William C. Olsen, Walter E. A. van Beek, and the contributors to this volume seek to understand how Africans have confronted evil around them. Grouped around notions of evil as a cognitive or experiential problem, evil as malevolent process, and evil as an inversion of justice, these essays investigate what can be accepted and what must be condemned in order to evaluate being and morality in African cultural and social contexts. These studies of evil entanglements take local and national histories and identities into account, including state politics and civil war, religious practices, Islam, gender, and modernity.

This book connects traditional religions to the thriving religious activity in Africa today.

Containing ten essays by anthropologists on the beliefs and practices associated with witches and sorcerers in Eastern Africa, the chapters in this book are all based on field research and new information which is studied within its wider social context. First published in 1963.

Black Magic looks at the origins, meaning, and uses of Conjure—the African American tradition of healing and harming that evolved from African, European, and American elements—from the slavery period to well into the twentieth century. Illuminating a world that is dimly understood by both scholars and the general public, Yvonne P. Chireau describes Conjure and other related traditions, such as Hoodoo and Rootworking, in a beautifully written, richly detailed history that presents the voices and experiences of African Americans and shows how magic has informed their culture. Focusing on the relationship between Conjure and Christianity, Chireau shows how these seemingly contradictory traditions have worked together in a complex and complementary fashion to provide spiritual empowerment for African Americans, both slave and free, living in white America. As she explores the role of Conjure for African Americans and looks at the transformations of Conjure over time, Chireau also rewrites the dichotomy between magic and religion. With its groundbreaking analysis of an often misunderstood tradition, this book adds an important perspective to our understanding of the myriad dimensions of human spirituality.

Exposing the Evil Deeds of Darkness explores an area of missions long underreported and overlooked--witchcraft and its pervasive influence on Christianity in Africa. Whereas missionaries may have been aware of its existence, they were unprepared by their training to deal with it. Thus witchcraft was relegated to the category of superstition. This allowed the evil practices to freely penetrate Christian lives, weakening their testimony and keeping them from a true awareness of God's rich promises to His children. This book not only provides the history of witchcraft since Christianity was introduced into Africa, it reveals a rich biblical approach on how Christians can be taught to withstand the diabolical influences which surround them daily. Samen's prayer is that this book will educate and inspire changes in how much of African Christianity is perceived and practiced.