Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Credal hymns as 'summa theologiae': new credal hymns in Rwanda after the 1994 war and genocide
Author:Spijker, Gerard van 'tISNI
Year:2001
Periodical:Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context
Volume:30
Issue:3
Pages:256-275
Language:English
Geographic term:Rwanda
Subjects:Protestant churches
civil wars
Christianity
religious songs
External link:https://doi.org/10.1163/157254301X00165
Abstract:The events of the civil war of 1990-1994 which finally resulted in a genocide in which between 500,000 and 800,000 people were killed, cast a dark shadow over the people living in Rwanda. This paper examines the question of how in these days the Christian faith is expressed in the new hymns which are sung during Sunday church services in the Protestant churches of present-day Rwanda. It focuses on the way the memories and the traumas of the recent past are reflected in these songs and bear an impact on the experience of the Christian faith. Research was carried out in 1996 and 2000 in parishes belonging to five different Protestant denominations: Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians and Pentecostals. The author concludes that the hymns sung by these laymen choirs reveal a particular way of listening to the Gospel, and therefore express a popular theology. In this theology human suffering and the victory over it are the main themes. Moreover, the credal hymns of the Rwandese laymen choirs should not simply be characterized as songs of consolation, but as songs of consolation and empowerment. Notes, ref.
Views
Cover