Search

[German Version] I. History – II. Missiology I. History Independent local forms of Christianity and the aspiration to be emancipated from the control of European missionaries appeared early on in the history of the emerging churches of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Examples include the movement initiated by the female African prophet D.B. Kimpa Vita in the Congo during the early 18th century, which temporarily threatened Portuguese rule in the region. Independent church movements became a widespread…

[German Version] I. Social Sciences – II. History – III. Migration and Christianization – IV. Practical Theology I. Social Sciences The term migration refers to the movements of individuals and groups. It is a universal phenomenon, historically and geographically. International migration increased substantially during the 19th and 20th centuries, thanks to the worldwide expansion of colonialism as well as improved transportation systems and information technologies, but also as a result of war and persecution (se…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. The term. In the significance ascribed to religious phenomena, prophecy surpasses individual experiences of mysticism, ecstasy, and inspiration, as well as the situational activities of established functionaries such as priests (Priesthood), shamans (Shamanism), or diviners (Divination). Revelations ascribed by prophets to the deity they serve give ethical guidance to a community. The term προφήτης/ prophḗ tēs derives from ancient Greek religion, where it referred initially to local specialists, who are hard to …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Racism is a political ideology that traces cultural and social differences back to racial causes, thus making them seem natural and unchangeable. In racism’s hierarchical ordering, racists always occupy the highest rank. Everything they declare to be of lesser value is subjected to their rightful rule. Since racism has no scientific basis, it has recourse principally to conventional patterns of prejudice that yield its preconditions and its most important support…

[German Version] (Feb 6, 1814, Wörlitz – Nov 10, 1864, Erlangen). Graul studied in Leipzig (1834–1838), then taught in Italy and Dessau, before he assumed the leadership of the Evangelical-Lutheran Missionary Society in Saxony (after 1847, the Leipzig Mission). Graul journeyed to India (1849–1853, Reise nach Ostindien, 5 vols., 1854–1856). He learned Tamil and became a recognized Dravidologist ( Bibliotheca Tamulica, 4 vols., 1854–1865). Graul demanded the academic-theological training of missionaries and the establishment of indigenous people's churches…

[German Version] A group of Indian theologians that attracted attention with Rethinking Christianity in India (1939), a collection of essays edited by D.M. Devasahayam and A.N. Sudarisanam in the context of the 1938 World Missionary Conference in Tambaram. G.V. Job, S. Jesudasen, D.M. Devasahayam, E. Asirvatham and A.N. Sudarisanam each contributed an essay; most of the contributions were written by the lay theologians Pandippedi Chenchiah (five) and V. Chakkarai ¶ Chetty (three), who were related by marriage. Both were converts to Christianity from the Brahmin ca…

[German Version] (Jan 17, 1880, Madras – Jun 14, 1958, Madras) came from a respected Chettiar family and was raised as a Hindu. He graduated from Madras Christian College in philosophy; at this time he became a Christian (baptized Feb 22, 1903). Initially, Chakkarai worked as a teacher; at the same time he studied law and was active as a lawyer from 1909 to 1912. In 1913, he joined the Danish Missions to work among educated Hindus. In the same year, together with…

[German Version] (Ger. Freimissionar), a person carrying out missionary work without ecclesial mandate. Since a comparable mission authority was lacking in German Protestantism until the founding of the Danish-Halle Mission, individually operating missionaries played an important role, as for instance J. v. Welz, who, after an unsuccessful call for mission, traveled to Surinam, and P. Heyling, who was active in Ethiopia. During the 19th century, independent Evangelical missionaries such as K.A.F. G…

[German Version] (Aug 28, 1925, Kashenje, Bukoba, Tanzania – Jul 18, 1988, Rwamishenye, Tanzania) earned a diploma at the Teachers' Training College in Tabora, worked as a teacher at Kahorore High School in Bukoba from 1950 to 1957, and completed his studies in Protestant theology in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961. In the same year, Kibira became a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC). After his M.A. examination at the School of Theology of the University of B…

[German Version] (27,834 km2) is situated in what is known as the interlake area of the central African Great Rift Valley just south of the equator. The name derives from the kingdom of Urundi, whose dynasty dates back to the 17th century. 82.9% of the approx. 6.6 million inhabitants are Hutu, 14.5% Tutsi, and 1% Twa. The dynasty of the Ganwa came from the group of Banyaruguru-Tutsi. The common language is Kirundi. The traditional religion of Burundi is characterized by faith in the divine being Imana and by the summoning of the spirit Ki…

