Largely, the concept of energy or vital force, as first analysed by Placide Tempels in Bantu Philosophy, permeates most African ontology systems, worldviews and life views. The Ntomba Chief is chosen because of his above average vital force. This puts him in the position of intermediary between the Supreme Being, the ancestors, and his subordinates. The waning of his energy is incompatible with his position because his energy is that of his tribe. When installed, he takes an oath that, when (...) this happens, he has to accept mohilo, the ‘hastening of death’. In the Chief's case, the hastening of death is not intended to relieve his pain, as it would be with other creatures. The Chief's dying a natural death would result in the loss of the entire community's vital force. Therefore, he has to be killed ritually to avoid that risk. That the Chief agrees to be killed – via a form of advanced directive – poses an ethical dilemma for a Western observer. From the Ntomba perspective, however, where the energy is being, and being is energy, it is the only way to preserve and protect the community's raison d’être. (shrink)

Largely, the concept of energy or vital force, as first analysed by Placide Tempels in Bantu Philosophy, permeates most African ontology systems, worldviews and life views. The Ntomba Chief is chosen because of his above average vital force. This puts him in the position of intermediary between the Supreme Being, the ancestors, and his subordinates. The waning of his energy is incompatible with his position because his energy is that of his tribe. When installed, he takes an oath that, when (...) this happens, he has to accept mohilo, the 'hastening of death'. In the Chief's case, the hastening of death is not intended to relieve his pain, as it would be with other creatures. The Chief's dying a natural death would result in the loss of the entire community's vital force. Therefore, he has to be killed ritually to avoid that risk. That the Chief agrees to be killed – via a form of advanced directive – poses an ethical dilemma for a Western observer. From the Ntomba perspective, however, where the energy is being, and being is energy, it is the only way to preserve and protect the community's raison d'être. (shrink)

Towards the end of a ramble: transfer of knowledge, embracing values and the teaching profession according to Augustine In this article the first traces of Augustine’s desire to be not only a teacher but also, in conjunction with this, a writer of protreptics are pointed out in his Soliloquia and his De catechizandis rudibus. Protrepsis and first catechesis need to coincide. In De catechizandis rudibus, he advised deacon Deogratias to clarify the Last Judgement and the resurrection of the body. (...) These two doctrines were both a pièce de resistance for pagans, and therefore also for rudes. The choice of these doctrines demonstrates Augustine’s attempt to have the deacon adopt a protreptic approach in his first catechesis – possibly without Deogratias even knowing it himself. There was no chance that the beginners would already be truly acquainted with these essential aspects of the Christian view of the world and of the future. As it turns out, the line between protrepsis and catechesis is a very fine one in this case. (shrink)