Tribal peoples make sense of their world by formulating supernatural explanations for misfortunes that befall them. At times, their explanations are at odds with biblical theology. The author held “sickness workshops” in order to engage the host culture in critical contextualization of misfortune. This article reports on some of the salient findings from those workshops, including (1) the sociological function of tribal discussions about misfortune, (2) an emic1 conceptualization of misfortune causation, and (3) ideas for engaging the national church on issues surrounding misfortune, such as local cosmology, dreams, retribution, and the breaking of taboos.
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