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This article examines the historical development and significance of creeds across various religious traditions, highlighting theological debates and socio-political contexts that shaped their creation. It investigates the contemporary relevance of creeds, evaluating their scope, content and functions within modern faith communities. Through literature analysis, the study explores the interplay between tradition and modernity, revealing the enduring significance of creeds in shaping religious identity and fostering unity in a pluralistic society. The study implies that faith communities can benefit from revisiting and revitalising creeds to ensure their continued relevance. It advocates for a thoughtful integration of tradition and modernity, encouraging dialogue around the role of creeds in promoting unity, understanding and shared purpose. The historical development of creeds illustrates their adaptability in contemporary faith communities, underscoring their importance in shaping belief systems and communal identities. This study contributes to a refined understanding of creeds in today’s diverse religious landscape.ContributionIn reconnoitring the relationship between tradition and modernity, faith societies can re-enter and invigorate dogmas, certifying their significance and timbre in today’s assorted spiritual landscape.

As much as Zimbabwe is considered one of the highly literate countries in the Global South, with well documented succession and inheritance laws, womenfolk continue to be stripped of their assets after the death of their husbands. This trend became even worse during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when movement was restricted, making it difficult to access the courts of law. Using a mixed methodological approach of a desk research and qualitative interviews conducted in the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, Zororo Comfort circuit in Harare, it has been noted that women and girls face numerous horrific experiences, pushing them to wallow in the margins of society. This study therefore calls for the church to address the vulnerability of women and girls using a deviant theory. To date, there are increasing figures of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child marriages. Financial and communal disturbances corresponding through continuous pandemic challenges for women are aggravated, and those who survive find it challenging to hunt for fairness because of stockpiled court issues and freedom for the perpetrators. The fact that women are dispossessed of their belongings because of the cultural status of being a woman calls for a cultural cue. Using a deviant theory in the narrative of a tenacious widow in the gospel of Luke 18:1–8 from a sociological dimension, this study provides a critical edge into interpreting the action of this widow who deviated from expected societal customs. The study concludes by calling faith communities to re-read the widow’s story through deviant theory spectacles to raise questions on how this widow courageously represented herself from societal margin to undermine the centre (patriarchal standards) and to utilise the text as a resource for addressing the plight of women to be repositioned and be empowered in Zimbabwe.ContributionThis study contributes to the ongoing academic studies on women, pandemics, religion and gender, using the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, Zororo Comfort circuit as a case study. It concludes by an invitation to faith communities to re-read the widow’s story using a deviant theory in order to use the text as a resource to alleviate the plight of women and empower them to the position of equilibrium with men.

In Africa, and in Zimbabwe in particular, education has played a critical role in transforming society through missionaries who brought education as inseparable from Christianity. This article argues that mission school education was a pillar of transformation and that mission schools functioned as centres of integration facilitation where learners discovered how to contribute in the change of their biosphere. It further argues that Zimbabwean mission schools are still bearing fruit in various contexts as seedbeds of social transformation. For Zimbabwe, education was and is still the hub of social transformation. Using a desk research approach of historical analysis and participant observation, this article explores how Zimbabwean Methodism transforms society by remaining within the academic niche that continues to facilitate societal transformation. It also discusses how the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (MCZ) has influenced universal transformation processes through mission schools. The article concludes that mission schools are positive contributors to social transformation in Zimbabwe today, and that no transformation can be argued to have taken place without them.Contribution: This study contributes to the ongoing academic niche that facilitates social transformation through mission schools in society. This also feeds into fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of quality education which is contributed by mission schools.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic had created mayhem world over in the year 2020 and confirmed the need and urgency of equipping religious leaders with disaster risk management (DRM) knowledge and skills. Religious leaders are often expected to be among the first responders when disasters strike. This is especially the case in Africa where faith communities often have greater reach among the populace than the state itself. Using multifaceted methodology and purposive sampling interview analysis, this article shows that the responses of religious leaders in Africa, Zimbabwe in particular, to COVID-19 highlighted the urgency of adopting a more focussed and deliberate approach towards equipping religious leaders with DRM knowledge and skills. It further demonstrates that in some areas religious leaders responded effectively (communicating the right message, impact mitigation activities, etc.), in most other areas, they were as unprepared and in a state of paralysis as the rest of the populace. It would however, be grossly unfair to critique their response since most of them have never been exposed to the basic tenets of DRM, either in their formation or as part of life-long learning.ContributionThe article concludes by suggesting mainstreaming tragedy hazard reducing in the curricula of religious institutions for stoppage, mitigation and actual answer to current and future tragedies within communities.

