A person-centered approach for helping people who are or who feel attacked by spiritual forces (Catholic and ecumenical ministry in Africa and in multi-cultural settings).
Unseen Worlds introduces a relational understanding of spiritual healing and deliverance that goes beyond "quick fixes." It does not divorce spiritual matters from corresponding human conditions, relationships and family issues.
Religious beliefs in spiritual evil affect World Christianity in fundamental ways. This is true also in African settings, where the unseen world comes with a maze of pastoral problems for Christian communities and their pastors, which this book takes up:
"How to help people affected by witchcraft or demons
How to intervene when witchcraft accusations rip communities apart
How to help pupils who claim contact with occult forces"
While charismatic and Pentecostal deliverance ministries have made great inroads into African Christianity, addressing a felt need of many, unreflective ministries that follow in their wake easily perpetuate a vicious cycle of victimhood and blame.
Unseen Worlds takes up spiritual attacks as challenges for spiritual growth. It responds to the old African (and non-African) pastoral challenge of witchcraft and spirits with an approach that is person-centred, not demon-centred, always starting with the affected person's own experience and concepts. While the categories of "true" and "false" are not easily applied to spiritual attacks, any experience that touches a person on a deep level always has a spiritual dimension that this book explores and responds to. Case studies from Zambia demonstrate how a pastor can help with simple but meaningful steps even in very complex cultural situations. Readers ready to be challenged by relational experiences of life and African notions of selfhood will find an easy entry into the theme of this book that goes beyond the timeworn divide of the "real" versus the "superstitious."
The book has been developed in dialogue with theologians, historians, psychologists, anthropologists, traditional healers, pastoral teams with extensive experience in the ministry of deliverance, and - most of all - with affected families, the subject group of the book. Its person-centred method is applicable beyond Africa to multi-cultural settings, where different ideas about the occult stay side by side.
Gap filled by the book: The reader will find concrete pastoral steps towards a deliverance ministry that work "with" African insights into the mysteries of life, not "against" them. The authentic case studies show the complexities of the deliverance ministry, which are rarely noticed in the available "prayer manuals" in which demons are but prayed away.
How will the book be read? The book covers seven topical themes: The first draws out the successes and failures of mainstream, inculturation and charismatic approaches of combating evil spiritual forces in Africa on the example of Christian Zambia. The second outlines the principles of the person-centred approach, with its demands of listening and empathy, and introduces the notions of "inner worlds" and "outer worlds" through which the healer/pastor can clarify different levels of truths and the scope for public action. The next three themes deal with helping people who are or see themselves as victims of spirits, witchcraft, and Satanism. Another theme concerns helping people who stand accused as witches, looking at possible interventions from the time that rumours are expressed up to the time that suspicions turn into witch-hunting. The last part introduces biblical and theological concerns that give a place to people's own experiences with the unseen world. to