Indigenous Religion Research Articles

Review: A Phenomenology of Indigenous Religions: Theory and Practice, by James L. Cox

This collection of essays by James L. Cox in the Bloomsbury series Advances in Religious Studies could be considered a career-capstone book, one spanning the author’s many years within the profession studying the phenomenology of religion. The essays were originally published between 1998 and 2018 across a range of journals, handbooks, edited volumes, and anthologies in various subfields of religious studies. According to the Foreword by Steven Sutcliffe, Cox has been, “the leading English-language proponent of phenomenological methodology for the study of religion for the past twenty-years” (ix). The introduction and conclusion, both written specifically for the volume, reflect this career perspective and the author’s admitted choice of essays to “contribute positively to critical contemporary debates about future directions in the academic study of religions” (8). Cox ought not to be criticized for considering his legacy, especially when the benefits are as rich as they are in this collection.The essays describe phenomenological studies using historical, methodological–theoretical, personal case study fieldwork approaches. Cox has carried out his own research in Africa, Alaska, and Australia–New Zealand. The major phenomenologists are discussed, so Edmund Husserl, Maaike Bleeker, Gerard Van der Leeuw, Wilfred C. Smith, Ninian Smart, and Mircea Eliade, among others, are all mentioned. A chapter devoted to the debate between E. B. Tylor and Andrew Lang on the origin of religions cautions how current phenomenology can avoid the pitfalls of the past, most especially the problem of “ignoring indigenous agency” (190).At the core of phenomenology are epoché (the suspension of one’s judgments by bracketing them), empathetic interpolation (intense empathy), and eidetic intuition (grasping the essence and meaning without preconceptions), and these are used by Cox to advance the theoretical application of phenomenology, as promised in the subtitle. In a most interesting chapter, he applies phenomenology to the emerging field of non-religious studies. The result is a better refined and nuanced method that can identify non-religion in the “empirical world” and provides descriptions of the “positive content of non-religion studies” (171).But the principal focus of this book is phenomenology’s relevance to the study of indigenous religions, and this is where the book’s strongest arguments are made. Cox makes it his mission to introduce to the field of religious studies T. G. H. Strehlow (1908–1978), a scholar little known outside of Australia (28). He is given a good deal of coverage and two chapters are devoted to considering his contributions to phenomenology and for his helping push the study of indigenous religions beyond the caricatures and “nauseating insults” (32) earlier anthropologists had used for non-European native peoples. Strehlow and his theoretical and empirical methods are used to build upon Cox’s own phenomenology of religion and Cox finds great merit with Strehlow’s “repatriation of knowledge” (205) and its importance to phenomenology, not to mention to indigenes themselves. Cox uses the guiding principle that “if religious adherents cannot recognize themselves in academic interpretations of their beliefs and practices, they are not being described accurately, nor are scientific principles being observed” (221). This is a suitable axiom for any social studies methodology and Cox advises researchers to emphasize “the central place of local agency at all stages in a research project” (225).There are no real shortcomings to the book, and it could be very valuable even to newcomers to the subjects of phenomenology or indigenous studies—most especially because of its historical orientation combined with an exhaustive methodological overview. The description of Strehlow’s life and work is a case study itself, and perhaps including selected photographs of his activities, indigenous artwork, and/or drawings from myth, etc. could only have enhanced descriptive depth. For example, as part of introducing Strehlow, who had amassed quite a collection of artifacts and archival material, Cox might have incorporated appropriate material to share. And while some objects put in his care were “secret–sacred objects,” he also collected “films, genealogical records, maps of totemic clan wanderings, accounts of myths, and detailed descriptions of secret ceremonies” (28). I have confidence in Cox’s judgment and doubt that he would ever violate the rules of propriety. The efforts of his entire career, after all, have been governed by “intense empathy” (1).This volume, and Cox’s career, consequently, lends significant weight to the argument that the phenomenology of religion need not be inconsistent or in conflict with other, purportedly more scientific, approaches to the study of religion. Quite the contrary. The phenomenological ethos is entirely in keeping with that of modern science. As Cox concludes, “one’s ideas become increasingly credible when they respond to interactions with critics and when they change creatively through exposure to new sources of knowledge” (226). What could be more scientific than that?

