This article elaborates on the relationship between witchcraft and envy. It points out how much of tradition in parts of Africa is oriented to avoiding envy and suggests that countering the fear of envy is vital to community development on the continent. Tackling envy, being a theological task, points to the central role of mission that has too often allowed such vital objectives to be clouded by secular thinking.
Careful reading of studies on language of education In Africa reveals a gaping gap in comprehension. A careful study of the history and practice of anthropology reveals a covert concealing of large arenas of knowledge about African societies from view. The above gaps in understanding result in debate an Afi'ican development frequendy ignoring 'religion'. African development seems not to be progressing on its own; great ideas on development rooted in western thinking typically collapse when handed over to African management This article considers how the above 'gaps' in anthropology and linguistic studies have contributed to the dummification of academia that has in tum handicapped Africa. It considers a new engagement v\fith 'religion', especially Christianity, as the way forward.
The communication revolution has made texts and languages available to people who, it is here suggested, might not have the cultural components needed to use them in the same way as native speakers. Introduced languages have in much of Africa eclipsed indigenous knowledge from opportunity for home grown development. Africans flocking to Western languages supported by numerous Western subsidies, leaves African ways of life concealed from the West. Western languages can be used to undermine the West. The inadequacy of English in Africa is illustrated by the contrast between the holistic and dualistic worldviews; English being dualistic is a poor means for expressing African holism. This makes the use of English in and for Africa inherently confusing. It is proposed that indigenous development be encouraged through challenging and encouraging African theology on its own terms, by encouraging some Western missionaries to use African languages and resources in their task.
Recent discoveries in linguistics here summarised reveal problems in the choice of an African name for God, especially when theological debate is in English, as it results in the ignoring of important diff erences in how God is understood. Translating the Luo term 'Nyasaye' as 'God' ignores his Luo character as 'bestowing force'. Similarly translating 'God' by 'Nyasaye' falsely assumes a carrying over of native-English theological presuppositions. Th ese diff erences are shown to be consequential and, if disregarded, serious. Th e use of African languages rooted in African culture in debate is found to be essential for the future health of Christianity, and socioeconomic development in Africa.
The continuous struggle against evil that characterizes life in parts of Africa today is here revealed by a careful analysis of events and written material particularly from Western Kenya. Indigenous African churches operate with rules, heeded by popular acclaim, designed to keep misfortune at bay. The untoward spiritual powers that they, as the diviners that preceded them, seek to help their people grapple with stand in such stark contrast to European peoples' behavior that the latter are perceived as gods. The 'modern clothes' of language and environment conceal the ongoing powerjiul impact of this worldview on day to day life. "Ka ng'ato oyudo gimoro maber giwacho ni 'Nyasache ber' ""lf someone gets anything good they say 'his God is good ' " (Mboya 1997:17) ccording to Mboya 'good' comes from God (Nyasaye). This essay attempts to explore to what extent and how exclusively this is the case for the African A people with whom I have associated and about whom I have been able to learn. If good is seen as coming from God, then perhaps there is no good apart from that originating in God. If this is the case, then what are the implications of this in the Luo people's comprehension of the impact that outsiders have had on their society from the Colonial period to date? If God is the only source of good, does this mean that everyone else is bad? I have found many indications to this effect.African cosmology is a hierarchy (Chirairo 2003). God is at the top. He is said to be distant, but always existing (Chirairo 2003). What then is his role?Having lived in North West Province of Zambia from 1988 to 1991, I first came to Luoland in Western Kenya in 1993 where I have been mostly resident from 1993 to 2002, living with the same community in the same area. I have learned to speak Kiswahili and Dholuo fluently. Having originally come to Africa to teach agriculture, my own valuation of the agriculture I was teaching has subsequently fallen greatly. On moving with local people in Zambia, I found them to be so in the grip of the fear of Jim Harries has lived in Africa for 15 years, most of them in a Luo village in western Kenya. He teaches TEE (Theological Education by Extension) using the Luo and Swahili languages in an outreach to indigenous churches plus currently serving as acting academic dean of Kima International School of Theology on a part-time basis.
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