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This article studies the rituals and ceremonies that are practised by Tsonga widows at a village in Giyani in Limpopo. The research is based on the observation of the exclusion of widows from church attendance and activities in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in South Africa (EPCSA). The study was conducted among Tsonga-speaking widows in the Tsonga community. The exclusion of widows is respected and understood by members of the church because they believe in respecting people’s cultural and traditional beliefs. This article attempts to study the conflict between Christianity and Tsonga mourning rituals and practices in the EPCSA. This is a qualitative study; however, literature is also included. Mourning rituals are presented and analysed to attempt to find ways in which practical theology can help the Tsonga widows in the EPCSA through liturgical inculturation as they undertake the mourning period. The authors recommend that a study on the effectiveness of mourning rituals for Tsonga widows would be fruitful for the EPCSA.

This article explores the responsibility of Bible critics with regard to the role that the Bible should play in our violent society. The crucial question that needs to be addressed is whether the Bible, and especially the Old Testament, is part of the problem or part of the solution. The Old Testament is clearly a violent book. How do we deal with this? Does the Old Testament really have a positive contribution to make in a society riddled with violence? Some Bible critics tend to shy away from these questions, but there are exceptions. For some, violence is so endemic to the Bible that there is little to save. For others, the Bible has a very constructive role to play in a society plagued by violence

The article engages with the old question of Priestly influence in the book of Joshua and is, to a large extent, a response to Dozeman's most recent commentary on Joshua 1-12. The article focusses specifically on the ‫ם‬ ֶ ‫ר‬ ‫חֵ‬ and argues that there are more intertextual links between the understanding of ‫ם‬ ֶ ‫ר‬ ‫חֵ‬ in Joshua 6 and 7 and texts from Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets than with Priestly texts. 1 Under "P literature", Dozeman seems to understand many other texts that could be regarded as post-P or even post-H. For instance, Dozeman (2015:57) would discuss Leviticus 27 under "P literature", but this chapter is usually regarded as one of the last added to the book of Leviticus, even after the Holiness Code (H). See, for instance, the work of Nihan (2007:552). Dozeman is not totally inaccurate when he refers to "P literature", since scholars such as Nihan would regard these later chapters as added by later generations of priests.

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