Isaiah Shembe's hymns and the sacred dance in Ibandla LamaNazaretha / / by Nkosinathi Sithole.

• Author: Sithole, Nkosinathi.
• Place / Publishing House: Boston : : Brill,, 2016.
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Studies of Religion in Africa 45.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (217 pages).
• Notes: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

In Isaiah Shembe’s Hymns and the Sacred Dance in Ibandla lamaNazaretha , Nkosinathi Sithole explores the hymns of Prophet Isaiah Shembe and the sacred dance in Ibandla LamaNazaretha, and offers an emic perspective on the Church which has attracted scholars from different disciplines. Isaiah Shembe’s Hymns and the Sacred Dance in Ibandla lamaNazaretha posits that in the hymns, Shembe found a powerful medium through which he could voice his concerns as an African in colonial times, while praising and worshipping God. Sithole also refutes claims by some scholars that the sacred dance was a response to colonialism and oppression, showing that in fact the sacred dance in Ibandla lamaNazaretha is considered to be a form of worship and is thought to exist on earth and in heaven.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 Beyond African Nationalism: Isaiah Shembe and His Hymns -- 2 The Bible, the Hymns, and Shembe’s Sense of Self -- 3 The Sacred Dance and the Question of Resistance -- 4 Virginity, Sexual Abstinence and the Maidens’ Rituals -- 5 Male Circumcision, Marriage and the Notion of (In)Completeness -- 6 Dress Codes and the Poetics of Performance in the Sacred Dance -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.