In a hierarchical society, who is powerful? It’s natural to me to think that it’s the people at the top, with people becoming less powerful the further down the hierarchy they are. Those down the bottom of the hierarchy are vulnerable, and therefore would benefit from gender equality. This is […]
I am still planning to come back to the question of how the cross and the atonement feature in Tanzanian theology, but here I want to give a write up of our pastor’s sermon from just before Christmas, because it neatly summarises some important themes in Tanzanian theology. It was […]
Our pastor opened his sermon yesterday by talking about the importance of names. Most Tanzanian names have some kind of meaning. Sometimes these meanings are positive e.g. Amani (peace) or Furaha (joy). Sometimes they’re neutral, for example, you can be named after the day on which you were born. And […]
My language partner and I had a discussion about adultery this week. It came up when we were discussing a fall from grace as a possible reason for a change in one’s circumstances (along with poor business decisions, foolish investments, and so on.) My language partner spoke of women who have […]
“If you want a sermon to learn about riches,” said the preacher, “go elsewhere, because we are talking about the pathway to our permanent home.” Then he spent the rest of the sermon talking about attaining success. It was one of those moments when I realised again that what westerners […]
I am rich I am prosperous I am blessed How would you feel if these lyrics came up in a song you were singing in church? That was our experience at church this week. The first question is how you read them I guess. Are they describing a situation that […]
Merry Christmas! We celebrate Emmanuel, God with us. We had a sermon on this at church last Sunday, though it wasn’t initially apparent to me that it was a Christmas sermon. The text was Daniel 3:24-25, about the three young Jewish slaves who are thrown into the fire because they refuse […]
