A PARADIGM SHIFT IN PRE-THEORETICAL
DELIBERATIONS ON CRIME WITHIN SPIRITUAL

EXISTENTIALISM

J R Roelofse

University of Limpopo

ABSTRACT
Explanations on the origins of life, spiritual possession and
death after life cannot be explained from a naturalistic, pos-
itivistic methodological view point simply because scientists
have not ventured deep enough to develop measuring in-
struments for these phenomena. This inadequacy in posi-
tivism has led to the exclusion of theoretical explanations of
crime and desistance as a result of spirituality. The anomaly
can be discharged, had it not been that a bias has devel-
oped against spiritual phenomena which is substantiated in
this article. In a liberal world, emphasising freedom of con-
science and speech, this is a contradiction worthy of en-
quiry. Our existential world has for ages been affected by
behaviour, claimed to be influenced by the supernatural.
The question is whether criminologists can ignore phenom-
ena such as spiritual possession claimed by especially Afri-
cans, aboriginal peoples and some religions? Many perpe-
trators, by their own testimonies, as indicated in the article,
have been motivated by spiritual phenomena in the perpe-
tration of crime. It is necessary to indicate that the article
does not favour a purely spiritual (or religious) approach to
crime but calls for an epistemological assumption within
Criminology that encourages philosophical debates and
theory development, giving consideration to spirituality. This
article argues for a pre-theoretical debate in criminological
philosophy1 and to develop our research into a phenome-
nological capacity to deal with metaphysical issues.

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

Keywords: Philosophy, metaphysics, phenomenology,
spiritual possession, occult, Satanism, crime

INTRODUCTION

Criminological philosophy attempts to introduce philosophy of
crime and existential epistemology, as a foundation for re-
search, from which theory can be developed. Philosophy is a
way of using critical, logical, and systematic thinking to exam-
ine deeply held beliefs or social practices, a preamble to the-
ory (Warren, 1989). It is not meant to replace theory but pre-
cedes theory. The philosophical premises should be the con-
structs and ideas from which grand theoretical perspectives
can be deduced. As Himes and Schulenberg (2013:1) put it,
“Philosophy and theory are perpetually linked; philosophy in-
fluences how one sees the world, theory shapes how one in-
tentionally interacts with that world”. This means that our phil-
osophical foundation will determine how we see the world and
that will determine how we interact with our surroundings.

There are entrenched paradigms that need to be challenged
which will clearly indicate the necessity to review our philo-
sophical approach to criminology. Let us just for a moment
doubt science and challenge its dogma. What if science is not
able to measure a dimension of life due to its abstract dimen-
sions, then ignores it and teaches people to take this dimen-
sion into privacy, insisting that this dimension should not also
assert itself in the public domain? What if people intuitively
know that there is a spiritual world and are bombarded by sci-
entific dogma to ignore it? Explanations on the origins of life,
spiritual possession and death after life cannot be explained
from a positivistic methodological view point simply because
scientists have not extensively explored methods to develop
measuring instruments for these phenomena. If individuals
believe (and experience) sacred or evil things and are then

Theologia Viatorum 41-1-2017

“scientifically” informed that they are “hallucinating” anxiety
and depression may follow. Scientists are not comfortable
when confronted by mysticism, metaphysical tendencies and
religion. Despite this stance of scientists (physical), to not en-
gage in matters that cannot be scientifically measured, mil-
lions of lives around the globe are affected by “super-natural
phenomena.” Okawa (2014), within an African orientation,
puts it this way:

Spiritual possession can be the cause of illnesses, mental
disorders or even crimes, but this phenomenon is not be-
ing treated appropriately since modern medicine and sci-
ence do not recognize the existence of spiritual posses-
sion. Fact is, though, the phenomenon of spiritual posses-
sion is a common occurrence.

