BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
tional reconciliation and integration in Zimbabwe, around 2009, Mat
18:21-22 has been the central biblical text.^43
Conclusion
The chapter has demonstrated the centrality of the Bible in Zimbabwe’s
socio-economic and political spheres. It has argued that as women are
the majority in the country and in various churches, the effects of the
difficult socio-economic and political situation of the period between
2000 and 2010 affected them more than men. Facing many difficulties
such as food shortages, homelessness and political violence, women of
Zimbabwe turned to the Bible to seek consolation, hope and encour-
agement. Other women Christian leaders saw it as their responsibility to
encourage and give directions to women of Zimbabwe to positively con-
tribute to national political, economical and social affairs through the
Bible. The chapter has also noted that although a majority of women
who turned to the Bible were ordinary women, some women with politi-
cal ambitions made references to the Bible as an attempt to appeal to the
majority of the people. The Bible was in other words, consulted to give
religious justification to political ideas.
References
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between religious and political discourses in Zimbabwe’, African Sociological
Review, 6, (1), 2002.
--- ‘In the beginning was the land’: The Appropriation of religious themes in
political discourses in Zimbabwe’, Africa: Journal of the International African
Institute, Vol 75 (2), 2005. pp. 220-239
Gunda, M. R. ‘Reconsidering the relevance of the Prophet Amos in the quest for
a just society in contemporary Zimbabwe,’ Bulletin for Old Testament Studies in
Africa, 2010.
Gwekwerere, Gadziro. ‘Gospel Music as a Mirror of the Political and Socio-
Economic Developments in Zimbabwe, 1980-2007’, Exchange: Journal of Missi-
ological and Ecumenical Research, Vol 38 (2009), pp.329-354.
Kanyoro, M. ‘Not Without Struggle: Changing Roles of African Women in the
21 st Century’ in: Katharina Kunter and Jens Holger Schjorring, Changing Rela-
tions between Churches in Europe and Africa: The Internationalization of Christi-
(^43) Francis Machingura, ‘The Reading and Interpretation of Matthew 18:21-22 in relation
to Multiple reconciliations: The Zimbabwean Experience’. Exchange, Vol 39 No. 4,
2010, pp331-354.