Johannes Merz
Biographic Data
| ID | 1121191 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Johannes Merz |
| GIVEN NAMES | Johannes |
| FAMILY NAME | Merz |
| SIGNATURE | MERZ J |
| AFFILIATIONS | SIL International |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3533-2385 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Divination, Possession, and Witchcraft
As an anthropologist who is also a Christian I regularly engage with people who have religious expressions and spiritual interests that differ from my own. I have witnessed divination, sacrifices, and possession, and researched witchcraft. In principle, I do not wish to get personally involved in religious or spiritual activities that concern other entities than God, especially if it entails participating in their worship or seeking their favor. …
W sferze ontologicznego półcienia. Ku postsekularnej i teologicznie zorientowanej antropologii
Jako zawodowi antropolodzy, ktrzy odebrali wieckie wyksztacenie, pracujcy dla midzynarodowej organizacji pozarzdowej odwoujcej si do ideaw wiary czsto znajdujemy si midzy przysowiowym motem religijnej teologii a kowadem wieckiej antropologii.Podobnie jak inni antropolodzy ywicy zainteresowania ducho
Jesus Films for World Evangelisation
Dubbing Euro-American Jesus films and using them for world evangelisation has reached an unprecedented popularity to the extent that global audiences are now more likely to be introduced to the biblical message in film, rather than text. Dubbed Jesus films are widely perceived as biblically accurate and authoritative as long as they use translated biblical texts and claim to be historical. The communicative contribution of their images, notably h…
From Culture to People
The culture concept has been crucial to anthropology. Yet, I argue against its use. I examine how Jesus and Paul interacted with, and focused on, people and contend that we shift our attention from culture to people. Human diversity and difference should no longer be categorized into different cultures as relative, bounded and divisive units. Rather, we should view it as an integral part of humanity’s commonality. Shifting our attention to people…
Response to Comment by Michael Jindra on Questions of Culture, Anthropology, and the Bible
https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/87267
Revealing Christ’s Presence in Jesus Films and Dreams
Jesus films remain popular in missionary work, yet little is known about how they communicate. Working with viewers in Benin, West Africa, I observed that they watch films as an embodied practice that goes beyond the explanatory power of meaning-based communication models. For them, the filmic portrayal of Jesus is not an image or representation; it rather reveals Christ’s presence in a veracious and immediate way. Consequently, people experience…
Thinking Anthropologically for the Theologically and Missiologically Engaged
The attitude and ability to think anthropologically is both the most basic and most sophisticated aspect of contemporary anthropology. Thinking anthropologically is putting humans at the center by asking what it is to be human in different places and relationships, and in how we engage with the world around us. Thinking anthropologically is keeping human commonality and cultural and social diversity in balance. Thinking anthropologically is learn…
The culture problem
The honor/shame issue is an important topic in mission, as portrayed in Georges’s The 3D Gospel for example. Proponents of the shame–guilt distinction draw on the popular culture concept of the early 20 th century by assuming that cultures are objects that we can easily grasp and demarcate from one to another. Culture thus becomes a convenient idea to understand difference by generalizing and simplifying the unfamiliar and submitting it to one’s …
Occupying the Ontological Penumbra
In the wake of the postsecular turn, we propose to reappraise both the religious as studied in anthropology and how anthropologists who have religious or spiritual interests can contribute to an emerging postsecular anthropology. Such an anthropology recognizes the failure of secularization theory to dissolve the dichotomy between the religious and the secular. We propose that as anthropologists we consciously occupy the ontological penumbra, an …
Translation and the Visual Predicament of the “Jesus” Film in West Africa
How well does the “JESUS” film communicate cross-culturally? This article shows that much more is communicated through a film's cinematography than through its spoken message. Cultural differences can cause audiences to misunderstand a message, even if its words are translated into the local language. Localized films that take into account the visual culture of their target audiences are necessary for successful communication
I am a Witch in the Holy Spirit
Missionaries have usually responded to witchcraft beliefs either by denying their existence or by diabolizing them. Contemporary cultural anthropology shows that especially in Pentecostalism these beliefs are demonized and thus linked to the devil as part of a moral dualism. In spite of this demonization, the belief in good witchcraft often continues to exist, even though it is stigmatized and thus not addressed in churches. This article analyses…
Furst und Herrschaft. Der Herzog von Franken und seine Nachbarn 1470-1519
Occupying the Ontological Penumbra
In the wake of the postsecular turn, we propose to reappraise both the religious as studied in anthropology and how anthropologists who have religious or spiritual interests can contribute to an emerging postsecular anthropology. Such an anthropology recognizes the failure of secularization theory to dissolve the dichotomy between the religious and the secular. We propose that as anthropologists we consciously occupy the ontological penumbra, an …
I am a Witch in the Holy Spirit
Missionaries have usually responded to witchcraft beliefs either by denying their existence or by diabolizing them. Contemporary cultural anthropology shows that especially in Pentecostalism these beliefs are demonized and thus linked to the devil as part of a moral dualism. In spite of this demonization, the belief in good witchcraft often continues to exist, even though it is stigmatized and thus not addressed in churches. This article analyses…
