BOOK REVIEWS 145requisite knowledge to provide, in an accessible form, the materials neededfor the recommended change. This book is a beginning: it is the first timerelevant materials on African Traditional Religions have been madeavailable to teachers of Religious Education in this country.The book is divided into two parts. Part One is entitled 'Towards amulti-faith approach in religious education' and is composed of threechapters by different authors, and each of whom was involved in theproject. The first chapter on 'African traditional religions in the religioushistory of humankind' provides a broad overview of the topic and forms auseful framework for multi-iaith studies. The next chapter, 'African religionsin religious education', is followed by 'Some general guidelines on teachingAfrican traditional religions in religious education'. Part Two exploresthree important themes from African traditional religions Š the ancestors,spirit possession, and healing Š and focuses on practices found inZimbabwe. Each chapter in Part Two presents a theoretical framework,case studies and gives the reader 'didactical guidelines'.Teachers may, however, find this work disappointingly meagre as aresource book. Although extensive bibliographies are given (24 pages inall), much of this material is to be found in journals which are inaccessibleto teachers in Zimbabwe. There is a certain amount of unnecessaryrepetition (particularly in chapters three and four). There is no index. Thisomission would have been less troublesome if the chapters in Part Onehad been given sub-headings as is the case with those in Part Two. AsChapter Two deals with important topics for teachers and pupils in theupper classes of secondary school it should have included 'didacticguidelines' which, together with the case studies, are most helpful in PartTwo of the book. More case studies would have improved the book.Despite these inadequacies this book should be very useful intheological colleges and teachers' colleges and should be most helpful toteachers of Religious Education in the upper classes of secondary schoolsas well as for ministers of religion throughout Zimbabwe. I hope that theUniversity of Zimbabwe will produce more material in this important area.JOYCE CHILDSReligion and Politics in Southern Africa Edited by C. F. Hallencreutz andM. Palmberg. Uppsala, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, SeminarProceedings 24, 1991, 219 pp., ISBN 91-7106-312-9, US$39,95.This volume comprises extracts from a seminar in Uppsala in 1989. TakingPart were politicians, churchmen and scholars from Southern Africa, andseveral scholars from northern Europe. The resulting volume is mixed inquality and varied in scope.The volume starts with a politician talking about churches, and severalchurch people talking about politics. The scenarios presented in thissection have, by and large, been overtaken by events in South Africa, andprovide material for academic analysis rather than comprising suchanalyses themselves. Included among these contributions is a review of146 BOOKREVtEWSthe role of churches in Namibia by J. Chipenda (a churchman) whichpoints out the racial cleavages within churches and the way in whichsome religious leaders side With the oppressed. There is also a six-pagepaper by an economist summarizing the economics of the region.There are four, more scholarly, papers on South Africa, including abroad survey of Islam in Southern Africa by E. Mandivenga, and a usefulreview by P. Frostin of liberation theology applied to South Africa and the'Black Theology' movement. 0. Gustafsson presents evidence of the right-wing political activities of the RHEMA Bible Church. M. Schoffeleerspresents a substantial and original discussion of the relationship between
healing and political acquiescence in African Independent Churches, andindicates a dialectic between religious healing and critical politics.Four papers follow under the heading 'Lessons from Zimbabwe',although only Hallencreutz ('Church and state in Zimbabwe and SouthAfrica') tries to make explicit the lessons South Africa may learn fromZimbabwe's experience. P. Gundani's discussion of the mobilization ofCatholic Youth in Zimbabwe and A.C. Ongaro's discussion of the role ofchurches in the development market are useful pieces in themselves, butbear little relationship to the rest of the volume.Also included in the volume are two studies-of the nineteenth century:one of Bishop Colenso in Natal and the other of Catholics and Protestantsin Mozambique, both of which have been previously published at greaterlength elsewhere. The concluding remarks are brief and refer unhelpfullyto several papers which are not presented in the volume.There is no index. There are eight pages of photographs taken at theseminar. ;Overall, the volume contains some useful pieces on diverse topics,but does not comprise compulsory reading.University of Zimbabwe M. F. C. BOURDILUON