Original Research - Special Collection: Reception of Biblical Discourse in Africa

Witchcraft that comes with the Bible

Boitumelo B. Senokoane
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 78, No 1 | a7869 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v78i1.7869 | © 2022 Boitumelo B. Senokoane | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 23 June 2022 | Published: 08 December 2022

About the author(s)

Boitumelo B. Senokoane, Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, Faculty of Humanities, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

The article aims to engage with the reception of biblical discourse in Africa and will show how the Bible was transmitted in Africa. It will show how the Bible was successfully used as a spell to control the unsuspecting or a bewitched African believer. The article will try to argue that the Bible has been treated as a ‘holy’ book that cannot be questioned, translating into insanity, irrationality and magical-ity. To achieve successful witchcraft, institutionalisation became critical to identify those who did not belong or were classified as ‘heathens’. The article shall use the logic of Gabriel Setiloane to argue that Africans still believe in the Bible and Christianity because they are simply bewitched.

Contribution: This article showed the suspense of rationality, and found answers in that suspense. The Bible was treated as a tool that was used for witchcraft.

Keywords

witchcraft; institutionalisation; Bible; corruption; colonisation.

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Crossref Citations

1. Reception of biblical discourse in Africa
Itumeleng D. Mothoagae
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies  vol: 78  issue: 1  year: 2022  
doi: 10.4102/hts.v78i1.8112