoy the essay, but to feel free to let it challenge and motivate you into action.
God and the Spirit among the Traditional Luo Society
(Tangaza University College, 1997-02) Jabebo, Francis
The Luo people live around Lake Victoria in the Western part of Kenya. Their main occupation is farming, which is supplemented by fishing as their main hobby. Like many other African societies, these people also have their Traditions and customs and beliefs some of which are still regarded important even today. This work tries to present first the traditional Luo believes and practices in their relationship to God and the spirits. The first three chapters is pure anthropology of the Luo beliefs and practices as far as research carried out and readings reveal to me. What triggers my research and book reading on this issue is the fact that it is widely known that there is a rapid growth of the Church in Africa but this growth rate is very phenomenal because it is not often considered that this Church growth is from among those Africans born in African traditional culture. And these cultures is always assumed to have been erased by the christian culture as this church needs maturity and much discipleship. We should not dismiss the African traditionalists, but it also concerns Christians who seek to relate their Christian faith to their traditional religions. In reflecting upon this fact, my main aim is to show that there are many traditional Luo beliefs and practices which are useful and advantageous for bridging the Gospel. Usually, the problem is when a person who originally practiced a traditional religion becomes a Christian, there are a number of issues that he must deal with. It's not realistic to tell a new Christian to ignore the spirit world, to stop venerating the ancestors, and to stop going to a diviner for healing unless sinific reasons are given to do so and unless the Church offers functional substitutes for these practices. The reflections here therefore are somewhat a call for an African Theology which is basically Christianity which fits Africans and which meets both their spiritual and cultural needs. To do this one needs to know what the Africans beliefs and practices are, and try to make some relevance. Thus, I divided my work into four Chapters whereby the first three chapters talk plainly about the traditional Luo beliefs and practices in God and the spirits. While, in the fourth Chapter, I tried to relate these Luo traditional beliefs in spirits and the Christian faith. Some of these ideas in this last chapter are my own personal reflections which are also subject to objections from the african theologians. I also thought it wise to explain a bit the term "Juok" which I have used to refer to God. My explanation might not satisfy the reader because this is a wide topic that needs its own research and reading to exhaust Or else, I aimed more about spirits. The world and the people in it were originally created by one God who is still supreme but who is more or less inaccessible today. Though for the Luos, God could be reached, talked to and in return respond instantly to their needs. However, in addition to creating people this God also created a parallel world of spirits who are active threes for good or evil in men's lives. This supreme being„call it God, was for the Luos, a very mysterious one whom they could only call "Juok". 'Juok as the word sounds means something mysterious which people do not understand its origin, operations, characters and influence. Juok is like wind or air whose presence may be heard and appreciated or blamed but no one knows from where it is coming and going. For the Luos, any mysterious act among the society whose source is unknown is called Juok. And here is where they invited a diviner "afroga" to reveal the source of such "Juok". 'Juok could also be a mysterious power in a person which could empower them to harm by bewitching others at night or at day light Such powers were regarded dangerous because one could not know exactly when he will stick or harm you; Especially when a woman is empowered by this mysterious force, she can become very dangerous to see one who is eating something and strangely enough, you will not know how that power of Aoki affects the food and cause severe stomachache ! That is why it is called 'Juok' and it is attributed to the Supreme Mysterious being. This mysterious power or force called 'Juok' can not be known by the Luo people unless it manifests itself in a concrete way which the people themselves can recognize among them. Thus, the Luos found it easier to give Him a name according to his manifestations and activities. And this was the way they tried to understand and explain the mysterious force according to what they experienced among them! After all the names given to God indicates what men think about his character, attributes and activities. Thus God as creator which is the commonest aspects that men have understood was expressed by the Luos as "Jacinvech" - a molder, creator, giver of breath and God in nature is expressed in titles and activities such as giver of rain (Wuon Koth), giver of sunshine, etc. So for the Luos, this mysterious force revealed itself in various activities -some of which they could not still explain even though they could call it by name or by comparison. Any how, lam not going deep in this question