New Faces of God in Latin America: Emerging Forms of Vernacular Christianity

Virginia Garrard is a specialist in twentieth-century political and religious history who has written extensively on Guatemala. In New Faces of God in Latin America she has set out to write an overarching history of the present for Latin America that situates the region in the academic literature on world Christianity. This is an ambitious task, and Garrard states clearly from the outset that this study will not be in any way exhaustive. It privileges the analysis of Protestantism over Catholicism, particularly Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches and movements. This focus leads her to Guatemala (chapter 2), Mexico (chapter 3), Haiti (chapter 4), and Brazil and Colombia (chapter 5), but she moves nimbly between a nation-centric view of what she terms vernacular religion and a dynamic transnational understanding of the cases. This comparative lens also leads her frequently to the United States but also to Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Korea, to name some pertinent and recurring points of reference. This is not simply due to missionary work, although it is often noted; but immigration is important, as is what Garrard refers to as the “transfluvial” and “polylocative” realities of ideas, methods, theology, and communications (p. 27). Set against this grand array of possibilities, Garrard wants to tease out the local uses, rituals, traditions, and histories that provide the context for religious faith, sometimes in great tension but other times in fascinating synergy with spiritual power. This insistence on what she refers to as “glocal” religion—the ongoing dialectic between global phenomena and local practice (p. 28)—allows Garrard to focus carefully on certain cases, whether Almolonga, Guatemala; the Mexico City barrio of Tepito; the nearly apocalyptic destruction of the Haitian capital; or São Paulo's Temple of Solomon, the heart and headquarters of one of the world's greatest megachurches.It stands to reason that such a grand intellectual project will present serious challenges in terms of sources and method. Garrard relied on a diverse set of sources, some conventional for a historian and others decidedly more comfortable among cultural studies specialists. They include archival research, interviews, and documentation including religious pamphlets, theological debates, tracts, sermons, and prayer cards. Less conventional sources among historians included films, religious websites, YouTube videos, blogs, and social media. The contemporary nature of the project led her to apply interdisciplinary methodology, moving between historical context, ethnographic description, and sociological interpretation.At the heart of Garrard's quest is an argument about the role of faith—in fact, proudly ecstatic, everyday religion, a lived faith requiring constant commitment—deployed against the modernity of a neoliberal capitalist and postmodern world. What does it mean to be Christian in the Maya highlands or Haitian slums in such a context? Garrard takes her cue for how to handle this question from an unlikely source. Following a skillful and intellectually robust introduction, chapter 1 is entirely dedicated to a nominally Catholic theological phenomenon of the Vatican II era called inculturation, a concept that purports to seek out the “seeds of the Word,” particularly in pre-Christian Indigenous religions (p. 35). The idea here is that one may catch glimpses of God and the possibility of holiness in other faiths, such as those of America's Indigenous peoples. Garrard follows inculturation theology through the Mexican bishop Samuel Ruiz and other Catholic and Protestant thinkers, including Antonio Otzoy, a Kaqchikel Maya Presbyterian minister; Tomás García, a K'iche’ Maya Catholic priest; and two African theologians, John Mbiti of Kenya and Kwame Bediako of Ghana. The work of these men and others is consciously postcolonial, an attempt to uncouple Christian theology from its overdetermined Western cultural references and reposition it in what Garrard describes as an Indigenous telos.Garrard is most clearly in her element when writing about Guatemala but offers strong description and analysis of the Haitian and Brazilian cases as well. The Mexico chapter is uneven, stronger in its presentation of the Santo Toribio Romo and Santa Muerte cultos but weaker in its treatment of Juan Soldado and Jesús Malverde, for example. However, it is of little use to focus too closely on one case or another; in many ways this is a book about the forest of Pentecostalism. Garrard does a valiant job of pulling together many separate and disparate threads to weave a compelling tapestry that represents world Christianity across Latin America—indeed, across the American continent. That is the major contribution of this book, and at the level of her many case studies, one is simultaneously pulled into the stories of local—or glocal—religion and constantly challenged to formulate questions about further research. This book will be popular with specialists and students of disciplines across the social sciences and with readers interested in faith, religion, Christianity, and postcolonial perspectives.