This statement clearly indicates that the belief that a human
being can be possessed by an evil spirit is recognised by
some cultures and writers. It is the role of philosophy to argue
and explain such phenomena. The article is not an attempt -,
as Fields (1991:167) puts it, to reduce, “…the causes of a
problem [and] its complexities to simple demons”. The aim of
this article is rather to make a call for the introduction of crim-
inological philosophy in an attempt to introduce metaphysical
and other phenomena, into a criminological perspective and
to challenge researchers (particularly with an ethno-crimino-
logical perspective) to eventually develop theory within a met-
aphysical framework. It is not necessary to prove the exist-
ence of supernatural phenomena and things like demons and
angels but rather to develop research that can develop an un-
derstanding of how these phenomena (true or not) affect be-
haviour.

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

BACKGROUND

Landauer and Rowlands (2001) as well as Vlach (2002) deal
with the five branches of philosophy, namely metaphysics
(study of existence or what is out there), epistemology (study
of knowledge – how do I get to know about what is out there);
ethics (relating to what should one do, based on the former
two questions); politics (study of force and what actions are
permissible); and aesthetics (art and what can be known
about life). There is clearly a hierarchical construction in these
subfields of philosophy. As Landauer and Rowlands (2001:1)
put it:

At the root is Metaphysics, the study of existence and the
nature of existence. Closely related is Epistemology, the
study of knowledge and how we know about reality and
existence. Dependent on Epistemology is Ethics, the study
of how man should act. Ethics is dependent on Epistemol-
ogy because it is impossible to make choices without
knowledge.

From this perspective the argument is put that we cannot truly
proceed with knowledge if the foundation of metaphysics is
not understood and informs the other four subfields. Lan-
dauer and Rowlands (2001:1) argue, that the accuracy with
which the metaphysical worldview is interpreted determines
the degree to which we comprehend the world. “Without this
firm foundation, all knowledge becomes suspect. Any flaw in
our view of reality will make it more difficult to live”.

This statement drives the whole argument unfolding in this
article. What if we have built on an exclusive philosophy that
led to an exclusive epistemology, in particular, ignoring phe-
nomena labelled as “supernatural”? The branch of philoso-
phy, called “metaphysics”, meaning “beyond the physical”,
deals with these matters. It focuses on the existence of God,

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the soul, and life after death. However, the metaphysical con-
struction is completely absent in criminological theory (apart
from the religious school that has been abandoned decades
ago). A scientific epistemology which excludes debates on
these issues may create an exclusive worldview and would
be responsible for a prohibition of existential experiences of a
very large portion of the world’s population. This would mean
that people are scientifically alienated from their supernatural
experiences of their existential world. Why do we not at least
attempt to develop research questions that guide research to
explore the metaphysical as part of constructing, for criminol-
ogy, a worldview that explains matters from the lived experi-
ences of people? Scientifically designed research to explore
firmly held beliefs is not supposed to be marginalised but en-
couraged as phenomenological enquiry.

One paradigm that seems to hold the position of a privileged
position is evolution. It is an example where opposing world
views are simply excluded from school curricula so it be-
comes a singular theory without any challenge within the lib-
eral arts curriculum. Is this science or scientism? For instance
the Supreme Court in America, has rejected the appeal of an
Ohio public school science teacher who was fired for promot-
ing the theory of creationism and refusing to remove religious
materials from his classroom. The court ruled that the school
district “…had grounds to fire John Freshwater in 2011 for in-
subordination for keeping religious books and a poster of a
praying president” (Smith & Welsh, 2013). The question is,
would one succeed if a similar complaint against teaching
evolution and displaying pictures of Darwin is filed? It is clear
that our secular worldview has become intolerant of religious
views. As Hallett (1999:1), referring to an article on religious
values and criminal justice for a Christian forum, puts it, “…it
offers me the freedom to speak my mind about an issue not

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

entirely welcome in my usual forum, that of the secular State
university”. This is part of the problem in current social and
natural sciences that precludes all relevance of religion in de-
bates. This stance is opposed by van Binsbergen (2001:1) an
academic and philosopher, who became a Southern African
diviner-priest (isangoma). He states that:

... at the existential level one can only practice san-
gomahood, and bestow its spiritual and therapeutic bene-
fits onto others as clients and adepts, if and when these
beliefs take on a considerable measure of validity, not to
say absolute validity, at least within the specific ritual situ-
ation within which these practices are engaged in.

