Inculturation of the Christian Mission to Heal in the South African Context

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Year:
Pages:384
ISBN:0-7734-8023-4
978-0-7734-8023-0
Price:$239.95 + shipping
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One of the most visible phenomena in African Christianity is the growth of churches and sects offering healing. It is happening throughout the continent but is most marked in South Africa. This volume examines this phenomenon from different angles to present a comprehensive understanding from medical, psychological, cultural, socio-economic, philosophical, and theological perspectives. Starting with this description of religious healing, Bate develops a theological model within which this experience can be articulated in terms of the Church's mission to heal. He does this using the increasingly important theological notion of inculturation.

Reviews

"This level-headed, rigorously analytical, objectively critical and solidly theological study treats the healing ministry with the depth, respect and seriousness which the subject deserves. . . . commendable not only for its content, its comprehensive documentation and analysis of the ‘Coping-healing' in the African Initiated churches, but also for its methodology." – Teresa Okura, SHCJ

"Highly interesting and informative. I especially liked the methodological approach." Fr. Charles Nyamiti "This book makes a decided contribution to our knowledge of and insight into South African missiology." – Prof. Willem Saayman

Table of Contents

Table of Contents:

Preface by Teresa Okure, SHCJ

1.Method in Contextual Missiology

2.The Coping-Healing Ministry in South Africa

3.The Psycho-Medical Mediation: Coping-Healing as a Psycho-Medical Phenomenon

4.The Anthropological Mediation: Culture's Central Role in Coping-Healing

5.The Sociological Mediation: Socio-Political Dimensions of Coping-Healing

6.The Philosophical Mediation of the Coping-Healing Phenomenon

7.The Theological Mediation of the Coping-Healing Phenomenon

8.What is the Coping-Healing Phenomenon?

9.Towards an Understanding of Culture which can Inform a Theology of Inculturation

10.Inculturation as Key to the Theological Judgment

11.Inculturation and the Healing Ministry

12.Inculturation and Healing: Conclusion

Notes, Bibliography, Index

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