A theological reflection using Pentecostal narratives to explore the connection between Pentecostalism and indigenous religions of Malawi

This essay uses a theological reflection of Pentecostal narratives from Malawi in southeast Africa where I was born and raised to explore the connection between Pentecostalism and indigenous religions. It has been sparked and undergirded by several key events that I have experienced in my faith life. I am a descendant of a Pentecostal preacher (my father), a Presbyterian minister (my grandfather) who had two brothers, one an indigenous religion priest and spiritual healer and the other a founding apostle of an African Independent Church. Yet, I have taken on an academic journey in theological education with Pentecostal leanings. Chief among the events that sparked my Pentecostal curiosity behind the argument of this essay is the conversion of my grandfather’s brother from an indigenous religion to Christianity and the myriad struggles he faced as he discerned what to do with his longstanding spiritual gifts as a medium for the community. He had refused to convert to Christianity for a long time in spite of—or maybe because of—his Presbyterian brother’s witness. He always said that Christianity (especially that of his Presbyterian brother) did not understand the spirit world with which he had dealt every day all his adult life. He refused to recognize it as a religion because for him, a religion must attend to the spirit-world. If it did not, like the Christianity of my grandfather, it was only fit to be a moral philosophy.

A reflection on Pentecostalism and montanism from the perspective of the indigenous religion of Cybele or the great mother of the gods

This study comes under two main sections; the first part gives a brief summary of the indigenous religion of Montanus before his conversion to the Christian faith. The second section draws out five beliefs of the modern-day Pentecostalism that are found in the Montanist movement led by Montanus. We shall then conclude that indigenous religions have some beliefs and practices that are shadows of the reality that are now fully realized in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Religion and sonic practices: Similarities as a source of conflict between Pentecostals and adherents of indigenous religions

Silence plays a critical role in many Christian traditions as an important platform for prayer. However, the lived experiences in Pentecostal-Charismatic173 Christianity are seldom quiet. Indeed, participating in a Pentecostal church service involves exuberant activities such as calls-and-responses, clapping, dancing, singing, and shouting. Sound and bodily movement are fundamental because central to their belief is the idea that the Holy Spirit fills adherents, making every action spirit-filled. These practices tend to be controversial and create tension with a section of the population in Ghanaian cities around the year, but they come to a full expression during the implementation of the annual ban on drumming and noisemaking preceding the celebration of the Ga festival of Homowo in Accra.

The Oromo Doctrine of God

The Oromo of Ethiopia, the largest ethnic group, have their own indigenous religion known as Waaqeffanna. They believe in one Waaqa guraacha (black God) – the God who created the universe and the various forms of life. Waaqa has multiple attributes. Waaqa is He who is before everything else. Waaqa is Uumaa (a creator of everything in the world). Waaqa is hunda beekaa (omniscient). Waaqni gonkumaa kan hin Duune (God is immortal). Waaqa is hundaa tolaa (omnibenevolent). Waaqa is hunda danda’aa (omnipotent). Nothing is impossible with Waaqa. Waaqa is the source and lover of dhugaa (truth). Waaqa is Qulqulluu (pure). The Oromo people believe that in the olden days Waaqa was living on the Earth and only later that Waaqa left the Earth in anger because of personal sin and became invisible. Waaqa is one and at the same time manifests Himself in different ways. This paper teases out and highlights core Oromo views of God, his relationship with the world and the problem of evil.

Human fertility and religions in sub-Saharan Africa: A comprehensive review of publications and data, 2010-2020.

