Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'Giving God his due?': understanding tithing and its function within the Seventh-Day Adventist Church
Author:Jacobs, Evan Carl Edward
Year:2015
Periodical:Anthropology Southern Africa (ISSN 2332-3264)
Volume:38
Issue:3-4
Pages:235-247
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:Baptist Church
gifts
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/23323256.2015.1077466
Abstract:This paper focuses on the practice of tithing as an extraordinary form of religious giving, in South Africa. Tithing involves habitually giving ten percent of one's income to the church, and since this is such a significant portion of a person's income, its giving should reflect that significance. The paper seeks to understand why people tithe, and whether they expect anything in return from the community to which they tithe. In an attempt to find answers, attention is placed on members of the South African division of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, as this denomination has exhibited an upward trend in tithe-giving behaviour over the last decade. The information gathered through participant-observation is analysed by placing it within an anthropological discourse of gift-exchange. Through this lens, the paper argues that tithing functions to produce group solidarity by maintaining the relationships between clergy, laity and their deity Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
Views
Cover