Books published by Luviri Press

As a boy I heard my mother warn my father never to walk alone and never to come home late lest he be killed like Kutchona. But why could people kill an innocent pastor? For Alexander Kutchona God stood above politics and God came first in all areas of life. The Party leaders believed differently. Politics to them could not be separated from Church life and that the church should be used as a platform for the political agenda. They labeled him traitor and removed him out of their path and memory.

The vote in favour of multi-party politics at the National Referendum of 1993, and the subsequent General Election of 1994, heralded the advent of a democratic system of government in Malawi. lt soon became apparent, however, that there remained many obstacles to overcome before Malawi would be a truly democratic country. In this volume, a multi-disciplinary approach has been employed to examine both the progress and the pitfalls of the democratization process. Political scientists, lawyers, historians, theologians, literary critics, linguists, economists, and educationalists apply the tools of their respective disciplines to take stock of democratization in Malawi. This book is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking to understand the social and political situation in Malawi in the early years of the Second Republic.

More than twenty years have passed since this book was first published yet its themes remain vital for understanding the way in which Christian faith is coming to expression in a context like Malawi. It begins with Christology, with the question of the identity of Jesus Christ that is perennially at the centre of the Christian theological task. For a century and more Malawians have been hearing the proclamation, "here comes your king!" This has struck a chord in millions of hearts as individuals, families and communities have named Jesus Christ as Lord. It has also posed the challenge of discovering what this Lordship means in every dimension of life. Much of the rest of the book pursues this question as it explores how church identity has been formed and consolidated, how the faith has been a resource for the nation at critical moments, and the ways in which the faith has shaped national identity and helped to meet political challenges.

Malawian Oral Literature: The Aesthetics of Indigenous Arts The first edition of Malawian Oral Literature was seminal in the study of oral literature, giving a truly indigenous theoretical framework for the study of Malawi's oral literature, which could be replicated for other Bantu language cultures. Despite the fact that the text was first published more than 30 years ago, the theory and related studies herein remain remarkably current. For example, the trickster and the dupe continue to appear in news stories, both local and international, in different forms and environments, from politics to finance, as well as literature.

The year 2020 began in Malawi with a moment of high political drama. On 3 February, the Constitutional Court declared the Presidential election of May 2019 "invalid, null and void". Its judgement laid bare the extent of the irregularities that marred the conduct of the election and vindicated the widespread popular view that its result was not valid. The Court's requirement that the election be re-run ignited a flurry of political and parliamentary activity, suggesting that the country might be on the cusp of significant change. It remains to be seen what the eventual outcome will be. Meanwhile there may be value in looking back to an earlier time of dramatic political transition - when Malawi shook off the shackles of one-party government and embraced multi-party democracy in 1992-94. In that process too, the courts played an active role, though it was from the witness of the churches that the initial impetus came. In this book theologians and lawyers join forces with other scholars to offer a comprehensive analysis of a turning-point in Malawi's political history. This reprint is offered in the hope that lessons learned from the past can help to shape the future as Malawians arrive once again at a decisive moment.

Can an African soldier be loyal to his British regiment and stay true to his own society and its beliefs? Juma Chimwere believes he must! Distinguished Conduct recounts a Malawian msilikali's life of doing so. Beginning as an eager Yao recruit in the Central African Ri¿es, through more than a half century of British colonialism in Nyasaland, Juma remains faithful to his goal. Though sometimes questioning the ongoing effects of his service his continued devotion to duty merits many awards, including medals personally presented by King Edward VII and the Governor of Nyasaland. After retirement his efforts turn more towards encouraging family enterprise and promoting an independent, united Malawi. Yet through his entire journey, Juma earns the respect not only of his fellow Africans, but his King's African Ri¿es commanders as well.

Sursum Corda describes highlights from the author's missionary experience in Africa, where he taught Anglican seminarians in Lesotho in the 1980s and two decades later continued this ministry in Malawi. Now a Catholic priest with a doctorate from the University of Wales, Rodney Schöeld also seeks to discern what the Western world can prötably learn from African culture.

A common misconception found in popular, and even some scholarly, literature is that "the missionaries" are a homogeneous category about whom it is easy to make broad generalisations. When a more accurate appraisal of the role of missionaries in Malawi and elsewhere will be reached when each partiular missionary initiative is subjected to critial study. This work fills a gap in our knowledge of the Catholic missions since it is the viewpoint of the White Fathers which predominates in the seminal work of K. and J. Linden, Catholics, Peasants, and Chewa Resistance in Nyasaland 1889-1939. It intends to identify, assess, and evaluate the Montfortian spirituality and charism by examining, as far as possible within the context of their times, the lives and works of the three Montfortian pioneers in Malawi and their successors.

Possibly the most outstanding Malawian church leader of the 1960s and 1970s was the Very Reverend Jonathan Sangaya, General Secretary of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Synod of Blantyre. To him fell the task of guiding his church into the post-missionary era and his dynamic leadership was a major factor in the success with which that transition was completed. This vivid biography offers many insights into the history of the church and society during his lifetime. It is a welcome addition to the literature covering the transition "from mission to church" in African Christianity, and will enable many readers to become acquainted with a great Malawian of a former generation.