In an interview with an isangoma, Fonteleve (2010:1) reports
that the respondent said that a isangoma is called by ances-
tors “…and works mainly with ancestral spirits”. In some in-
stances strong muti (medicine) is used, which consists of
plants, herbs and animal and human parts. This point will be
addressed again later.

The context of the isangoma is spiritual. The context of reli-
gion is spiritual. This applies to all religions including those
such as occultism and Satanism. In the context of this article
it is not postulated that crime can simply be explained by ma-
levolent spiritual possession and desistence by benevolent
spiritual possession. The question is rather how a particular
worldview and spiritual connection motivate behaviour, inter
alia, also criminal behaviour or desistance? The struggle be-
tween good and evil are aptly captured by Krishnananda
(2015) when he opines that man is a dualistic being, having
both good and evil in us. He asserts that there is a continuous
tussle between malevolent and benevolent forces within our
being. Christianity also refers to a condition of being in this
tussle between good and evil. The Holy Spirit is present in the

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believer, but with the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Kostenberger,
1997:229) the believers are endowed with certain gifts such
as healing and prophecy.

Okawa (2014) and Binsbergen (2001) indicate that spiritual
forces are acknowledged in African mythology. Beaulieu
(2011: 28) quotes Duran who asserts that, “Lack of under-
standing of the Native epistemological root metaphor (ways
of being in the world including psychological and spiritual
world) continue to hinder our progression.” In the article on
muti murder2 the author deals with aspects of mythology in
Africa as a driving force for muti (medicine) murders. This evil
practice of removing body parts from a victim is driven by the
belief that life energy can be obtained through the body parts
of a victim and therefore the parts are preferably removed
while the victim is alive. This energy that is sought after is
transcendent. The motive for killing is thus to obtain supernat-
ural power by the harvesting of life energy through body or-
gans. In the same context, police experts presented evi-
dence, to the Farlam Commission, investigating the shooting
of 34 mine workers at a platinum mine near Marikana in the
Northwest province by the South African Police Service,
(SAPA) that the striking workers applied muti to make them
invisible and/or immune to bullets (Maromo, 2013). The muti,
according to evidence was harvested from a security guard
and a police officer, killed two days before the confrontation
with the police. SAPA (2014:1) reports that a witness, simply
known as Mr. X, stated during cross examination, "We killed
them at the bus stop. We burnt one in the car and we took
pieces of flesh from the other one. That would make our muti

2 See Roelofse, CJ. (2014) Ritual and muti murders amongst the vha-Venda
people of South Africa: An ethno-criminological assessment of the phenom-
enon and development of a new typology. Acta Criminologica (Special edi-
tion: Research and application in Criminology & Criminal Justice/1/2014

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

strong, so that we go forward when we attack”. The ash is
normally mixed with other ingredients such as herbs and one
of the ways to apply muti is to make incisions in the body and
rub it in so that it is absorbed. Part of it may be ashes (in this
instance retrieved from the remains of the body in the car). In
the interview conducted by Fonteleve (2010:1) cited above,
the respondent claimed that a baby in the bloodline, destined
to become an sangoma, will be induced with muti through in-
cisions in the body. The practice of administering muti by in-
ducing it into the recipients blood is thus a standard practice
in the culture of the “informed”.

