Dr. Samantha Chambo B.Th. (NTC-South Africa), M.A. (NTC-Manchester), Ph.D. (University of Manchester)

 Title: Feasting with Demons or with Christ? An African Spiritual Reading of Ritual Meals in 1 Corinthians 8:1-11:1 and 11:17-34.

Samantha was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She served as a pastor and Bible school teacher in Mozambique for 5 years and as a missionary in the Africa Regional Office for 10 years. She currently serves as the Regional Education Coordinator for the Church of the Nazarene USA/Canada region and lives in Lenexa, Kansas, with her husband Dr. Filimao Chambo. The Chambos have two children - Tsakani, 22, and Emanuel, 19.

Samantha's thesis investigates ritual meals in 1 Cor 8:1-11:1 and 1 Cor 11:17-34 by using Victor Turner's ritual theory and insights from an African cultural context to shed new light on this conversation. It seeks to answer two questions that arise from this African context: do continued practices of ritual meals to honour ancestors constitute idolatry, and can the Lord's supper be used as a means of transformation for holiness in evangelical churches?

This study concludes that ritual meals in honour of ancestors constitute idolatry because they involve unfaithfulness to God when adherents turn to ancestors for well-being in life instead of God and when they accept ancestors as mediators between humans and God instead of Jesus Christ. In addition, the thesis also concludes that ritual meals can be a means for transformation because they create a reciprocal dynamic between vertical and horizontal communitas.