Fertility is declining only slowly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and religion may be one factor involved. Based on the literature, we reviewed fertility rates of followers of different religions in SSA, and whether religion influences fertility. We used the Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and reference lists to find papers, selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Within 21 countries, followers of African Indigenous Religions (AIR) had higher fertility (4-58%) than Christians. Within 25 countries, followers of Islam had higher fertility (2-36%) than Christians, though not in Zimbabwe and Uganda (-2% in each). Followers of AIR and Islam had on average similar fertility levels, as had Protestants and Catholics. Fertility was associated with religion-related themes in focus-groups and interviews. The most frequent themes for "increasing fertility" were related to religion (11 cases) and polygamy (11), whereas the most frequent themes for "limiting fertility" were financial constraints (7) and quality of life (5). These and other results suggest that religious denominations and faith contribute to high fertility in SSA.

POLITICAL RELIGION: MARGINALIZATION OF LOCAL RELIGION IN INDONESIA

This article describes the chronology of recognition of formal religion and marginalization of local religion in Indonesia. Formally, the Indonesian government recognizes the formal religion based on the policy or the constitution in Indonesia. That is Presidental Decree number 1 the year 1965 and Constitution Number 5 the year 1969. According to the constitution, the formal religions are Islam, Christian, Catholic, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. But Confucianism was marginalized on the new order of Indonesia based on the decree of the Ministry of Home Affairs year 1974. Because of this marginalization of Confucianism, the followers of it must fill the religion column with a stripe sign or choose five of formal religion. out from the five formal religion is considered as local religion or indigenous. But, in Indonesia, there is much local religion that has been existed centuries ago before the freedom of Indonesia. Even though based on The Ministry of culture and Tourism in 2003, there were 245 local religions in Indonesia. Because local religions were not recognized, it was thought that Indonesia had no religion before the first century. So, this article explains about 1) the chronology of recognition of formal religions and local/indigenous religion in Indonesia and 2) the effect of political religion on formal and local/indigenous religion. I argue that because of a narrow understanding of religion, so the policy or the constitution about religion in Indonesia seems narrow and impact on marginalization to civil society that believes in local religion/indigenous religion, because of this policy indigenous community in Indonesia do not have their rights such as recognition of the name of their indigenous religion in ID card and administration service. Then, this article is a descriptive with qualitative as an approach, and library research is used as the technique of collecting data.

Ecology, Religion, and Environment: Sambori Indigenous Religion’s Perspectives towards Nature and Conservations.

This paper aimed to examine cosmological aspects in Sambori indigenous community perspectives towards nature and conservations in which the inter-subjective relational relationship between human being and non-human being becomes the primary resource to protect the environment and the surrounding area in Sambori indigenous community particularly with their respective sacred land, wellspring, and forest. This study employed a qualitative approach which the primary resources are literature studies and internet observations, the data were then descriptively and qualitatively described. This study found that the inter-subjective relational relationship between the Sambori indigenous people and non-human being lies on their daily lives and rituals, particularly related to their primary source of livelihood which relies on natural resources. They believed that their surrounding area has sacred sites where the Holy Being, locally known as Parafu and the other respected ancestral spirit resides. Therefore, they strongly believe that natural resources including land, water, forest, and so forth cannot be separated from their everyday life. They have unique way to understand and to engage with their natural resource. This perspective proposes mutual, ethical, and responsible commitment between human being and the other being. Some spiritual ceremonies are performed such as Pamali Manggodo and Balaleha Music Art as a means to engage, interact and connect to the Holy beings to ask for help, safety, and peaceful life, as well as to refuse reinforcements, particularly for their agricultural activities.

Rediscovering ‘Sacred Place’ through the Indigenous Religion Paradigm: A Case Study of Bugis-Makassar Indigenous People

