Theses and Dissertations

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    A Missiological study of the Phenomenon of Spirit Possession among the Munyoyaya women in the Madogo location, Tana River district in Kenya :a Response to I.M. Lewis' theory of Deprivation
    (2014-05-22) Wang'ombe, Judy Wanjiru
    The Munyoyaya women are part ofthe larger Munyoyaya people group who inhabit the Tana River district in Kenya. They are a minority tribal group considered to be part of the Oromo language group. They are predominantly Muslims yet steeped in folk tendencies that are prohibited by orthodox Islam. This study attempts to examine one aspect of these folk tendencies as practiced by the Munyoyaya women. It seeks to understand their participation in the spirit possession cults in the Madogo location. It also evaluates 1. M. Lewis' theory of deprivation in relation to the context of the Munyoyaya women's participation. The study also aims at examining some missiological ways of cross-cultural Christian witness among the Munyoyaya women. This study is based on the cognitive anthropological perspective that is focused on the implicit aspects of a culture. Thus to describe the implicit aspects of the Munyoyaya women's cultural practice in the possession phenomenon, ethnographic research design is employed as a tradition of qualitative research. Data is collected using participant observation and ethnographic interviews with those involved in the possession sessions. The findings of this study reveal that the Munyoyaya women are majority of the participants of the possession cults. They participate for various reasons that include: economical, therapeutical, social, their pragmatic nature, spiritual and psychological factors. These factors, especially the spiritual and psychological factors, stem from the worldview of the Munyoyaya people that is basically supernaturalistically oriented. This provides a comprehensive outlook to possession cults that disprove Lewis' deprivation theory. He generally bases his theory on socioeconomical factors that attempt to explain participation in possession cults. In view of the findings recommendations are made that aim at effective cross-cultural Christian witness among the Munyoyaya women and Muslims in general. There is need for worldview studies that will aim at understanding the outward behaviors and implicit assumptions of people to be reached with the Gospel. It is also recommended that Muslims as people be distinguished from the ideological aspect of Islam. Lack of such a distinction has accounted for the much of the frustration experienced in Islamic mission fields.
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    A Missiological study of the influence of Hindu beliefs and practices upon the response to the Gospel among Hindus in Nairobi
    (2013-08-23) Irudhayaraj, Abraham
    This is a missiological study of the influence of Hindu beliefs and practices upon the response to the gospel among the Hindus in Nairobi. It seeks to find out hindrance to the gospel message and thus build appropriate bridges for effective Christian witness to the Hindus in Nairobi. In order to achieve this, the researcher undertook an extensive review of the related literature. Mainly the data was collected through face to face interview to five pastors who are involved in Hindu evangelism, seven Hindu converts and five Hindus who have heard the gospel and have not responded to it. The interview questions were open ended. The findings clearly revealed that clearly revealed that, the Hindu concept of god, incarnation (Avatar), Karma (good deeds), Moksha (salvation), and Dharma (law) can influence Christian witnessing both positively negatively among the Hindus in Nairobi. Hindus and there is no need to defend the existence of God to a Hindu. But Hindus worship many manifestations of that are God where as Christianity restrictive to one and only one God. Hindus believe in ten incarnations of Vishnu to destroy sinners but the incarnation of Jesus Christ in Christianity is to seek and save the sinners once for all. Incarnation in Hinduism is inadequate. In Hinduism salvation means liberation from the cycle of births, deaths and rebirths and can be achieved in four ways. Christianity is rigid and offers one and only way to salvation and can be achieved only through Jesus. The doctrine of Karma (good deeds) is found in both Christianity and in Hinduism can attract Hindus to the gospel message. The concept of sin and sacrifice to atone for sins can easily be major theological block or bridge to Hindus. There are other Hindu concepts like devotion, idol worship, trinity, and festivals like Diwali, Easter and Christmas can be effectively used as bridges to communicate the gospel to Hindus in Nairobi. The caste system practiced among Hindus in Nairobi, their food habits (vegetarianism), dowry system, false assumption that Christianity is a foreign religion and foreign money is used for conversion and it is also a threat to Hindu culture and sovereignty can be major hindrance in advancement of gospel to Hindus. The success of the future evangelism is to contextualize the gospel message to Hindus and communicate it in a way that is relevant meaningful to their context.
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    Conversion from Islam to Christianity among the Arsi Oromo: Missiological implications for Christian witness
    (2013-06-24) Berhe, Anwar Mehammed
    The Arsi Oromo people are part of the wider Oromo people group of Ethiopia and Islam is the dominant religion of the people despite the presence of minority Christians among them. This thesis attempts to understand the conversion process of the Arsi Oromo from Islam to Christianity. It employs Rambo‟s seven stage model of conversion process in order to understand the conversion experiences of Arsi Oromo MBBs (Muslim Background Believers). The changes resulting from conversion and how the western Arsi local churches engage in helping Arsi Oromo converts to adapt to the existing church context are examined. Twenty converts (ten MBB women and ten MBB men) have been interviewed in order to get emic data about their conversion process. The literature review part seeks to discuss conversion from the perspectives of different disciplines. The biblical and theological views of conversion are discussed as a basis for conversion from Islam to Christianity. The review also assesses and discusses conversion from the perspective of social sciences and the various works that have been done on conversion from Islam to Christianity. This research employs ethnographic research method, which is a branch of qualitative research method in order to gain understanding of the conversion processes of the Arsi Oromo MBBs. The data was collected through unstructured and semi structured interviews and moderate participant observation. The coded data (appendix 2) presents the emic view of conversion in the way the stories told by the interviewees. Based on this data the analysis has been carried out in order to get etic view of the conversion process. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper and wider understanding of the different processes involved in the conversion of Arsi Oromo. Through the findings of this research, it has been established conversion is a long time process and influenced by various factors: the context of the convert, crisis, quest, and interaction with the agents of the gospel. A strong desire for relationship with the divine and ethical community was the core factor in the conversion process of the Arsi Oromo. The study also registered peace, joy, assurance of salvation, and fulfillment are the immediate positive consequences of conversion despite all converts facing various degrees of persecution from their community. Allegiance, moral and cultural encounters are also the most important changes observed in the life of converts as a mark of genuine conversion. This study also shows that more conversion happened in the rural village which is very hostile environment for Christianity compared to the towns that enjoyed freedom of worship. In the final chapter, missiological implications for Christian witness are drawn from the research findings. Recommendations for further study are also proposed.