In Africa’s new charismatic Christianity (what I previously referred to as contemporary Pentecostalism) prosperity in both its spiritual and material senses remains a major theme. This Christianity shares the supernatural worldview associated with traditional religion in which evil powers are held responsible for the problems that people face in life, including the failure to prosper materially. This much…

In my last post, “Identities of Accused Witches,” I listed the most common identities of those who are said to be witches. The question for this post is, “how do we know and identify a witch?” Basically, the question is that of epistemology and it is an important one in dealing with the whole question of…

One of the critical features of the way that people talk about “witchcraft” in African contexts is the idea that witches do not usually identify themselves publicly. After all, they are engaged in antisocial behavior, and so it is to be expected that they would want to remain hidden from view.[1] The challenge for ordinary…

It is held that witches are organized into covens on local, national, and international levels. In the covens are kings, queens, messengers and executioners. At night, when witches sleep, it is believed that their souls fly out of their physical bodies to meetings. In my previous presentations–“What is Witchcraft?” and “Witchcraft: Physical or Spiritual?”–I attempted…

Bishop “Moses” (names have been changed throughout) was a respected spiritual church leader from Rwanda. He spent decades building a strong church movement of nearly fifty churches across the Rwanda and Burundi borders into Tanzania. Although this area is a seven-hour drive from where I lived in Mwanza, Tanzania, I stayed overnight for up to…

Over 20 thousand street children, most of them orphans, roam the streets of Kinshasa. In response to the biblical call for God’s people to care for orphans, an organization of Congolese pastors led by Pastor Abel Ngolo called Equipe Pastorale Aupres des Enfants en Détresse (Pastoral Team for Children in Distress), and in partnership with…

In her book Our Religious Heritage, Bahemuka observes that, Witchcraft is partly inherited and partly taught from one generation to the next. Africans believe that witchcraft is in the blood of the witches, and, just like genetic inheritance, witchcraft passes from mother to daughter and father to son. The outward paraphernalia of witchcraft which is…

The Daily Guide is one of the most popular private newspapers in Ghana. Many of the sensational stories from such newspapers deal with the supernatural, especially witchcraft. Crash Landing and the “Arsenal” of Prayer In November 2013, the Daily Guide published an article with the headline “wizard crash lands.” The article was accompanied by the picture…

In many regions of the contemporary world, from New Guinea to Nigeria, health problems, death, infertility, and financial problems are blamed on neighbors or relatives thought to have caused these misfortunes through witchcraft. The accused, who are often widows, the elderly, or orphan children, are ostracized, exiled, beaten, or sometimes killed. How churches and church…

  Guest post by Maggie Gitau Crazed by Nollywood A couple days ago, a friend told me of an interesting incident that occurred in her home in Nairobi Eastlands.

Last month in July 21-23 the Henry Center sponsored a conference at the beautiful campus of Tokyo Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. The conference was led by Dr. Harold Netland (Naomi A. Fausch Chair of Missions at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) and Dr. Takanori Kobayashi (NT professor and Dean of Faculty at Tokyo Christian University)….