The Bugis-Makassar indigenous people who live around Mount Bawakaraeng perform a ritual pilgrimage (hajj) to the top of Mount Bawakaraeng (as a sacred space). This ritual is often considered heretical and deviant. These negative assumptions are the result of the monopoly definition of “sacred place” by the world religion paradigm which is only limited to the doctrine of the holy book and is hierarchical-exclusive. Meanwhile, in the indigenous religion paradigm, “sacred place” is closely related tothe surrounding environment (nature) which also gives life to indigenous peoples. The Bugis-Makassar indigenous people who live around Mount Bawakaraeng construct the sacredness of the mountain, not only as a place for religious rituals but also as a guarantor of their life. There were lacking previous researches discussing “sacred place” through the indigenous religion paradigm approach. This research contributes to that lack. This study examines how the indigenous religion paradigm interprets “sacred place”. The research method used in this research is qualitative. This study argues that there is no better way to understand why indigenous people perform rituals on Mount Bawakaraeng than using the indigenous religion paradigm. This study also shows that the “sacred place” associated with Mount Bawakaraeng is a way for the indigenous people who live around the mountain to preserve the nature around them which has enabled them to live and make a living such as accessing water, gathering medicines from nature, and so on. Eventually, with research that provides a better explanation of what a “sacred place” is in the indigenous religion paradigm, negative assumptions about indigenous people who regard a mountain as sacredplace can be better understood.

Baptism of Stillborn Babies? A South African Methodist Perspective

Many rituals in Africa are deeply rooted in the cultural beliefs, traditions and indigenous religions of the continent. The rituals are guided by people’s belief in their existence after death, and the role of the living dead or ancestors. These African rituals have been infused by Christian, Muslim and Western concepts. Death rituals and the mourning practices of Africans are varied because of the existence of so many religious and cultural practices on the African continent. Many African families will engage in one way or another in some cleansing rituals after the death of a loved one including a stillborn. In the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA), no records of stillbirth baptism are kept in the Church archives, nor is there any pastoral guidance or liturgy available to assist grieving families regarding stillbirth. It is questionable whether stillbirth baptism should be allowed, in light of the fact that there is no record whatsoever from either the Old Testament or the New Testament which allows for this rite of passage. It is also clear that stillbirth baptism does not have a theological base.

Religious Syncretism in India’s Northeast: A Case of the Heraka

This paper examines religious syncretism in India’s Northeast with reference to reformed Heraka. It is perceived, contact of different cultural practices enforces natives to reinterpret and redefined beliefs and practices in conformation to appropriated culture. Historically, birth of Heraka was rooted in resistance against the British occupation, Christian proselytisation and intrusion of other neighbouring communities. To retain indigenous religious practices, reformation took its turn with introduction of new set of rules. In the flow, Heraka appropriated temple, idol and pilgrimage culture into its fold, and scrutinised Christian proselytisation under its radar. In its essence, Heraka is the by-product of Paupai-tenase, Christianity and Hinduism. This paper assesses through constructivist paradigm on how Heraka is perceived to be or not to be of indigenous religion. It is argued that there is a dilution in claim reformed religion, though, has reformed old practices, but with amalgamation in the construction of syncretic religious identity.

The “Pinkster Kerk” as a Site of Indigenous Religious Expression within Black Pentecostal Theology

Deploying a decolonial epistemological framework that brings critical race and identity theory into conversation with African and Black theologies, this article explores the phenomenon of Pinkster Kerk as a productive site for indigenous meaning-making within studies on Black theology and African Pentecostalism. Through an autobiographical account of Pinkster and a systematic critical review of the literature on Black theology and African Pentecostalism, I argue that South African Black theology, and studies of Pentecostalism in particular, have much to gain from this unique expression of Pentecostalism found on the Cape Flats. This conversation reflects on three interrelated areas – indigenous religion, Black theology, and African Pentecostalism – and offers some theoretical insights and philosophical signposts for expanding discussion on issues of identity, politics, and race within each of these fields of study.

Answering the Protestant Challenge: Orthodox Christianity as Counterreformation in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract What makes Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity attractive to southern Ethiopians? Aari in the South Ethiopia Regional State formerly rejected Orthodoxy as the religion of their northern Ethiopian conquerors. Attempts made under the empire to convert Aari remained without lasting success. In recent years, however, Orthodoxy has gained followers among conservative Aari. I explain Orthodoxy's attractiveness in the light of the rapid post-1991 growth of Protestantism and the corresponding decline of the indigenous Aari religion. Contrary to the derelict institutions of the indigenous religion, the Orthodox Church is felt to have spiritual authority and to afford a viable ritual community. And while conservative Aari reject Protestantism as excessively egalitarian, individualist, and puritan, Orthodoxy resonates with them for placing value on hierarchy, mediation, and feasting. For conservative Aari, Orthodoxy thus offers an answer to the Protestant challenge. Becoming Orthodox allows conservatives to defend and rearticulate moral and spiritual values which have long guided them, while also accessing the prestige of a religion Aari associate with northern elites. This shows that understanding the attractiveness of Orthodoxy in contemporary southern Ethiopia requires appreciating the imperial history of south–north relations and the post-1991 history of religious liberalization.

