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Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy

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Department Chairperson

  • Prof. L. Togarasei
    Prof. L. Togarasei

Departmental Lecturers

  • Dr. M. Manyonganise
    Dr. M. Manyonganise
  • Dr. L. Tsara
    Dr. L. Tsara
  • Mr. S. Jeje
    Mr. S. Jeje
  • Mr. T. Matutu
    Mr. T. Matutu
Prof. L. Togarasei

Academic Qualifications

PhD (2003)

MA (1997)

BA Hons (1995)

BA General (1994)

 

Research interests

His research is the area of religion/the Bible and African Christianity (often Pentecostal), especially in the areas of health and healing, media and technology, music and popular culture, politics, environment, and gender.

Selected Publications:

Books

  1. Togarasei Lovemore and Chitando Ezra (eds.), 2021. Lobola (Bride price) in Contemporary Southern Africa, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
  2. Togarasei Lovemore, David Bishau and Ezra Chitando (eds.), 2020. Religion and Social Marginalisation in Zimbabwe, Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press, ISBN: 978-3-86309-745-5, 253pp.
  3. Ezra Chitando , Masiiwa R. Gunda and Lovemore Togarasei (eds.), 2020. Religion and Development in Africa, Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press, ISBN: 978-3-86309-735-6, 498pp.
  4. Togarasei, Lovemore (ed.), 2018. Aspects of Pentecostal Christianity in Zimbabwe, Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, ISBN 978- 3-319-78564-6 and 978-3-319-78565-3 (eBook).
  5. Francis Machingura, Lovemore Togarasei and Ezra Chitando (eds.), 2018, Pentecostalism and Human Rights in Contemporary Zimbabwe, New Castle Upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Press, ISNB: 978-1-5275-0586-5

 

Chapters in books 

  1. Lovemore Togarasei, 2022, Bible and Theology in Africa (in Bongmba, E. (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of African Theology, London: Routledge, pp. ISBN 9781032336138)
  2. Lovemore Togarasei, Educational Trends in Eco-diaconia in the Context of Zimbabwe, (in D. Beros et al (eds), International Handbook of Creation, Care and Eco-diakonia, Oxford: Regnum Books  ISBN: 978-1-914454-60-8).
  3. Lovemore Togarasei, 2021, Re-reading the Old Testament with Christian men in Southern Africa in the context of gender-based violence: a proposal, (in Chitando, E, Mombo , E and Gunda, M. (eds.), That All May Live!: Essays in honour of Nyambura J. Njoroge, Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press, pp.127-142. ISBN: 978-3-86309-811-7).
  4. Lovemore Togarasei, 2020. Problematising the use of the Bible in the Human sexuality and Pentecostal spirituality debate, (in Kaunda, Chammah (ed.), Genders, Sexualities and Spiritualities in African Pentecostalism, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 19-34. ISBN: 9783030423957).
  5. Lovemore Togarasei, 2020. “And it came to pass….” (The Book of Mugabe 3:1), (in Chitado, Ezra (ed.), Personality Cult and Politics in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, Taylor and Francis, pp.102-115. ISBN).

 

Articles in refereed journals

  1. Rantsudu Polokelo and Togarasei, Lovemore, 2020, Ecclesiological questions arising from the appropriation of social media by Christians, BOLESWA: Journal of Theology, Religion and Philosophy Vol 5:2, 62-73.
  2. Togarasei, Lovemore, 2020, State as patriarch and biblical discipline: theorising state sponsored violence in Zimbabwe, African Identities, DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2020.1813549
  3. Togarasei, Lovemore, 2019. Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh” and Christian Mission to People Living With Disabilities, International Review of Missions 108 :1, 136-147.
  4. Togarasei, Lovemore, 2017. Parenting as Paul’s preferred style/model of leadership: some insights for Christian leadership in communities of faith, Scriptura 116:1, 1-15
  5. Togarasei, Lovemore, 2017, The prophet and divine manifestation: on the translation of ‘prophet’ in the Shona Union Bible, Old Testament Essays 30:3, 819-832.Contact detailsE-mail: togaraseil@zou.ac.zw or ltogarasei@gmail.com

    Telephone:

    +263 242 795991/795990/796464/770743/770744/794731/795518/7997730/793002/7/8 extn 408

     

    Physical Address: Zimbabwe Open University, Faculty of Arts, Culture and Heritage Studies, Department of Languages and Literature, Corner House, 5th Floor, Corner Samora Machel Avenue and Leopold Takawira Street, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Dr. M. Manyonganise

Academic Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy in Biblical and Religious Studies (University of Pretoria, 2016)

 

Master of Arts in Religious Studies (University of Zimbabwe, 1996)

 

Bachelor of Arts Honors in Religious Studies (University of Zimbabwe, 1994)

 

Graduate Certificate in Education (University of Zimbabwe, 2003)

Research Interests

Molly Manyonganise has research interests in religion and politics, gender and religion, religion and sexuality, African Indigenous Religion(s) as well as African Christianity.