It is evident from the above discussion that spirituality is not
only a religious tenet but it is the subject of reflection, publica-
tion and inspiration for daily living in the lives of many people
on the planet including those who commit crime. As Ovens
and Prinsloo (2010: 4) opine, African theories and paradigms
should furthermore not merely be applied to explain crime
and causality, but also to direct researchers and practitioners
in explaining criminal behaviour…” The African context of this
point is clear, yet religions such as Voodoo, Santeria and
Wicca are exports from Africa and Europe, practiced in Amer-
ica, the Caribbean and Europe. A wider application of an epis-
temology that transcends cultural limitations and geograph-
ical boundaries is contemplated. The metaphysical founda-
tion of a religion and /or culture is the motivational dimension
of belief and eventually, behaviour. Groff and Smoker (1996)
write that when religious beliefs become rigid and dogmatic,
acquiring the dimension of the only truth while other religions
and non-believers, or even variations of the same religion are
rejected, it leads to "fundamentalism" or "fanaticism" or "ex-
tremism”. Horrific crimes and even genocide has been com-
mitted by extremists in the past and are still being perpetrated
in our post-modern society. The conflict in Northern Ireland

Theologia Viatorum 41-1-2017

between Catholics and Protestants and the beheadings by
some elements in ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) come
to mind. Criminological philosophy seems to be an appropri-
ate means of engaging these problems and endeavouring to
develop explanations and control measures.

Having indicated the hierarchy in philosophy as unpacked by
Landauer and Rowlands (2001) as well as Vlach (2002) and
the impact of metaphysics, it is necessary to discuss the
branches of philosophy in the context of this article.

Metaphysics

As our worldview influences our epistemology, criminologists
should not fall into the trap of exclusive scientism. Braterman
(2005:1), concerning the supernatural, boldly states that “I ar-
gue that this view is misguided and damaging. We have not
precluded supernatural claims from discussion. On the con-
trary, we have investigated them and found them wanting…”
This is scientism at its most judgmental level. If one cannot
observe deceitful thoughts, can we argue that they do not oc-
cur because they are unobservable? Should we not rely on
informants’ experiences of spiritual things and how it affects
them? Similarly, criminologists should not reject metaphysical
perspectives but study them from the lived experiences of in-
formants. In an African context, Momoh (1989), argues for a
philosophical worldview based on a metaphysics. This is
supported by Agidigbi (2001) who opines that African philos-
ophy largely proceeds from metaphysical principles and this
is the foundation for resolving religious, social and political is-
sues. This metaphysical worldview creates a moral perspec-
tive that Izibili (2005:1) describes as based on the notion that
God is concerned about morality. Good and evil are concepts
based on a worldview of spirituality but are then socially de-
fined. He proceeds to argue that:

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

• God cannot be indifferent to human welfare be-
cause he is a good God;

• Because he cannot be indifferent to human wel-
fare, He cannot also be indifferent to morality; and

• Therefore, he (God) ensures justice by rewarding
the virtuous and punishing evil doers through the
agency of the gods who serve Him (Izibili, 2005:1-
2).

Good and evil are concepts that are found in virtually all cul-
tures and religions. From a criminological perspective it is
necessary to single out the good for purposes of desistence
and the evil (when contravening law). The dilemma of ambi-
guity is a challenge for our discipline. Worldviews that create
social and legal conflict may lead to crime. Within the African
context muti and ritual murders clearly accentuate the ambi-
guity that lies within the concept of perceived good and evil.
It is the moral evaluation that the community attaches to an
event. If for example someone’s house burns down: have
they received just deserts or is their suffering unjustified?
There is in fact, in African society ambivalence based on
moral legitimacy. The same ambivalence is also prevalent in
Haitian Voodoo. Among some African peoples “witchcraft” is
intrinsically neither morally good nor bad, while the supernat-
ural activities of witches are judged on their perceived effects
and divided into good, protective and bad or destructive witch-
craft (Eb.com.blackhistory, 2008:1; Petrus, 2010; Roelofse,
2014). African spirituality is therefore a fight between good
and evil. That which is harmful to a community is evil and
must be resisted. The concepts of good and evil, traverse cul-
tures and religions and are not confined to African philosophy.

