Product Description

"[Bockie's] description of Kongo culture is vivid, beautifully clear, and absolutely authentic, as only a native could make it.... I don't know of anything of its kind that is both as good, ethnographically, and as readable."  -- Wyatt MacGaffey

"Simon Bockie has written an engaging, often personal account of the views and behaviors surrounding death in his own society, the Kongo of Lower Zaire, northern Angola, and the Congo." -- Cahiers d'Etudes africaines

"... excellent book of Kongo religious life and thought... " -- Religion

"It is a book that is remarkably well written, both for its readability and for its explanatory value.... the book is a superb starting place for understanding Kongo religion, and will work as an introduction to African religion in general as well."  -- International Journal of African Historical Studies

"... an excellent introduction for anyone seeking to understand Kongo traditional culture and thought." -- Oshun

Rich in anecdote and case histories, Death and the Invisible Powers is a personal account of the spiritual life of the Kongo people. It describes the ancient traditions that nourish a culture whose name symbolizes the heart of Central Africa.

Customer Reviews (3)

Inspired by Invisible Powers
Years after I had grown up, went through a number of ordeals that I had to overcome and researching my own book, I came across this book. Because the author wasn't writing about how to perform magical rituals and the like, I didn't read it immediately but off and on, I would thumb through the pages and then put it down. Then one day, I was inspired to read it and when I did, I was just at awe because there was a section that talked about when the people couldn't get change in their lives. They would do their best to offend God. This was powerful to me because when I was a teen, I did the same thing, which inspired me to follow the spiritual path that I am on today. Naturally, I started at the beginning and read the book, because "someone(s)" thought it was important that I read it.

Like most thesis turned book, it is composed of a lot of surveys about the Kongo religious beliefs and practices as they exist today. Fortunately, his detailed explanations about the numerous beliefs and practices that continue to exist despite the influence of Christianity compensate for the dry analytical-ness of the book.Such as how the people address certain issues like AIDS from a communal perspective.Unlike in western society where the ailing are isolated and allowed to wither away. It is understandable why the author conducts this type of survey and comparison because otherwise one would not see the uniqueness of these cultural beliefs. It is through such an analysis it becomes clear that being religious and living religious are completely different.The Kongo people as seen through their old beliefs and practices were and are living according to Christian principles before they were Christianized.

Anyway, there were a lot of fascinating things I discovered from reading this book. One of the most interesting beliefs I came across was how the people in this particular part of the Kongo viewed ill-intent spirits, as being reptiles. Anyone familiar with the Kamitic (Ancient Africans of Egypt) spiritual beliefs will note that the ill-intents spirits of that tradition were associated with reptiles as well-particularly certain types of snakes. I think after I read this, it became apparent to me why I was inspired to read this book in the first place. It was because I needed it for my book, MAA AANKH: Finding God the Afro-American Spiritual Way, by Honoring the Ancestors and Guardian Spirits. I highly recommend this book because although it is written from an anthropological perspective, it is rich with information on how the Kongo beliefs and practices have survived by molding new concepts like Christianity to it, and not the other way around.

I enjoyed this book very much
The author states this book arose out of his doctoral thesis, which explains the rigorous approach to its subject matter.Anyone who has studied history or anthropology at college could easily understand the author's approach.I was very impressed with this book's presentation of Kongo community, family, education, social mores, and religion.Mr. Bokie himself qualifies as a member of a Christian church, but, as he explains in numerous examples, many if not most Kongo peoples beleive and practice Kongo traditions even if they are members of various Christian or syncretic churches.I personally prefer the scholarly over the confessional, though it should be noted the author presents numerous personal ancedotes throughout the book that help further his discussion of the subject matter.All in all I found this to be a very well written, intelligent and thoughtful book.I highly recommend it.

Concise, intelligent survey - even though dry at times
Simon Bockie does a bang-up job surveying the religious structures, beliefs and practices of one large tribal affiliation (BaManienga) in the Kongo region. Though a bit deadening, being more scholarly than confessional, it's very thoroughgoing as to what he sets out to do: in addition to covering purely native cults, he includes mention of the numerous eclectic amalgams of native and Christian faiths which were an eventual result of early rampant colonialism.

Since he's not a medicine man or sorcerer or any of that kind of thing himself, he doesn't get inside the system as does, say, Malidoma Somé (the Dagara people of Burkina Faso and Ghana), or the Zulu shaman Credo Mutwa.

But his last chapter "God" does an about face from the general dryness, and shows how in fact God was in Congolese religion well before the Christian missionaries hit the beaches, and how the new proselytizers really didn't bring anything gratifyingly new or spiritually enlightening to the region. He writes some beautiful and wise passages here, then also makes it plentifully evident that the best of the 'amalgams' graft the new onto the old, rather than indulging in subordination of native to Christian beliefs. ... Read more