Genealogy· 2026Q1
Demonisation and Distortion of Vhavenḓa Spiritualities Through Hymns 36 and 38 of the Tshivenḓa Lutheran Hymnal: A Decolonial-Africanised Interpretation
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Tshivenḓa Lutheran Hymns 36 and 38 distort Vhavenḓa spiritual practices by framing them as dangerous, according to a decolonial-Africanised analysis.
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Key points
- Hymns 36 and 38 of the Tshivenḓa Lutheran Hymnal demonise and distort Vhavenḓa spiritualities.
- Missionary assumptions framed Vhavenḓa ancestral reverence, libation, healing, and Indigenous mediation as dangerous.
- A decolonial-Africanised lens reinterprets hymnic language to affirm Vhavenḓa traditions.
- The study concludes that Vhavenḓa people had pre-existing spiritual knowledge before missionary Christianity.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This article examines the demonisation and distortion of Vhavenḓa spiritualities in Hymns 36 and 38 of the Tshivenḓa Lutheran Hymnal through a decolonial-Africanised lens. It argues that, although these hymns function devotionally, they also preserve missionary assumptions that framed ancestral reverence, libation, healing, ritual objects, and Indigenous sacred mediation as darkness, error, and spiritual danger. Drawing on decolonial thought, African theological reflection, and scholarship on Vhavenḓa Indigenous Knowledge Systems, the article reinterprets contested hymnic language in ways that affirm the dignity, complexity, and resilience of Vhavenḓa spiritual traditions. It concludes that decolonising Tshivenḓa Lutheran hymnody requires critical retrieval, linguistic sensitivity, theological humility, and recognition that Vhavenḓa people were never without God, spirituality, ethics, or sacred knowledge before missionary Christianity.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Genealogy, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Religious studies
Religious studiesArts and Humanities