The shadow of suffering and death casts widely over human life, not only in the midst of toil and the hope for a brighter tomorrow, but also in the intellectual struggle for the belief in a sovereign and benevolent God. While many issues wax and wane with the passing of time, the seeming futility of…

Yesterday I received an urgent email from a good friend, the President of an indigenous evangelical denomination among the Aguaruna of Peru, with whom I worked closely many years ago. I would like to translate his letter here into English, using pseudonyms, and provide commentary on the way witchcraft issues continue to play out among…

Suffering in all forms is pervasive and present in all humans regardless of age, race, religion, status, or sex. It is almost as if human beings are born to suffer.  From the beginning of the first humans, suffering has been part of human existence. It is natural for human beings to seek the cause(s) of…

Aru is the name of my small home town located in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the Ituri District. It could have been called the “Salem of DRC.” In June 2001, several hundred people accused of witchcraft were brutally killed exclusively in Aru, one of the counties of the…

Before I moved with my family to Northwestern Tanzania 20 years ago, we were quite healthy. I had written research papers on demons and powers in the Bible, but I had no awareness of witches or witchcraft. Then, within the first year of our time in Africa, we were sick 40 times. I began having…

What is witchcraft? Various terms and interpretations have been offered in attempts to understand the phenomenon of witchcraft in Africa. E. Evans-Pritchard’s classic distinction between witchcraft and sorcery, which has been altered by other anthropologists, is relevant in many places in Africa. The assumption is that witchcraft is an inherent quality and a psychic act….