Malevolent spirituality is evident from the life of Charles Man-
son. According to Kennedy (2006: 19), Manson established

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himself as a leader. He started to draw a group of followers
who were primarily well educated, young women with middle-
class upbringings. These attractive females suffered from
deep-rooted psychological problems and took rebellious
stances against their parents and the consumerist economy.
They all used illicit drugs as part of their counter-culture life-
style (Kennedy, 2006). Their lives being influenced by drugs
and the occult, lead to crime and eventually the murder of
Sharon Tate. Having discussed the metaphysical component
within a criminological context, the logical development is to
engage epistemology.

Epistemology

Epistemology and ontology are the fundamental views, the-
ory of knowledge and view of reality that will shape our theo-
retical perspectives and methodology (Raddon, 2015:4).
Mankind are all products of a developing epistemology that
shapes doctrine and it is prudent to reflect to what extent our
beliefs have influenced our epistemology. The venture of this
article is to try and stimulate debate about metaphysics, epis-
temology and praxis. How does different beliefs affect and
stimulate criminal behaviour and how can philosophical and
theoretical deliberations explain these phenomena?

Some paradigmatic changes have taken place in the world.
The advancement of science has brought major progress in
all domains of our lives. The advance of medical science, avi-
ation and computer science to mention just a few, have
changed our world. However, natural scientists have re-
served the space as the sole guardians of all truth. The dog-
matic stance on science is what has been coined “scientism”.

Scientism is the worldview held by a majority of people in the
western world that claims that all that 'is' and all that 'can be
known' is verifiable or falsifiable through the scientific method,

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

and that which cannot be so measured is simply opinion, be-
lief, or fantasy. It cannot be known and sensibly talked about
and hence should be relegated to the private sphere (Beiden,
2007:1).

As indicated earlier, scientists are sceptic about the existence
of a spiritual world. This is an exclusive approach where only
science is recognised as having access to truth. Whatever
falls outside the scientism approach is superstition, conjec-
ture and fantasy. This is vividly demonstrated in a quote from
Braterman (2014: 7):

“I have no need of that hypothesis.” So, according to leg-
end, said the great astronomer and mathematician Piere-
Simon, marquis de Laplace, when asked by Napoleon why
he had not mentioned God in his book. If so, Laplace was
not referring to the hypothesis that God exists, but to the
much more interesting hypothesis that He intervenes in the
material world. And Laplace’s point was not, fundamen-
tally, philosophical or theological, but scientific.

This argument states that there is only room for science and
science takes precedence over religion. Logic necessitates
that reasoning is based on verifiable data according to posi-
tivistic empiricism (Mastin, 2008). Logical positivism, or logi-
cal empiricism, as a philosophical movement, originated in
the early twentieth century in Vienna. and holds the view “…
that scientific knowledge is the only kind of factual knowledge
and that all traditional metaphysical doctrines are to be re-
jected as meaningless” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2015:1).
Mastin (2008) proceeds to explain that a standard scientific
language is being developed into which all knowledge should
be coded “…and the associated ongoing project of "rational
reconstruction", in which ordinary-language concepts were
gradually to be replaced by more precise equivalents in that
standard language”.

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According to Younkins (2000), Kant argued that reality is de-
pendent on the cognitive functioning of the human mind in to-
tal. “Society sets the norms of truth and falsity and right and
wrong”. (Ibid., p.1). This implies that there exists a moral mo-
bility that is dependent on dictates of a changing social con-
text. This is the crux of Kant’s social primacy of conscious-
ness theory in metaphysics.

Man’s ideas are essentially a collective delusion from which
no person has the power to escape. If a man sees things dif-
ferently from the majority, then he must be mistaken due to
some defect in his own information processing mechanism.
Since and because of Kant, “objectivity” is generally thought
to mean collective subjectivism. Truth, to the extent that it can
be known in the phenomenal world, is to be determined by
means of public polls (Younkins 2000:1). The paradox of a
majoritarian subjectivism, replacing “objectivity” functions in a
Delphi-rehearsal until consensus emerges. Hence individual-
ity is usurped by mass conversion to a particular doctrine and
new language (Mastin 2008).Thus there is a universal con-
ception by which individualism becomes alien. The standard
language is the language of the prevailing dogma of the rela-
tive worldview. The logical flaw in this argument lies within the
historical concept of our world and the fact that standard lan-
guage is removed from history. If we do not exactly, scientifi-
cally know history (in this case of the origin of the cosmos and
life) how can we base science on inaccurate historical propo-
sitions?

