Dreams in the African Church.The Significance of Dreams and Visions Among Zambian Baptists.(Currents of Encounter 13)

This is a substantial contribution to the understanding of an important aspect of African Christianity; the place of dreams in daily life, and their significance as interpreted by a representative body of African Christians.
Too many studies have worked from an assumption that it is the so-called "Independent" churches that display the authentically African religious characteristics, while the so-called "mainstream" churches reflect the imposition of an essentially Western cultural pattern. Dr Hayashida implicitly challenges this outlook by showing how phenomena which are regularly associated with African Independent churches are part of the stuff of life for devout Baptists in Zambia. This is a careful and sympathetic study by someone alert to pastoral as well as phenomenological issues.

Andrew Walls

Dr. Hayashida's book is a welcome landmark in the theological understanding of dreams and visions in African Christianity. It is simultaneously a comprehensive study of dreams in the Bible and the Church, and an in-depth analysis of the role of dreams in a specific area and Church tradition in Zambia. The author's keen analysis combined with interesting accounts of personal dreams of individuals interviewed "in the field", sheds new light on a phenomenon that occurs all over Africa. While some scholarly attention has been given to the dream and vision phenomenon in mission and independent Churches, Dr. Hayashida's work shows how, dreams that otherwise occur as private experiences, can also have consequences that involve the public, or bring about a major alteration in the life of the dreamer.

John Mbiti