Under the Canopy

In an intensive study of one church community in South Africa, Thomas (anthropology and theology, Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary) argues that some of South Africa's most oppressed people were able to overcome the stress of life under apartheid through their healing rituals. This book focuses on the new religion that the people of St. John's Apostolic Faith Mission Church in Guguletu, just outside Cape Town, created to help bring meaning to lives full of poverty and violence. It emphasizes particularly this community's rituals of healing which blend the world views of the native African faiths and the colonial Protestant faiths to form a cosmology that helps them live with everyday challenges. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)