In regression, knowledge is based on a regression foundation
where premise 1 is based on 2 and 2 on 3 and so ad infinitum.
Rational empiricism takes a gigantic leap into the founda-
tional premise (of the origin of life and species) which is not
knowable outside of revelation. To construct a theory such as

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

evolution requires not only regression analyses but also pro-
gressive analyses of which one branch should be futuristic
evolution and questions such as what is man evolving to be-
come or at least provide logical explanations why evolution
has slowed down or even came to a halt? To build science,
opposing views cannot simply be brushed aside and then
change the scientific language to suite scientism (Mastin,
2008). This makes the tools of research the judges of
knowledge and not the data extracted from the phenomena
being researched. Excluding everything that scientism does
not approve of implies selective epistemology.

Human behaviour is not always rational but can be erratic at
times and as demonstrated earlier, influenced by metaphysi-
cal tendencies. The motivation of this article is to call for a
pre-theoretical paradigm, searching for explanations of be-
haviour that involves criminality motivated by metaphysically–
driven pre-dispositions. Criminological philosophy should be
an approach in criminology that rely on qualitative methodol-
ogy to do research on how particular worldviews, acknowl-
edging the spirit world, influence behaviour. Such questions
as how does a secular or spiritual worldview act as desisting
or precipitating motivational dimensions in crime, should be
philosophically debated and give direction to research in or-
der to formulate theory. Furthermore, do different religions
have a different impact on their followers and how does this
effect desistence or predisposition? It is not an argument
simply based on a spiritual paradigm but an attempt to un-
cover the lived experiences of people who claim to have been
influenced by a spiritual worldview. Through using a phenom-
enological approach, and by making enquiry into the lived ex-
periences of people, philosophical and theoretical perspec-
tives can be developed. It should however be said that courts
recognise the spirit world, calling on those who testify to

Theologia Viatorum 41-1-2017

swear by God that they will speak “the truth and nothing but
the truth, so help me God”. The preamble to the South African
Constitution, Act 108 of 1996 asks God to bless Africa. While
courts are considering God and religion it is interesting to note
Perlmutter’s (2013) opinion. As an expert witness in occult
crimes mentioned earlier, she calls for a suspension of West-
ern values. It is an interesting stance as the original western
construction of the metaphysical world was based on biblical
principles. These have already been suspended. Her call is
now to suspend the current secular paradigm for a new spir-
itual one in which occult practices can be explained. This pre-
sents the crime precipitating part of mysticism while this arti-
cle also calls for the malevolent and desisting part of spiritu-
ality and religion. The influence of a particular worldview is
interestingly enough evident from court proceedings in the
UK.

A judgment in the UK has taken religious education into ac-
count in sentencing. Zaimov (2015:1) reported on a case
where an 18 year old boy admitted that he had sex with an
under-aged girl but was ignorant of the fact that his action
constituted rape “…because he was raised with a Muslim ed-
ucation and was not aware of the law”. Spencer (2013:1) re-
ports that judge Michael Stokes did not impose a jail sentence
on the accused who apparently was taught in an Islamic faith
school that women were worthless. The question here is to
what extent natural law moderates this opinion in a justice
perspective or whether a worldview takes precedents in the
penelogical part of sentencing? In this case it clearly did. This
is certainly an opportunity for criminological philosophy to
make a contribution. This logically leads to ethical considera-
tions

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

Ethics

Ethics, the study of how man should act, is also informed by
our worldview as interpreted through our epistemological ap-
proach. Humanists believe some things are right for some
people and some situations, that may be “wrong” for other
people and other situations. Particular examples are abortion
and euthanasia. The secular worldview argues that every-
thing depends on the situation and values, morals, and ethics
are determined by each person for him or herself. Therefore,
to tell someone else that their behaviour is “wrong” or “sinful”
is considered to be intolerant. “Intolerance” (defined this way)
is not tolerated (Hall, 2005:1 -30). Knowledge, derived from
a particular worldview, therefor directs epistemology and in
turn it influences ethics.

