Robert Priest on Witchcraft Accusations in Africa

tonygill — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 09:00:30 +0000

Accusations of witchcraft in Africa appear to be on the rise according to many anthropologists. Robert Priest, the G.W. Aldeen Professor of International Studies at Trinitiy Evangelical Divinity School discusses this phenomenom, covering the patterns, causes, and consequences of this trend.

Our discussion begins with what brought Prof. Priest, who has previously studied various aspects of missiology, to this topic. We then progress to the definition of witchcraft and how there are some commonalities and differences across cultures. Tony associates witchcraft trials with the past and asks Bob why this phenomenon has persisted in an era of increasing scientific knowledge.

Dr. Priest covers the different patterns of witchcraft accusations, discussing who is accused, what these accusations often consist of, and what the punishments are. We also discuss the methodological issues concerned with studying such a sensitive topic. We finish the discussion with the relationship between these accusations and Christianity in the region. Bob notes that Christians are not only the subject of such accusations, but often are complicit in bringing such claims on others. He discusses why this might be the case and then talks about how Christians are coming together to address how to manage all the issues we have discussed. Recorded: January 22, 2014.

Doug Johnston on Missionizing Romania

tonygill — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 08:00:20 +0000

How can an inflatable, remote-controlled shark help to missionize the citizens of Romania? We pose this deeply philosophical question, and other queries, to Pastor Doug Johnston of the First Baptist Church of Redmond (Washington). Pastor Johnston has made six, short trips of roughly 10 days each to preach and teach at the Timisoara Bible Baptist Instiute. He recounts how he became involved in this ongoing project even though he didn’t consider himself a world traveler. We discuss the multi-faceted purpose of this trip, not only to help train Protestant clergy and laity in Romania, but to bring assistance to the orphanage attached to the Emmanuel Baptist Church located in Timisoara. Doug further tells us how he prepared for the trip including fundraising and then details his first harrowing experience at the airport shortly after landing in Romania for the first time back in 2002. We use this incident as a means of looking into Romanian culture and to reflect upon how things have changed there in the past decade, as well as thinking about how Protestant Christianity may have had an impact on the culture there. We further discuss the nature of Protestanism in the country as well as how Protestants have interacted with the historically dominant Romanian Orthodox Church. And what would an interview on Romania be without a brief digression on Vlad the Impaler (a.k.a. Count Dracula)? We finish the interview with the story of the Air Shark and Pastor Johnston’s reflections upon what he has learned from his experience with the good people of Romania. Recorded: March 20 and 23, 2012. (Re-recording due to technical difficulties.)

Research On Religion » orphans

Robert Priest on Witchcraft Accusations in Africa

Doug Johnston on Missionizing Romania