Tracing the Origin of Japan’s First Buddhist Temple: Japan’s Asukadera Viewed through the Lens of the Korean Paekche Kingdom Temple Site of Wanghŭng-sa

The beginning of the construction of Japan’s first large-scale Buddhist temple, Asukadera 飛鳥寺, in 588, marks an important turning point in the ancient history of Japan. The construction of a Buddhist temple was a major event through which Japanese people, who had believed in traditional indigenous religion, came to embrace Buddhism, one of the major world religions. Inscribed śarīra reliquaries were discovered from the wooden pagoda site at the Wanghŭng-sa 王興寺 in Puyŏ. According to these inscriptions, Wanghŭng-sa was built in 577, 11 years before the establishment of Asukadera in 588. Based on this data, both Korean and Japanese academics have raised the possibility that Wanghŭng-sa might have provided inspiration or even a model for Asukadera in Japan. In this paper, I briefly examine reliquaries and roof tiles that have been excavated from the wooden pagoda site within the Wanghŭng-sa site and the arrangement and characteristics of the temple’s building sites, including the sites of the main hall and corridors. Next, I discuss the similarities and differences between ancient Buddhist temples in Korea and Japan by comparing Wanghŭng-sa with ancient Japanese temples such as Asukadera.

Conquest and revival at Chiantla Viejo: the transition of a highland Maya community to Spanish colonial rule

Colonised societies often continue traditional practices in private contexts whilst adopting new forms of ritual in public. Excavations at the Mam centre of Chiantla Viejo in highland Guatemala, however, reveal a more complex picture. Combining archaeological evidence with early colonial documents, the author identifies a revival of Indigenous Maya religion following the Spanish conquest (AD 1525–1550). Despite appearing in colonial records as Christian converts, the Maya directed a sequence of destruction, reconstruction and remodelling of the monumental core of Chiantla Viejo to evoke the landscape of their ancestral settlement of Zaculeu. The results emphasise the importance of public spaces for the persistence of Indigenous religion in early colonial settings.

The Cross and Land Politics in Zimbabwe: The Forgotten Side of the Church

Since 1500, Christianity is the major and official religion in Zimbabwe while African Traditional Religion remains the popular religion among Zimbabweans. Such a scenario is comparable to the ancient Israelite religion; Yahweism (monotheism) being the official religion while Polytheism being the popular religion amongst the Israelites. Christianity as a religion did not bring with it land to Zimbabwe. This study will explore the position of Christianity in relation to land and land politics in Zimbabwe. Christianity is a foreign religious ideology to Zimbabwe. The advent of Christianity does not mean that Zimbabweans were short of religion. African Traditional Religion (ATR) is the indigenous religion to Africans including Zimbabweans. Christianity is of great interest in this study because it is embraced by the majority of Zimbabweans (Ruzivo, 2008, p. 28). The arrival of Christianity dates back to the 14th century. It was introduced to Zimbabwe by the missionaries. The article highlights and chronicles the less emphasized issue of religion and land politics in Zimbabwe. In this case, the religion in question is Christianity and land politics or politics of land in Zimbabwe.