Sub-Saharan African countries including Zimbabwe taught and continue to teach students in ministerial formation Western theology using pedagogy that is not contextual to address African concerns. The quality of education and the methods used do not prepare students to encounter the challenges of the dynamic global, social, economic and technological environmental advancement. The definition of theology as the study of God needs to be rethought because theology is not only the study of God. Instead, it involves the study of how God interacts with His creation. This expanded definition has allowed some theologians the likes of Canaan Banana and others to scratch where Africa itches in the bid to meet the goals of Agenda 2063 of the Africa we want. Using desk research, this article seeks to explore decolonisation in theological education in the spectacles of some African theologians in order to draw lessons for the church in Zimbabwe. Through their insights that deal with aspirations and passion of the African continent, the article concludes by suggesting African teaching methods that are contemporary to the needs of Africans for sustainable development as a way to decolonise theology.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implicationsA call to decolonise theological education in the spectacles of African theological giants brings insights for the church to be relevant in Africa, in line with achieving Agenda 2030 and 2063 goals. This subject matter is informed from the discipline of theology, political theology, political science, education as well as sociology.

The overarching rapport between clergy and politics goes back to biblical times. The clergy used their civic politicking as a catalytic agent to influence rules and plans on all tiers of the country. Historically, clergy such as Martin Luther King Jr. and others were active and involved in the civil rights movement during the 1960s. In the context of Zimbabwean struggle for independence, the clergy unlocked their cathedrals and house of worship for strategy and forecasting meetings for additional political reasons. This study draws on various forms of data that include a content analysis of existing publications both electronic and archival sources to demonstrate the relationship between the clergy and politics. Using a theological reflection theory, the study further analyses the reasons for the engagement or disengagement of the clergy in politics. The initial outcomes of this study add weight to the understanding that from the beginning of the armed struggle, Zimbabwean clergy were actively participating in politics. These discoveries have major implications for the role religion plays in the political development of Zimbabwe. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications The engagement or disengagement of the clergy in politics could assist the churches to self-introspect and be informed that they are inseparable from politics to shoulder the weight, pain and problems of the people they serve. This is informed by the discipline of theology, political theology, political science and sociology.

The intersection of Black theology, African cultural identities and Indigenous belief systems has been topical in South Africa, given the apartheid history of the country. Black South Africans used theology to define their cultural identities and belief systems in their quest for liberation. The need to engage this symbiotic relationship in Zimbabwe arose with Joshua Maponga III, who used his theological background as a pastor to analyse the meaning of African cultural identities, Indigenous belief systems and the place of theology among suffering Africans. This article aims to interrogate Maponga’s writings, presentations and interviews on social media to find out how he drew from African cultural epistemologies to develop a Black theological perspective and define African cultural identities and Indigenous beliefs. The article argues that Maponga’s work offers a unique insight into how African culture can inform and enrich Black theological discourses. It discusses the methodology used and Maponga’s background. It further analyses how African cultural resources, such as traditional myths, rituals and symbols, enabled Maponga to develop a theology rooted in Black people’s experiences, challenging the dominant Western theological paradigms that have marginalised African culture and theological perspectives for years. Furthermore, the article discusses the implications of Maponga’s work for the ongoing development of Black and African Theologies. It concludes by stating that Maponga’s work offers an example of how African cultural resources can be used to develop a theology that is both contextual and liberative.ContributionThis study highlights the significance of intersectionality and contextualisation in theological research while also challenging dominant Western theological paradigms and emphasising the importance of African cultural epistemologies. It contributes to methodological innovation in theological research and provides implications for the ongoing development of Black and African Theologies.

The dissection of work based on biological sex orientation amid non-remunerated and remunerated work reduces females frugally and socially to become extra susceptible towards remaining poor and poorer in the society. This division is engineered by family, individual, communal and financial predicaments, especially those emanating from the cultural background, partisan and racial struggle circumstances or disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic. In Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe, women are marginalised and excluded by social discrimination and poverty, hence the call for action by the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Action is required specifically from the areas, such as education and environment, among others, to empower women to improve their situations or to develop communities and the country as a whole. Actions aimed at reducing impoverishment in society are perilous; hence, the Zimbabwean government decided to give preference to women in economic empowerment strategies and to advance acts that support monetary constitutional rights. While both men and women are susceptible to poverty, gender discrimination makes women to be more vulnerable to poverty and have meagre incomes to survive impoverishment. Women are always the last to feed, they are also usually the last to sleep and the first to wake up, they are the disadvantaged to get healthcare facilities and they are stuck in laborious, voluntary household chores from time to time. Unfortunately, some are left with no option and engage in prostitution as a means to survive. Using purposive sampling and cultural feminist lens, this study problematises the feminisation of poverty in Zimbabwe, using Mutasa community, particularly villages 4 and 30, as a case study to see how women alleviate poverty through mukando/marounds. The main argument presented in this study is that poverty must not have a feminine face; hence, the labels that synonymise scarcity with femininity must be eradicated.