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Quaestiones Infinitae PUBLICATIONS of the DEPARTMENT of PHILOSOPHY and RELIGIOUS STUDIES

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Quaestiones Infinitae PUBLICATIONS of the DEPARTMENT of PHILOSOPHY and RELIGIOUS STUDIES Quaestiones Infinitae PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES VOLUME CVIII © Johanneke Kamps, 2018 Printed by GVO drukkers & vormgevers B.V., Ede Cover images Johanneke Kamps Cover design Esmée Steur Speaking of Satan in Zambia The persuasiveness of contemporary narratives about Satanism Spreken van Satan in Zambia (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. G.J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 15 januari 2018 des middags te 12.45 uur door Johanneke Kamps geboren op 9 februari 1981 te Nordhorn, Duitsland Promotor: Prof.dr. B. Meyer 2 Table of contents Acknowledgements 5 Introduction 7 Background 7 Problem statement 11 The study of witchcraft and Satanism in Africa 17 Plan of the dissertation 29 1. Studying Satanism in Zambia 32 1.1 Satanism in contemporary Zambia 32 1.2 Defining Satanism 37 1.3 Narratives and the mediation of the imaginary of Satanism 42 1.4 Collecting and analysing narratives 46 1.5 Conclusion 55 2. Satanism in local and trans-local narratives and practices 56 2.1 Introduction 56 2.2 Traditional ideas about witchcraft and spirit possession 57 2.3 The reinterpretation of traditional notions from a Christian 66 perspective 2.4 The adaptation and dissemination of a spiritual warfare 72 framework by African agents 2.5 Zambian testimonies between traditional notions and spiritual 77 warfare theology 2.6 Conclusion 82 3. Rewriting the life story after the diagnosis of Satanism 84 3.1 Introduction 84 3.2 Satanism as affliction 85 3.3 Christian faith healing 91 3.4 Diagnosis: Satanism 97 3.5 Rewriting the life story 105 3.6 Conclusion 117 4. Ex-Satanists, pastors, and the production of testimonies 119 4.1 Introduction 119 4.2 A testimony as part of the deliverance service 122 4.3 The production of the content of the testimony 128 3 4.4 The production of the performance of the testimony 135 4.5 The appeal of testimonies for pastors 149 4.6 Conclusion 157 5. Dealing with extra-ordinary powers for extra-ordinary success 160 5.1 Introduction 160 5.2 Categories of the accused 163 5.3 Accusations of Satanism and the Other 184 5.4 Conclusion 195 6. Testimonies of Satanism and the gaps between expectations 198 and lived reality 6.1 Introduction 198 6.2 Protagonists: tensions surrounding strangers and the family 201 6.3 Normative role models: tensions surrounding expected 210 behaviour 6.4 Places: tensions surrounding physical and spiritual insecurity 223 6.5 Objects: tensions surrounding the animated nature of 231 consumer goods 6.6 Conclusion 235 Conclusion 238 Bibliography 252 Appendix 1 List of collected testimonies of ex-Satanists and 273 other sources Appendix 2 List of accusations of Satanism in Zambian 276 newspapers Appendix 3 Narrative structure of core testimonies 278 Appendix 4 List of accusations of sacrifice in the Zambian 280 Watchdog Samenvatting in het Nederlands 281 Curriculum Vitae 286 Quaestiones Infinitae: Publications in the department of 287 philosophy and religious studies 4 Acknowledgements ...And we have just one world But we live in different ones... As the British rock band Dire Straits notes in their classic anti-war song Brothers in Arms, there is one world, and yet we seem to live in different worlds. In the past years I have been grappling with this notion. In 2011 my husband and I moved to Zambia as mission workers to start teaching at Justo Mwale University (JMU). I have never felt comfortable with the English term ‘mission worker’. My Dutch job title is ‘uitgezonden medewerker’, which can be translated as ‘employee set to work’ – in my case not as evangelist but as lecturer in different subjects within the Humanities. Compared with the Netherlands, Zambia is a different world; with new rules for interactions, a different dress code, and particular ideas about what behaviour is expected from a married woman. With time, I discovered more differences between my world and the world of my students and colleagues. And yet, part of my job has been communicating about the lives of Zambian Christians to their brothers and sisters in the Netherlands, as members of one worldwide church. One world, and different worlds; both at the same time. This book is an attempt to understand a different world, that of Zambian ex-Satanists and their audiences. This world is different – it is largely unheard of in the Netherlands. And still, I think that a non-Zambian public can understand this world, and even see similarities