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Exploring African Mysticism Through a Transcendental Theology: a Rahnerian Reading of Sotho Spirit Possession

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Exploring African Mysticism Through a Transcendental Theology: a Rahnerian Reading of Sotho Spirit Possession Exploring African Mysticism through a Transcendental Theology: A Rahnerian Reading of Sotho Spirit Possession by Craig William Hincks A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Regis College and the Graduate Centre for Theological Studies of the Toronto School of Theology. In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Theology awarded by the University of St. Michael’s College. © Copyright by Craig William Hincks 2017 Exploring African Mysticism through a Transcendental Theology Craig William Hincks Master of Arts in Theology The University of St. Michael’s College 2017 Abstract Spirit possession is a common transcendental experience that manifests in a variety of ways throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, but it has often been dismissed, concealed, feared, misunderstood or reduced to a single, often negative, explanatory framework, such as witchcraft. This paper explores cases of “positive spirit possession” among the Sotho people of southern Africa and attempts to steer the discourse from one that is predominantly confused to one that interprets them properly as mystical experiences. To do so, it employs the transcendental theology of Karl Rahner and his typology of mysticism and discernment methodology and applies them to the Sotho examples using Laurenti Magesa’s interpretation of African spirituality. The result is a more accurate and helpful view of the potential of Sotho spirit possession for individual and community spiritual development. This recognition of Sotho mysticism also has broader implications for health and healthy relationships among other peoples. ii Contents Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................................v Chapter 1: Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 1.1 Context for Sotho Mysticism ...................................................................................1 1.2 Mysticism in Sotho Spirit Possession ......................................................................3 1.3 Mysticism in Rahner’s Transcendental Theology ...................................................4 1.4 Magesa on Inculturation and Mysticism ..................................................................7 1.5 Thesis Statement ......................................................................................................9 Chapter 2: Mysticism in the Transcendental Theology of Karl Rahner ..................................10 2.1 Experiencing “Something” ....................................................................................10 2.2 Extra-Christian Mysticism .....................................................................................15 2.3 Discernment of Spirits ...........................................................................................18 2.4 Mysticism and Spiritual Development...................................................................24 2.5 A Perichoretic Typology ........................................................................................28 Chapter 3: Laurenti Magesa on Mysticism in African Spirituality .........................................35 3.1 Some Fundamentals of African Spirituality ..........................................................36 3.2 Agency and Spirit Possession in the Cosmic Community .....................................43 3.3 Recognizing Witchcraft .........................................................................................48 3.4 Discerning Mysticism ............................................................................................52 3.5 Religious Pluralism and Dynamic Inculturation ....................................................58 Chapter 4: Mysticism in Sotho Spirit Possession ....................................................................62 4.1 Classical Mysticism among the Sotho ...................................................................63 4.2 Sotho Mysticism of the Masses .............................................................................73 iii 4.3 Everyday Mysticism of the Sotho ..........................................................................81 4.4 A Rahnerian Reading of Sotho Mysticism ............................................................84 Chapter 5: Concluding Remarks ..............................................................................................97 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................102 iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank my thesis director, Professor Michael Stoeber, for his guidance throughout the process of researching and writing this thesis. His critical insight into the topic and the material was a great help in producing a better paper. His kindness and encouragement from beginning to end were also greatly appreciated. My decision to request his help as director came after I took his philosophy of religion course in which we delved into Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov; I think my eyes were opened to much I didn’t know or appreciate about spirituality and mysticism during that time. I also want to thank my two readers, Professor John Dadosky and Professor Abrahim Khan, from whom I also learned much. With Professor Dadosky I took a course called “Faith and Culture,” and although I was not able to finish it for personal reasons, I still recall how thought-provoking the classes and the subject matter were. More recently I took Professor Khan’s “Religious Pluralism as Theological Challenge” course, which I found most stimulating and helpful. Another Toronto School of Theology teacher I want to acknowledge is Professor Emeritus Michael Vertin, who gave me a wonderful introduction to Karl Rahner in his course on “Rahner and Lonergan.” I also want to thank an old friend of mine, Stephen Gill, who is the curator of the Morija Museum and Archives in Lesotho. Over the years, by email and in person, we have enjoyed many conversations about Sotho culture, history, spirituality and religion. His much greater knowledge of the Sotho definitely helped me with this paper, although I do not impute any errors or misinterpretations in it to him. Finally I want to thank my wife, Joanne, without whose love, patience and support I really don’t know where I would be! We make good life partners. There are many others whose interest and support are deeply appreciated. Although not named here, I acknowledge them as well—and that includes, most of all, the great Mystery of my thesis. v Chapter 1 Introduction This thesis will situate and describe mysticism among the Sotho people of southern Africa.1 It will argue that some experiences of Sotho spirit possession constitute major types of mysticism and that the transcendental theology of Karl Rahner and his typology of mysticism provide an apt framework for understanding them. The thesis will also refer to the theology of Laurenti Magesa for an inculturated understanding of African spirituality and for insight into the positive individual and communal effects of Sotho mysticism as interpreted through Rahner’s framework. 1.1 Context for Sotho Mysticism Seldom does one hear or read of “mysticism” in relation to the practices or experiences of the Sotho people, and the only Sotho person I can recall anyone unequivocally referring to as a “mystic” is Mohlomi Monyane,2 a renowned doctor, sage and chief. What is known and recorded about Mohlomi is uniformly positive, and what has prompted some scholars to regard him as a mystic is the fact that in his vocation and practice as a doctor he not only had knowledge of herbal and other natural therapies but also gifts of divination and prophecy, through trances, dreams or transport to spiritual realms where he communed with ancestral spirits and received blessings, warnings, guidance and healing remedies for his people.3 Given the pervasive, multifaceted spirituality of the Sotho people, it may seem surprising that 1. The ethnographic term “Sotho” will be used in my thesis to refer to the Basotho people and to the Sesotho language and culture. Normally “Sotho” is not used without a prefix; one refers to a Sotho person as “Mosotho” (pl. “Basotho”), the language and culture as “Sesotho” and the country or land as “Lesotho.” The “th” in Sotho is pronounced as in the name “Thomas.” 2. For example, he is thus referred to in Lehlohonolo B.B.J. Machobane, “Mohlomi: Doctor, Traveller and Sage,” Mohlomi: Journal of Southern African Historical Studies 2 (1978): 12, 23; and in D. Frédéric Ellenberger and J.C. Macgregor, History of the Basuto: Ancient and Modern (1912; repr., Morija, Lesotho: Morija Museum and Archives, 1992), 90. 3. Medicine is a very broad field among the Sotho, with numerous specializations and therapies addressing the needs not only of the whole human person, including their psychological and spiritual well-being, but also of the whole human environment. For example, one can “doctor” a field to ensure good crops or a village to protect it from evil. 1 2 there are not many obvious examples of mysticism or of mystics. There are, however, several important reasons in my view for this lack of explicit references, not least of which is the fact that the spirit world, where in Sotho culture one would expect mystical practices and experiences to be focused, is highly ambiguous4 and is also where witchcraft (or sorcery) originates.5 The dearth of references
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