Proverbs are the Wisdom and Philosophy of the Tonga People, who live on the North Western shores of Lake Malawi (the "Lakeside Tonga"), they serve as powerful vehicles to convey moral instructions to young people and may help in character building. This study examines, in Tonga, how 194 Tonga proverbs relate to biblical teachings.

In 1859 the British "imported" 445 German settler families to strengthen the colonial borders in British Kaffraria (now Eastern Cape) in South Africa. Three of these settler families were Baptists, they evangelized their fellow Germans and anyone else they met. In 1867 Johann Gerhard Oncken of Hamburg, the founder of the Baptist Churches in Continental Europe, sent Hugo Gutsche to take care of the new Baptist community there and evangelize the native population. The author of this book, Fritz Haus, the last of Gutsche's German successors, wrote his PhD on the life and work of Hugo Gutsche, graduating from the University of Stellenbosch at the age of 80. Haus describes his ministry to White and Black over half a century and he does not forget Mrs Mary Gutsche, whom her husband called his "co-pastor."

Ever since the modern state of Malawi came into existence more than a hundred years ago, religion has played its role in the history of the country, and has interacted with politics and society in many ways, such as with the early Blantyre Mission, the Chilembwe Rising, and the struggle against the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyassaland. This book presents two preachers, Elliot Kamwana and Wilfred Gudu, who, in their different ways and at different times, challenged British colonial power which ruled over Malawi at that time.

Patrick Kalilombe has been distinguished for more than twenty-¿ve years as a pioneering theologian and ecclesiologist. Circumstances have determined that much of his best work has been produced and published outside Malawi and through such diversity of outlets that it is very di¿cult for students and others to have access to his work as a whole. Hence we are convinced that his collection of his essays will have a very wide appeal, both in Malawi and beyond. The chapters are quite varied in their origins and subjects but the reader will not take long to notice recurrent themes: the author's missionary vocation, the critical role of the "grassroots" in theological construction, the integrity of Chewa traditional beliefs, the combination of Catholic commitment with radical openness to all religious and cultural traditions. Throughout the book is a series of photographs which lead progressively through the events of Bishop Kalilombe's 25th Jubilee celebration at Mua in 1997.

Unity of knowledge is not easily achieved in today's Africa where often there is little conscious interaction between traditional beliefs, Christian faith and modern secularity. The challenge is taken up in this book as scholars from a variety of disciplines wrestle with the relation of faith and science at the frontiers of knowledge. The results are important alike for the integrity of faith, for scienti¿c advance and for the attainment of creative cultural unity in society. Readers with such concerns at heart will ¿nd much food for thought as they traverse the broad frontiers explored in these wide-ranging essays.

Stephen Kauta Msiska was ordained to the ministry in 1945 and served the Livingstonia Synod in a number of lakeshore parishes before being appointed ¿rst a tutor and later Principal of the united CCAP Theological College at Nkhoma where he taught from 1962 to 1974. His ¿rm stand for what he understood to be the principles of the Christian Gospel led to a clash with the one-party regime and he was forced to ¿ee to his home village and to live there in relative obscurity. This book makes accessible some of the fruits not only of his years of active pastoral ministry and theological teaching but also of his time of lonely suffering and sorrow. Distinctive in the writing of this pioneering theologian is a profound, though not uncritical, sympathy with the traditional religion of his people combined with a passionate concern for authentic Christian discipleship. Careful readers of this original and thoughtful book will ¿nd the "golden buttons" which Stephen Kauta is determined should not be lost.

When a thousand leading members of the Nyasaland African Congress were detained under the emergency regulations imposed by the Federation government in 1959, the Presbyterian chaplains who ministered to them at Kanchedza Camp in Limbe were the late Rev Jonathan Sangaya and Rev Andrew C. Ross. They soon discovered that around 700 of the thousand men were members of the Church of Central African Presbyterian. This raised a question in the mind of the recently arrived Scottish missionary: how may we account historically for the fact that so many national leaders were Presbyterians? The quest to answer that question led him to produce the thorough examination of the foundation and early history of the Blantyre Mission of the Church of Scotland which is found in this book. Written in the mid-1960s, it remains today an indispensable work of reference for understanding the history of both church and nation in Malawi.

Some people often ignore the fact that writers respond to the HIV&AIDS pandemic by using it as a theme in their poetry, fiction, and plays. Steve Chimombo started recording the writers' responses as early as 1990 and wrote 'AIDS and the Writer' in WASI: the magazine for the arts. The article reported the results of a poetry competition organized by the Ministry of Health on the theme, and there have been other competitions also by different institutions since then. Some radio and television programs have also called upon the writer to help in the dissemination of information to their listeners. The Hyena Wears Darkness is the author's own contribution to the national Malawian campaign to educate the public on the pandemic. Its focus is on those cultural practices which help propagate HIV/AIDS in Malawian society.

Presented in the book are some basics for Bible interpretation by the Dean in the Faculty of Theology and Ministerial Formation in Malawi Assemblies of God University.