of the Luo god Fromm% my main concern is the spirits among the Luos. And since the spirits are also created by God, I thought it fitting also briefly say something on the Luo God from whom is the source of their traditional religion. My interest of going deep in the question of the spirit belief among the Luos was to try to find if there is any common aspect or idea in relation to the Christian belief in the theology of the spirit as the center of their life.! therefore entrusted the last chapter for such comparison which I hope will make some meaning, but only if were acquainted with the context of the Luo traditional religion and beliefs. This easy is about the Luos belief in God and their relationship with the spirits (God). Besides the Luos beliefs about God, they also have a common belief surrounding their religious sphere that a part from man and God, there are other beings who populate our universe, and who sometimes are working for the good of the community's welfare. These beings are called "Spirits" and are created by God just as He is the creator of all things. The Luos' belief in the existence of spiritual beings is quite a strong one and it was something with them always, because for them, the living and non-living creatures can contain some spiritual power. Thus, for these people, human beings and animals continue to live in spirit in their world of spirits even after the decomposition of their physical bodies. The belief in the spirits by the Luos was their a recognition of its role as the intermediary between man and God, and therefore, the spirit determined the destiny of human beings since it was not just a spirit but a spirit of the ancestors. And because of this kind of closeness to spirits, the Luo's stressed very much, the establishment of a good relationship with them through offering sacrifices and offerings of oblations accompanied with prayers. The reason for all these was a Luo strong belief that any fate that befalls the community be it good or bad, is an influence by the intervention of the spiritual forces which according to them could be either from the evil or good spirits. The origin of the spirit belief among the Luo is not easy to trace, but I think the spirit-belief of Africa explains the believes of many in this continent that people have experienced themselves in the first place not just as body but as spirits. When one dies, it is believed that he is gone back to another world - the world of the spirits where he continues the same life as if he was physically alive. Again, since their existence is surrounded in a lot of mystery as the beings of heaven, it would not be easy for me to give a definitive explanation of what spirits are or how they look like: But what I know is the belief that spirits sometimes appeared to the Luos communally or to individuals as a shadow or figure of a human being though not of a stranger but of someone familiar to them or to the family. For Example, the shadowy figure would usually be of an elder in the village whose relationship with other members of the community has been good and upright The ideas which I have expressed here through out this essay are both from the interview from some few elders in Nystrth of Kisumu District, and from the library readings and research on the Luo people berance for them the idea of spirits in particular serve a very important social and psychological purpose in their religious sphere and relationship with God. Man and the world could be important bridge and continuity between Christianity and their religion. It's interesting how today people make a distinction between the two categories of spiritual beings, whereby some are said to be created as such, while others were once of human beings-spirits of our living-dead! However, this distinction was not with the Luo people. For them, the spirit is a God given gift of force in man which when he dies, goes back to where it belongs (world of spirits). This means that they recognized the spirits as those of the living-dead who were concerned with their progresses and were always fresh in their memories. By the way,! am going to talk about the two kinds of the spirits, good and bad (evil) as they were understood by the Luos and it is with the profound belief in spirit that we will see how they are distinguished in types and their functions in the lives of the Luo people. similarly, all these findings and reflections about the Luo traditional beliefs is one way to see which values, beliefs and customs can be embraced by a Christian, which may be changed and which must be discarded. It is only when we understand both fully that we can make decisions and live our faith in an African way. However, as I am writing all these, I remain an African Christian and I am not doing any comparative religion, though it comes obviously that as one !tads this work, he or she will be attempted to compare and contrast traditional beliefs, values and practices with those of Christianity. Of course, such an imderstanding, appreciation and then evaluation should enrich his Christian beliefs, personal commitments and stewardship. Keep your eyes open for any similarity which you might find as you read along the chapters and by to compare them with the Christian religious heritage if you can find them worth doing that.

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