Bible & Ministry Faculty Research and Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
International Journal of Frontier Missiology
Publication Date
Fall 2020
Volume
37
Issue
3-4
First Page
161
Last Page
169
Abstract
The prevalence of both drinking songs and spirit possession among the Makua-Metto of Mozambique shaped the way in which Mozambican Christians interpreted Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Based upon their cultural context, they naturally heard chapter 5 addressing these two phenomena as interconnected topics. That experience led to an investigation into the background of the original recipients of the letter through the lens of drinking songs and spirit possession to see if reading this text in the “laboratory” of the Mozambican context can shed new light on contemporary readings of the Ephesian 5 text and provide an example of non-Western contextual interpretation.
Copyright held by
International Journal of Frontier Missiology
Recommended Citation
Howell, A. (2020). Swapping Drinking Songs for Spiritual Songs: Skolia and Possession in Ephesians 5 and Mozambique. International Journal of Frontier Missiology, 37 (3-4), 161-169. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.harding.edu/bible-facpub/25