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Item Is the Prosperity Gospel, Gospel? An Examination of the Prosperity and Productivity Gospels in African Christianity(South African Theological Seminary, 2022) Barron, Joshua RobertThe teaching of the Prosperity Gospel is widespread throughout African Christianity-especially within African Initiated/Independent Churches (AICs) and Pentecostal churches. For many, it is only a natural expression of biblical teachings on abundant life from the viewpoint of Africa's holistic worldviews. For others, it arises as an extension of the deliverance theology of Pentecostals. Why should God not deliver us not only from sin and sickness, but from poverty as well? Others look at what seem to be the clear abuses of certain well-known (and financially well off) prosperity teachers and cry, heresy! But are African expressions of the Prosperity Gospel heretical? Or are they orthodox, or perhaps heterodox? Both Scripture and historical Christian tradition reflect an ambivalence toward material wealth, at times seeing it as a blessing and at times as a danger. Reflecting on Scripture in the context of years of pastoral experience in Africa and recent discussions with scholars, missionaries, and local church leaders, this essay is built upon a hybrid methodology of integrative literature review and narrative literature review. After reviewing biblical teachings on wealth and possessions, it reviews the literature on the Prosperity Gospel in Africa and discovers that in some African contexts an adaptation of prosperity teachings, the Productivity Gospel, has arisen to address the same set of questions. Borrowing emphases from Prosperity theology on abundant life and Pentecostal theologies of empowerment, with the accountability of a Weberian work ethic in the context of a holistic African worldview, the Productivity Gospel provides a message of hope and an opportunity for a redemptive (and economic) uplift while avoiding problematic praxis.Item Mutual submission, mutual respect: Reciprocal enkanyit in Ephesians 5 in the Maasai context(Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 2021) Barron, Joshua RobertIn Ephesians 5:21, Paul enjoins all Christians to live in mutual submission to each other out of reverence for Christ. In the verses that follow, Paul describes what this mutual submission should look like in practice. Some interpreters neglect the intimate connection which Eph 5:22-6:9 shares with the preceding verses in chapter 5. Indeed, the mutual submission of verse 21 is not only the conclusion of the 5:1-21 but is the foundation and title of 5:21-6:9. Failure to recognize this has led some to mock the very idea of mutual submission between husbands and wives. In the real world, this too often serves to justify unjust oppress ion and silencing of women within the Church. This article attempts to correct these errors. It also examines these issues in the context of Maasai culture and the traditional Maasai value of enkanyit (honour, mutual respect). A more careful exegesis of Ephesians 5 demonstrates that mutual submission provides the way for relational harmony between husbands and wives.Item My God is enkAi: A Reflection of Vernacular African Theology(Journal of Language, Culture, and Religion, 2021) Barron, Joshua Robertn the thirty-two years since Lamin Sanneh published Translating the Message (Orbis Books, 1989), there has been a growing awareness of the importance of vernacular languages in Christian life and practice. But it is often still assumed that Christian theologizing is not legitimate unless it is in a European language. In much of Africa, theological education only takes place in the languages of the colonizers- English, French, and Portuguese. This can result in African churches that are ill-equipped to speak relevantly to African situations, as leaders are trained to read, teach, worship, and pray in a foreign language, neglecting their own. Authentic African Christianity requires theologizing in local African languages and invoking God in the names of God in those languages. Though (ironically?) written in English, this paper examines what elements of a vernacular theology might sound like for the Maasai and Samburu peoples of East Africa, exploring the Maa and Sampur names for God and discovering insights for World Christianity as well.Item For Whom Will the Church Be Safe?(Priscilla Papers, 2023) Barron, Ruth (Lindauer)a sermon preached on July 3, 2022Item Lessons from Scripture for Maasai Christianity, Lessons from Maasai Culture for the Global Church(Priscilla Papers, 2019) Barron, Joshua RobertLessons from Scripture for Maasai Christianity, Lessons from Maasai Culture for the Global ChurchItem Conversion or Proselytization? Being Maasai, Becoming Christian(Global Missiology, 2021-04) Barron, Joshua RobertConversion is part of Christianity’s DNA. Scholarly discussions about the meaning(s) and nature of Christian conversion perhaps reflect a popular—and historical—confusion about conversion vis-à-vis proselytization (e.g., Goodman 1994; Cornelli 2017, 413). Nonetheless, proselytization and conversion are not the same. Culture plays an important role in proper Christian conversion because this conversion, or “the turning to Christ what is already there” in the words of Andrew Walls, takes place within the context of culture. By contrast proselytization is the mere exchange of one human culture for another and was rejected by the Apostles. Because “the gospel enriches the culture,” in African contexts “Christianity should strengthen and reaffirm one’s African identity” (Falconer 2015, 161). After exploring these themes, I will propose a model to discuss Christian conversion within the Maa language and culture of the Maasai people of East Africa.Item Andrew F. Walls: Apostle of World Christianity(Missio Dei: A Journal of MIssional Theology and Praxis, 2021) Barron, Joshua RobertAndrew Walls (1928-2021) "may be the most important person you don't know. "1 During his life, he was broadly recognized as the doyen of the study of world Christianity-that is, the study of world Christianity as a single, though multidisciplinary, field incorporating church history, missions history, missiological theory, and missional praxis. Through his tireless work with the Centre for the Study of Non-Western Christianity (which he founded at Aberdeen, then moved to Edinburgh, later renamed as the Centre for the Study of World Christianity) and with the Yale-Edinburgh Group on World Christianity and the History of Mission (which he co-founded with Lamin Sanneh of The Gambia, then a professor at Yale), and through his mentoring of so many leading scholars who take the approach of world Christianity rather than a traditional Western approach, Andrew Walls is rightly recognized as a principle founder of the study of world Christianity. This essay reviews the impact of his life and scholarship on the fields of world Christianity and missions studies and aims to introduce him to Missio Dei readers who may not be familiar with his work.Item God as Motherly Father and Fatherly Mother(Priscilla Papers, 2023) Barron, Joshua RobertGod as Motherly Father and Fatherly MotherItem Introducing the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology(World Evangelical Alliance, 2023-11) Barron, Joshua RobertIs African Christianity theologically shallow? It is not, thanks in part to the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology. In this article, two ASET leaders describe the organization's vision and accomplishments and encourage theologians everywhere to engage with the exciting work emerging from Africa.Item Is the Prosperity Gospel the Gospel? The Prosperity and Productivity Gospels in African Christianity(World Evangelical Alliance, 2023-11) Barron, Joshua RobertWe know that some versions of the Prosperity Gospel are off the rails, as this article colourfully documents. But the article goes on to commend the positive impact of some African variants that often go unnoticed.Item NiH2 has a singlet ground state(The Journal of Chemical Physics, 1997) Barron, Joshua Robert; Kelley, Amy R.; Liu, RuifengContrary to previous ab initio and semi-empirical studies, density functional theory and high level ab initio calculations predict that the ground state of NiH2 is a bent singlet state. The linear triplet 3 ii g state, predicted as the ground state by all previous ca lculations, is found a few kcal/mo! higher.