[German Version] I. General Nigeria’s population of some 115 to 120 million makes it the most populous country in Africa. Its present boundaries date from 1914, when the two protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were united under Governor Frederick Lugard. The name Nigeria is a foreign name, first suggested in 1898 by Flora Shaw (later Flora Lugard), an expert on West Africa for The Times, for what were then several British protectorates along the Niger. The Niger, which enters Nigeria from the northwest, and it largest tributary, the Benue, which co…

[German Version] I. General The word slavery denotes a social structure (including its normative legal and ethical standards) in which certain individuals are considered and treated as objects. A slave owner has the right to decide what the slaves do, as well as where and how they live; the owner also has an absolute right of disposition over their bodies and lives and the right to sell them like any other property. The far-reaching implications of this definition distinguish slavery from other forms of unfreedom such as debt servitude, serfdom, and bondage. Slavery was widespread in a…

[German Version] Founded in the year in which India gained political independence (1947), the Church of South India (CSI) attracted considerable international attention as the first worldwide union of episcopal and non-episcopal churches. The preliminary steps were initiated in May 1919 at an Indian pastors' conference chaired by Bishop V.S. Azariah in Tranquebar, during which representatives of the Anglican Church and of the South Indian United Church (a union o…

[German Version] New Thought is a collective term for a variety of teachings whose common element is the belief that “positive thinking” can lead to mastery of life and particularly to the healing of disease (Sickness and healing). Its genesis may be traced to Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802–1866), who began to develop his so-called “argumentative method” of healing in Belfast, Maine, in 1849. His approach was to convince the patients that their illnesses were the result of erroneous beliefs, groun…

[German Version] (c. 1835/1836, Freetown, Sierra Leone – May 18, 1917, Bonny, Nigeria). Johnson was educated at Fourah Bay College and became an Anglican pastor in Freetown (1861–1874) and Lagos (1874–1891). After Bishop S.A. Crowther had been deposed (1891), Johnson did not join any of the African independent churches, but founded the Anglican Niger Delta Native Pastorate, which was independent of the mission (1892). In 1900, he was named deputy to the bishop. Johnson advocated an appreciation of traditional religion ( Yoruba Heathendom, 1899; Yoruba religion) and the accomm…

[German Version] (between 1883 and 1887, Abonnema, Niger delta – Nov 15, 1918, Bakana) was the founder of the first great prophetic movement in Nigeria. What he accomplished was a reinterpretation of the Christian faith. His ministry led to many conversions in southeast Nigeria. Braide, a fisherman and fishmonger, began his ecclesiastical career as a catechist…

[German Version] I. General The name Tanzania is an artificial coinage introduced in 1964 with the formation of the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The republic has an area of 942,000 km2, including the islands of Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mafia, with some 2,000 km2. The most important vegetation zones are savannahs, veldt, semidesert, and the fertile coastal plain on the Indian Ocean. The continental area includes 54,000 km2 of inland lakes, primarily along the Great African Rift Valley. With an altitude of 5,895 m, Kilimanjaro reaches the highest elevat…

[German Version] After early beginnings in India (the “princely states”), the British developed the classic model of indirect rule in northern Nigeria. Frederick Lugard ( The Dual Mandate, 1922) sought to use the existing emirate structures for administering the territory (co-opting local legislation, administration of justice, and collection of taxes). Dependence on the British weakened the emirs but enabled them to extend their influence to ethnic groups over which they had previously had no control, leading to conflict…

[German Version] (May 12, 1875, Zedlitz – May 22, 1955, Berlin), director of the Berlin Mission and vice-chairman of the Deutscher Evangelischer Missionsrat (DEMR). Like B. Gutmann and C. Keyßer, Knak supported a conception of mission that sought to base congregational life on the people's own customs and traditions ( Zwischen Nil und Tafelbai, 1931; Erfahrungen und Grundgedanken der deutschen evangelischen Mission, 1938). In 1933 Knak called on the church to support Hitler ( NAMZ, 1933, 401–421) and integrate missions into the Reichskirche; later, however, he opposed the “Ar…

[German Version] (Aug 3, 1832, St. Thomas, Caribbean Islands – Feb 7, 1912, Freetown, Sierra Leone), politician and scholar in West Africa and prominent representative of African cultural nationalism. Barred from attending a theological college in the USA, Blyden emigrated to Liberia in 1851 and attended Alexander High School in Monrovia. In his publications, he supported the “return” of the Afro-Americans ( A Voice from Bleeding Africa on Behalf of Her Exiled Children, 1857) to Liberia (independence in 1847). In 1858, Blyden was ordained…