“Small House! The Cross’s Religiously Modified Institution.” A Historical Cultural Materialist Approach to the Genesis, Growth and Development of Small Houses in Zimbabwe

The family is the most important basic social institution in any state since time immemorial. It is from this institution that clans, tribes and nations were born. It was the center of the means of production. Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular, the family system tallies with the religious or the ideological system or vice versa. African Indigenous Religion (AIR) is a religious ideology anchored on communalism and it is anti-individualism in the same way the African family system operates. Through the historical cultural materialist approach this paper argues that the “empire” (imperial states) disrupted, dismembered and destroyed the pristine African family institution through its pervasive tool; “the cross” and its willing agents. The cross (church/temple or Christianity) and its agents criminalised the communal family for the individualistic idealistic family. Individualism is not an African value, it is a foreign model and as such foreign models will not work to the expectations of Africans. Among other causes, the cross, through cultural hegemony gave birth to the “small house” in Zimbabwe. The church is an anti-structure institution to the Zimbabwean communal kinship system. It is the argument of this paper that the cross was developed and deployed to criminalise, shame and stigmatize the African family or kinship values (among them polygamy) resulting in nefarious clandestine legitimation of an illegitimate Western construct “small house”. A family is ideologically unique and as such the conception of a family with regard to the religion of the empire is individualistic as its Christian religious ideology is. The paper goes behind the present through solely focusing on the historical cultural and material conditions that led to the genesis, growth and development of the ‘small house’ in Zimbabwe as an offspring of the church. This chapter concludes by arguing that the small house is a genetically modified institution of the church.

Πάτερ, ημων ο εν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (Mt 6:9a): Reading the Lord’s Prayer with insight from Ewe cosmology

This article seeks to interpret the phrase Πάτερ, ημων ο εν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς in the invocation of the Lord’s Prayer in the light of Ewe-Ghanaian cosmology. The article employs a combination of the historical-critical and indigenous mother tongue biblical hermeneutical approaches to explore the implication of the invocation for Ewe-Ghanaian Christian spirituality today. The article firstly discusses the various theological and hermeneutical positions of the invocation in dialogue with Ewe-Ghanaian concept of God and the plurality of his dwelling place. The article argues that Matthew’s use of οὐρανοῖς to suggest a plurality in God’s dwelling place resonates with Ewe cosmology, where it is believed that there are seven states of existence and that Mawugã, the Supreme Being, dwells in the first – the absolute state. Thus God exists in ‘seven heavens’ in Ewe cosmology, with the highest heaven being the eternal state of abode. On the other hand, the inclusive interpretation of the fatherhood of God in Ewe cosmology is discontinuous with the exclusive interpretation in the works of the church fathers such as Cyprian, Origen, Gregory of Nissa, Augustine and Clement of Alexandria. This hermeneutical position, the article observes, was responsible for the theological tensions that characterised the encounter between missionary Christianity and Ewe indigenous religion in the middle of the 19th century. However, the introduction of social services as evangelisation strategy, the legacy of the Ewe Bible and liturgy and the handing over of the Ewe church to the indigenous coworkers may have contributed to a large extent in ensuring religious tolerance among followers of the two religions. Today, Ewe-Ghanaian popular Christianity has shifted from its apologetic stance to a more liberal stance and employs indigenous religious and cultural categories in theologising.Contribution: Matthew’s rendition of the invocation of the Lord’s Prayer in the context of Ewe-Ghanaian cosmology is the focus of this article. The article forms part of the researcher’s contribution to the academic knowledge on the Lord’s Prayer and inspires the use of mother tongue biblical hermeneutics in the development of theological materials for the Ewe-Ghanaian Christian communities in Ghana and Togo.

Contemporary Native American and Indigenous Religions: State of the field

AbstractNative American and Indigenous religions are incredibly diverse in practice, belief, material culture, and organization, which shape distinct individual religious experiences and communal identities. The study of Native American and Indigenous religions is not the study of a singular religion or people nor does it refer to a singular methodology. Instead, the study of contemporary Native American religions is the study of diverse communities that were and continue to be shaped by settler colonialism, Christian missionization, US federal Indian policy, and legal battles over religious freedom and ancestral lands. Three interrelated themes emerge in recent scholarship: the study of protest/protector movements and the assertion of legal rights for sovereignty, self‐determination, and religious freedom; the confluence of environmental issues and Indigenous religions; and an attention to global Indigeneity. A number of gaps remain, however: engagement with non‐federally recognized tribes; Indigenous communities outside of the American West; and religion and violence.