The culture problem
The honor/shame issue is an important topic in mission, as portrayed in Georges’s The 3D Gospel for example. Proponents of the shame–guilt distinction draw on the popular culture concept of the early 20 th century by assuming that cultures are objects that we can easily grasp and demarcate from one to another. Culture thus becomes a convenient idea to understand difference by generalizing and simplifying the unfamiliar and submitting it to one’s …
Translation and the Visual Predicament of the “Jesus” Film in West Africa
How well does the “JESUS” film communicate cross-culturally? This article shows that much more is communicated through a film's cinematography than through its spoken message. Cultural differences can cause audiences to misunderstand a message, even if its words are translated into the local language. Localized films that take into account the visual culture of their target audiences are necessary for successful communication
Furst und Herrschaft. Der Herzog von Franken und seine Nachbarn 1470-1519
I am a Witch in the Holy Spirit
Missionaries have usually responded to witchcraft beliefs either by denying their existence or by diabolizing them. Contemporary cultural anthropology shows that especially in Pentecostalism these beliefs are demonized and thus linked to the devil as part of a moral dualism. In spite of this demonization, the belief in good witchcraft often continues to exist, even though it is stigmatized and thus not addressed in churches. This article analyses…
Translation and the Visual Predicament of the “Jesus” Film in West Africa
How well does the “JESUS” film communicate cross-culturally? This article shows that much more is communicated through a film's cinematography than through its spoken message. Cultural differences can cause audiences to misunderstand a message, even if its words are translated into the local language. Localized films that take into account the visual culture of their target audiences are necessary for successful communication
Occupying the Ontological Penumbra
In the wake of the postsecular turn, we propose to reappraise both the religious as studied in anthropology and how anthropologists who have religious or spiritual interests can contribute to an emerging postsecular anthropology. Such an anthropology recognizes the failure of secularization theory to dissolve the dichotomy between the religious and the secular. We propose that as anthropologists we consciously occupy the ontological penumbra, an …
Thinking Anthropologically for the Theologically and Missiologically Engaged
The attitude and ability to think anthropologically is both the most basic and most sophisticated aspect of contemporary anthropology. Thinking anthropologically is putting humans at the center by asking what it is to be human in different places and relationships, and in how we engage with the world around us. Thinking anthropologically is keeping human commonality and cultural and social diversity in balance. Thinking anthropologically is learn…
The culture problem
The honor/shame issue is an important topic in mission, as portrayed in Georges’s The 3D Gospel for example. Proponents of the shame–guilt distinction draw on the popular culture concept of the early 20 th century by assuming that cultures are objects that we can easily grasp and demarcate from one to another. Culture thus becomes a convenient idea to understand difference by generalizing and simplifying the unfamiliar and submitting it to one’s …
From Culture to People
The culture concept has been crucial to anthropology. Yet, I argue against its use. I examine how Jesus and Paul interacted with, and focused on, people and contend that we shift our attention from culture to people. Human diversity and difference should no longer be categorized into different cultures as relative, bounded and divisive units. Rather, we should view it as an integral part of humanity’s commonality. Shifting our attention to people…
Response to Comment by Michael Jindra on Questions of Culture, Anthropology, and the Bible
https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/87267
Revealing Christ’s Presence in Jesus Films and Dreams
Jesus films remain popular in missionary work, yet little is known about how they communicate. Working with viewers in Benin, West Africa, I observed that they watch films as an embodied practice that goes beyond the explanatory power of meaning-based communication models. For them, the filmic portrayal of Jesus is not an image or representation; it rather reveals Christ’s presence in a veracious and immediate way. Consequently, people experience…
Jesus Films for World Evangelisation
Dubbing Euro-American Jesus films and using them for world evangelisation has reached an unprecedented popularity to the extent that global audiences are now more likely to be introduced to the biblical message in film, rather than text. Dubbed Jesus films are widely perceived as biblically accurate and authoritative as long as they use translated biblical texts and claim to be historical. The communicative contribution of their images, notably h…
W sferze ontologicznego półcienia. Ku postsekularnej i teologicznie zorientowanej antropologii
Jako zawodowi antropolodzy, ktrzy odebrali wieckie wyksztacenie, pracujcy dla midzynarodowej organizacji pozarzdowej odwoujcej si do ideaw wiary czsto znajdujemy si midzy przysowiowym motem religijnej teologii a kowadem wieckiej antropologii.Podobnie jak inni antropolodzy ywicy zainteresowania ducho
Divination, Possession, and Witchcraft
As an anthropologist who is also a Christian I regularly engage with people who have religious expressions and spiritual interests that differ from my own. I have witnessed divination, sacrifices, and possession, and researched witchcraft. In principle, I do not wish to get personally involved in religious or spiritual activities that concern other entities than God, especially if it entails participating in their worship or seeking their favor. …
Philosophy (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (6 works) · Anthropology (4 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works) · Art (3 works) · Christian Theology and Mission (3 works)