Prayer for Rain: A Pentecostal Perspective from Kenya

Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, has a population of 3.5 million people. The concentration of Pentecostal and charismatic churches in Nairobi, as in other African cities, has more than doubled since the 1970s. The Kenya meteorological department in June 2016 forecast poor short rains in 2016. By December 2016, the Thika Dam (Ndakaini), which provides 85 percent of the water used in Nairobi, was below the 50 percent level. This led the Nairobi water and sewerage company to issue detailed water‐rationing programmes effective 1 January 2017. With dry taps across the city, actual effects of depressed rains were visible. Using fieldwork data, this paper examines the response, if any, of three Pentecostal churches in Nairobi in two separate month‐long periods, July 2016 and January 2017, to the meteorological department and Nairobi water and sewerage alerts. Three services for each Pentecostal church were sampled, bringing the total number of church services to nine. From fieldwork data, a vibrant African Pentecostal eco‐theology emerges, which is the greening of all of God's creation on earth. Using typologies available for defining the relationship between human beings and nonhuman nature identified within public theology discourse, I find that two of the congregations align themselves with utilitarian anthropocentrism and nature‐centred approaches, while the other defies plausible positioning.     

“It Depends on What You Mean by Starting”: An Exploration of How Women Define Initiation of Aggression and Their Motives for Behaving Aggressively

This study explored women's use of aggression, focusing on how they define initiation of aggression and what motives they have for behaving aggressively. Twenty-five women who had used aggression during conflicts with their romantic partners were interviewed. Results indicated that, while the women reported initiating aggression in the majority of conflicts described (54%), they varied in how they defined initiation, with some believing that initiating aggression meant being angry, bringing up the conflict issue, or persistently asking the partner to engage verbally. Twelve categories of motives for the use of aggression were also identified. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, highlighting the ongoing need for an ecological perspective when studying women's use of aggression.     

The Chilling Effect and Family Secrets

Two studies were conducted to test a theoretical model of the psychological and communicative links that mediate the impact of the chilling effect on the continued concealment of secrets in families. More specifically, we argued that individuals' continued concealment of a secret from aggressive family members would be mediated by the desire for protection (both of self and others). It was also hypothesized that the need for protection would negatively influence whether people felt that they had the communication efficacy to reveal their secret to these family members, which would also foster continued concealment. The results from Study One suggested that protection mediated the connection between family members' aggression and individuals' concealment of secrets from them. In addition, regardless of whether people believed they could communicate the secret to aggressive family members or not, they were likely to continue to conceal the secret if they were afraid that it would either hurt themselves or others. Results from follow up interviews in Study Two verified the model and also elaborated on the role of communication efficacy in this process.