the text in mission, mission in the text: blessings

Welcome

I serve as the teacher in a Bible School for members of African Initiated Churches (AICs) in the former Transkei, South Africa. My wife and I, Mennonites from North America, together with our four young sons also worship with both Pentecostal and mainline congregations. I learn much in the process of teaching and preaching in these settings, especially about the biblical texts which are our medium. In other words, by proclaiming the text in the setting of mission, we discover mission in the text.

This blog contains my discoveries about texts that I have studied, taught, or preached--or all of the above--in encounter with the ideas, spiritualities, and social settings of African brothers and sisters.

I dedicate this blog to all who seek the Word of God in the words of scripture.

-Joe Sawatzky

My Recent Reads

Spirit of Love: A Trinitarian Theology of Grace by Amos Yong
A Human Being Died That Night: A Story of Forgiveness by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Biko: A Biography by Xolela Mangcu
The Little Book of Healthy Organizations: Tools for Understanding and Transforming Your Organization by David R. Brubaker & Ruth Hoover Zimmerman
Grace at the Garbage Dump: Making Sense of Mission in the Twenty-first Century by Jesse A. Zink
The Thing around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation by J. Nelson Kraybill
A Man Who is Not a Man by Thando Mgqolozana
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois
Small Steps Toward the Missing Peace: A Memoir by James C. Juhnke
Searching for Sacred Ground: The Journey of Chief Lawrence Hart, Mennonite by Raylene Hinz-Penner
Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle from the Masai by Vincent J. Donovan
Abraham's Curse: Child Sacrifice in the Legacies of the West by Bruce Chilton
Augustine of Hippo: A Biography by Peter Brown
Dark Continent, My Black Arse by Sihle Khumalo
The Living Dead and the Living God: Christ and the Ancestors in a Changing Africa by Klaus Nurnberger
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Mission in an African Way: An Introduction to African Instituted Churches and Their Sense of Mission by Thomas Oduro, et. al
Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels by Kenneth E. Bailey
African Gifts of the Spirit: Pentecostalism & the Rise of a Zimbabwean Transnational Religious Movement by David Maxwell
Rabble-Rouser for Peace: The Authorized Biography of Desmond Tutu by John Allen
The Extraordinary Khotso: Millionaire Medicine Man from Lusikisiki by Felicity Wood with Michael Lewis
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
The Way of Jesus: A Conversation in Following Jesus by Eugene Peterson
Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting: Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-Dualism Debate by John W. Cooper
Worlds of Power: Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa by Stephen Ellis and Gerrie Ter Haar
Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
Radical Faith: An Alternative History of the Christian Church by John Driver
Tomorrow is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa's Negotiated Settlement by Allister Sparks
Three-Letter Plague: A Young Man's Journey Through a Great Epidemic by Jonny Steinberg
Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century by Harvey Cox
Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity by Lamin Sanneh
Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa by Antjie Krog
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

the text in mission, mission in the text

Monday, October 19, 2009

outside the law

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