Reading Anastasia Boniface-Malle’s thesis about the absence of lament in Tanzanian Christianity exposed for me another plank in the theological foundations of prosperity theology, that is, the idea that God wants you to be happy and healthy, and that for the Christian this kind of victory is within your reach. A key […]
What is the Christian life about? Is it about success, and victory? The emphasis of the Tanzanian church on prosperity often comes from a conviction that God wants wholeness for his people, and brings healing to them by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the blood of Jesus. Or […]
I wrote on Facebook: I called it an ‘evangelistic conversation’ but I really don’t like the term. ‘Evangelism’ can have negative connotations of conquest and for 200 years Africa has been the plaything of European imperial ambition (let alone the colonisation that came before that). This conversation highlighted that poignantly. […]
I’ve finally finished Olufemi Taiwo’s How colonialism preempted modernity in Africa, having sporadically slogged my way through it over the last few months. Taiwo’s intellect is massive, and I felt like you practically had to have a Masters degree just to understand the English, let alone the fact that he […]
I recounted a conversation about missionary legacy in an article for Eternity recently. In it, I hinted that this is not the only way to view missionaries, and I thought I’d fill that out a bit. Our friend from the article, the one staying with us, gave us his perspective […]
Meet Jesus at uni 