Selected Publications

  1. Manyonganise, M. & Mhuru, L. 2022d. Beyond the Sacred Text: Examining the Confusion, Conflicts and Complications at the Intersection of Religion and Law in Zimbabwe. Religions, 13(3), 240; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13030240.
  2. Manyonganise, M. 2022c. The March is not Ended: Church confronting the State over the Zimbabwean Crisis. Religions, 13:107 https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020107.
  3. Manyonganise, M. 2022b. ‘When a Pandemic Wears the Face of a Woman’: Intersections of Religion and Gender during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Zimbabwe in Religion and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern Africa. Eds. Sibanda, F, Mabuya A & Chitando, E. (London: Routledge).
  4. Biri, K. & Manyonganise, M. 2022a. “Back to Sender”: Re-Visiting the Belief in Witchcraft in Post-colonial Zimbabwean Pentecostalism. Religions, 13:49 https://doi.org/10.3390/relI3010049.
  5. Manyonganise, M. & Mhuru, L. 2021d. ‘A Bill from the Pit of Hell?’ Of Civil Partnerships, Marriage and Religion in Zimbabwe. In Law, Religion and the Family in Africa. Eds. Green, Christian, M. & Kabata, F. (Stellenbosch: African Sun Media), 3-22.
  6. Manyonganise, M. 2021c. ‘Ndadhinhiwa (I am fed up): A Missiological Framing of the Gendered Notions of African Pentecostalism in Zimbabwe’. Missionalia, 49:99-114.
  7. Manyonganise, M. 2021b. Rebranding Pentecostalism: An Analysis of the United Family International Church and Prophetic Healing Deliverance Ministries in Innovation and Competition in Zimbabwean Pentecostalism: Megachurches and the Marketization of Religion. Ed. Chitando, E. (London: Bloomsbury Academic), 89-102.
  8. Manyonganise, M. & Museka, G. (2020a). The Sedated Sacred: A Socio-Religious Analysis of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme and Environmental Degradation. in Mother Earth, Mother Africa and African Indigenous Religions. Eds Matholeni, N., Boateng, G.K. & Manyonganise, M. (Cape Town: Africa Sun Media), 67-84.
  9. Manyonganise, M. (2019b): UFIC’s ‘Victorious Ladies’: Using the ‘Annointing to Reclaim Christian Women’s Economic Space in Zimbabwe in Powered by Faith: Pentecostal Businesswomen in Harare, Ed. Mapuranga, T. P. (Eugene: Wipf and Stock), 64-78.
  10. Manyonganise, M. (2017b): Invisibilising the Victimised: Churches in Manicaland and Women’s Experiences of Political Violence in National Healing and Reconciliation in Zimbabwe. Journal for the Study of Religion, 30(1):110-136.
  11. Manyonganise, M. (2016a). A chapter entitled ‘“We will Chop their Heads off”: Homosexuality vs Religio-Political Grandstanding in Zimbabwe’ in Public Religion and the Politics of Homosexuality in Africa, Eds. Van Klinken, A., Chitando, E. (London: Routledge), 63-77.
  12. Manyonganise, M. (2015c): Oppressive and Liberative: A Zimbabwean Woman’s Reflections on Ubuntu. Verbum et Ecclesia, 36(2):32-38.
  13. Manyonganise, M. (2014d): African Independent Churches: The Dynamics of their Political Participation in Zimbabwe in Multiplying in the Spirit: African Initiated Churches in Zimbabwe. Eds.Chitando, E., Gunda, M.R., Kuegler, J. (Bamberg: Bamberg University Press), 161-174.
  14. Manyonganise, M. (2013a): The Zimbabwe We Want Document: A Critique of the Ecumenical Collaborative Response to the Zimbabwe Political Crisis in Prayers and Players: Religion and Politics in Zimbabwe, Ed. Chitando, E. (Harare: SAPES Books), 143-157.
  15. Manyonganise, M. (2010): From ‘Safety’ Zones to Public Spaces: Women’s Participation in Sport in Zimbabwe in Gender, Sport, and Development in Africa: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Patterns of Representations and Marginalisation, Ed. Shehu, J. (Dakar: CODESRIA), 13-26.Contact Detailsmanyonganisem@zou.ac.zwmollymanyonganise@yahoo.com

    Telephone:

    +263 242 795991/795990/796464/770743/770744/794731/795518/7997730/793002/7/8 extn 430

     Physical Address: Zimbabwe Open University, Faculty of Arts, Culture and Heritage Studies, Department of Languages and Literature, Corner House, 5th Floor, Corner Samora Machel Avenue and Leopold Takawira Street, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Dr. L. Tsara

Academic Qualifications

 

PhD in Systematic Theology (UKZN, 2020)

Master of Arts in Religious Studies (Theology) (UZ, 2013)

Bachelor of Arts Honours in Religious Studies (UZ,2011)

 

 

 

Research Interests

Her research interest focuses on Theology and gender, girl child education, sexual and reproductive health and rights, Apostolic indigenous churches, gender and culture and Complexities of women leadership in African Indigenous Religions and the contemporary society.