with elements of their own world. I have tried to do justice to both sides of the coin; describing this different world, and simultaneously showing that it is not quite the exotic other world that it may seem at first glance. Many guides have helped me to become familiar with the world of ex- Satanists and their audiences. I thank the ex-Satanists who found the courage to be open about their experiences. I thank the pastors and intercessors from within the Reformed Church in Zambia and also from independent Pentecostal churches for answering my questions about Satanism in Zambia. I apologize for not mentioning your names or the churches where we met, but I want to protect the anonymity of the ex-Satanists I have met through you. In particular I thank pastor Panji Chipeta from Kingdom Business Ministries International for making me at home in his church and allowing me to use his archive of testimonies recorded for the radio programme Precious Testimonies. I am also very grateful for the company of Father Bernhard Udelhoven and the Fingers of 5 Thomas. Apart from being an enormous help to this research, you have become friends and family. Special thanks go to my research assistant Rev. Tabitha Moyo and my students at JMU. Our discussions in and outside of class have helped me a lot. In addition to these guides into the world of Satanism in Zambia, I have a debt of gratitude to my academic friends and colleagues. First of all, I am grateful for the help of my supervisor, Birgit Meyer. Your questions and comments were always stimulating and have helped me to improve my work. I also want to thank my colleagues at JMU for their encouragement. Thanks to Sherri Ellington for editing this manuscript. My employers, JMU and Kerk in Actie, have supported this study by allowing me to write and research in combination with my other obligations. In the wider academic community I thank Wouter Hanegraaff and Massimo Introvigne for helping me to access their work. My family has followed my progress with interest, even though we were far away from them. Thanks for that. Especially I want to thank Esmee Steur for designing the cover of this book. Finally, I thank Hermen. In their song Hoffnung, the German rap group Die Fantastischen Vier sings, “Komm halt mich fest, dass ich laufen kann.” This is what you do: you hold me, so I can go forward. Thanks for taking this journey with me! 6 Introduction Background It is 2 AM in a provincial town in Zambia. The residents are sleeping. Some stray dogs are barking. All is dark. But at the church the lights are on, and the sound of the PA-system carries far in the quiet night. Inside, people are singing and praying, and pastors take their turn to preach from the pulpit. All-night prayer meetings like this are quite popular in Zambia, especially among the youths. Suddenly a girl – she cannot be more than twelve years old – gets up and starts walking toward the doors of the church. “Where are you going at this time of the night?” someone asks. The girl seems upset. “I can’t continue this kind of life,” she replies. What does she mean? In church she is known as an active Christian, full of faith. More questions are asked, but the girl collapses. The visiting pastor is called. He kneels beside her and orders the devil to let her go. The girl regains consciousness and starts to tell a stunning story. “I am a Satanist, sent here to this all-night prayer to bring confusion,” she confesses. “I have been tormenting the resident minister, making him to fail to pray, and making his sermons dull so that his listeners will not become born-again, and those who have demons will not be delivered.” A crowd of eager listeners forms around the girl. “Remember the big accident on the road from Ndola to Kitwe?” she continues, “It was me who caused it.” The audience gasps. Several onlookers have lost relatives in this accident. Some start to cry. The girl goes on: “The Devil promised me that if I manage to kill 1,000 people, I will become a queen under the Indian Ocean. And in the physical world I will be a famous singer, like Nicki Minaj or Wiz Khalifa. Or I will get married to the president of any nation of my choice.” The visiting pastor starts praying for her again, trying to break the influence of the Devil over her. It takes hours, but at 5 AM the pastor declares her delivered, and the girl repents for her past as a Satanist. She is now, once more, a good Christian.1 “Thought and talk about the devil seem to be on the increase in Africa,” Donal Cruise O’Brian wrote in a review article in 2000 (2000:520). Considering the discourse of Satanism in Zambia, this statement certainly rings 1 I thank Rev.
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