Selected publications:

Book Chapters

  1. Tsara L and Siwila L (2021) “Dzimba Dzevarwere” (Makeshift clinics) As a Safe Haven for Women’s Reproductive Health in An African Indigenous Apostolic Church in Zimbabwe. A book chapter in That all may live: Essays in Honora of Nyambura J Njoroge, University of Bamberg Press. Ezra Chitando, Esther Mombo and Masiiwa Regies Gunda eds. P. 323-336.
  2. L and Masvotore. P (2022), ‘Leadership Struggles in the Church: Interfacing and Theologizing leadership positions of Women clergy in the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (MCZ).’
  3. L (2020) Religio- Cultural Stand Points Hindering Adolescences and Young Women’s Access to Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights in Zimbabwe. in Religion, Women’s Health Rights and Sustainable Development Goals, Palgrave Macmillan.
  4. Masvotore P and Tsara L (2023) The Virus from Africa? The Religionization and Politicization of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Implications for Zimbabwe in Religion and Health published at University of Bamberg, German.

Articles in refereed journals

  1. Masvotore P and Tsara. L (2020) ‘South Africa’s Road to Democracy Could Have suffered a still birth, had it not been the unseen role played by Women: Interfacing with undercover operations of women’ in Special Edition in Alternation Journal
  2. Masvotore P and Tsara L (2023) Poverty with a feminine face: Theologizing feminization and poverty in Mutasa Nyanga District in Manicaland Province Zimbabwe. (HTS Journal).Contact Detailsemail address: Lindah.tsara@yahoo.com, tsaral@zou.ac.zw.

    Telephone:

    +263 242 795991/795990/796464/770743/770744/794731/795518/7997730/793002/7/8 extn 401

     

    Physical Address: Zimbabwe Open University, Faculty of Arts, Culture and Heritage Studies, Department of Languages and Literature, Corner House, 5th Floor, Corner Samora Machel Avenue and Leopold Takawira Street, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mr. S. Jeje

Academic Qualifications

Research Interests

His research interests are in the areas of Religion and Gender, Land issues, Legal and covenants, Conflicts studies, and issues of Deprivation.

Selected Publications

Jeje Sydney, (2011) Does Relative Deprivations Lead to Millenarianism? Saarbrucken, LAP Lambert Academic Publishing

Jeje Sydney, (2012) Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (grammar and syntax) Module BRST 304, Harare, Zimbabwe Open University Press (ISBN 978-1-77938-519-2)

Jeje Sydney and Tom Tom, (2012) Introduction to Leadership Theories, Module BAEL 102, Harare, Zimbabwe Open University Press

Jeje Sydney and Tom Tom, (2012) Leadership at Work place, Module, Harare, Zimbabwe Open University Press

Jeje Sydney, (2013) Further Studies in Biblical Hebrew (Reading and Translation) Module BRST 310, Harare, Zimbabwe Open University Press

Jeje Sydney, et al, (2014) Religion and Ethics, Module BRST 406, Harare, Zimbabwe Open University Press

Jeje Sydney and Masomere Eliot, (2014) Introduction to World Religions, Module DEPP 172, Harare, Zimbabwe Open University Press

Jeje Sydney “How Animals, Birds, and Babies lost their speech” in Rational Ancestors, scientific rationality and African Indigenous Religions by James L. Cox (1998) Cardiff; Cardiff Academic Press

Contact Details

Telephone: +263 242 795991/795990/796464/770743/770744/794731/795518/7997730/793002/7/8 extn 430

 Physical Address: Zimbabwe Open University, Faculty of Arts, Culture and Heritage Studies, Department of Languages and Literature, Corner House, 5th Floor, Corner Samora Machel Avenue and Leopold Takawira Street, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mr. T. Matutu

Academic Qualifications

Master of Arts in Philosophy (UZ,2012)

Bachelor of Arts Dual Honors in Religious Studies and Philosophy (UZ, 2003)

Diploma in Religious Studies (UZ, 1999)

Research Interests

Tawanda Matutu has research interest in Social and Political Philosophy, Business Ethics, Leadership Ethics and Environmental Ethics.

Contact Details

 Telephone: +263 242 795991/795990/796464/770743/770744/794731/795518/7997730/793002/7/8 extn 430

 

Physical Address: Zimbabwe Open University, Faculty of Arts, Culture and Heritage Studies, Department of Languages and Literature, Corner House, 5th Floor, Corner Samora Machel Avenue and Leopold Takawira Street, Harare, Zimbabwe.