Philosophers deal with justifications mainly through a priori
and a posteriori knowledge. Philosophy states that any given
proposition is knowable a priori if knowledge is obtained inde-
pendent of experience other than the experience of learning
the language in which it is expressed. A proposition that is
knowable a posteriori is known based on experience (Bhaer,
nd:1). If a religion, folklore or culture teaches a metaphysical
perspective on life as a priori knowledge and a believer or
adherent to a particular worldview experiences an event that
is super-natural (a posteriori) how does our ethics engage
this? The question is whether knowledge can also develop in
a metaphysical way? Transcendentally, there is another form
of knowledge, namely revelation, claimed by religious people
(a metaphysical way of knowing). These are the questions
that criminological philosophy should endeavour to explain as
far as such experiences may lead to criminal activity or de-
sistance.

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Revelation

Revelation is not conditional. It is not based on a priori and a
posteriori knowledge. Revelation is a way of knowing outside
the realms described by current philosophical deliberations.
This is a particular spiritual way of knowing. Author C. S.
Lewis was an atheist for the first three decades of his life.
Then, after much soul searching, he concluded that God ex-
ists. This was not, however, the end of his religious transfor-
mation. On September 28, 1931, at age 33, he got into the
sidecar of his brother’s motorcycle to travel to Whipsnade Zoo
near London. “When we set out,” he says, “I did not believe
that Jesus Christ is the son of God, and when we reached the
zoo I did. Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought.
Nor in great emotion. . . . It was more like when a man, after
a long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that
he is now awake.” (Connor, 2015:1). The apostle Paul3 wrote
in Galatians 2:21, “I went there because God revealed to me
that I should go”. To evaluate such a statement it is neces-
sary to look at faith. Swindal (n.d. 1) indicates that “[r]eligious
faith involves a belief that makes some kind of either an im-
plicit or explicit reference to a transcendent source. The basis
for a person's faith usually is understood to come from the
authority of revelation”. Revelation can either be from a direct
source, or indirect, as a result from a testimony by another
person. He continues to argue that, “The religious beliefs that
are the objects of faith can thus be divided into those what are
in fact strictly demonstrable (scienta) and those that inform a
believer's virtuous practices (sapientia)”. Revelation is not de-
pendent on effort but is a consequence of a priori knowledge
that becomes a spiritual revelation of matters that are tran-
scendental in nature. This is dependent on a belief that man

3 New Living Translation

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
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is a spirit being as well and that recognising the spirit world
man can receive revelation. By not recognising the spirit world
and by excluding the possibility that man can have revelation
of this world and interact with it, revelation is excluded as a
form of knowing things. This is the shortcoming in positivistic
epistemology. By not engaging in a phenomenon that is not
measurable, it is already labelled as unscientific. This is why
Ellerby (2006) calls for an Integrated Indigenous Phenome-
nology. This is discussed later in the article. Phenomena that
cannot be explained through existing empiricism abound and
are in need of investigation. This particularly interests the au-
thor in as far crime forms part of such phenomena.

OCCULT AND CRIME

The recognition of harmful practices and crime stemming
from Satanism and some occult practices can be substanti-
ated by the fact that police organisations in some countries
have established specialised units to deal with crimes ema-
nating from such practices. The national commander of the
unit in South Africa during a media briefing said. “Drug abuse
is the common denominator in all levels of satanism… it is the
primary source of mind-altering experiences for the satanists,
thereby giving them a false sense of power and spiritual po-
tency”. (Lamprecht, 2014:1). In the same statement is was
revealed that the Gauteng Provincial Harmful and Religious
Practise Unit were currently investigating 48 dockets and
have interviewed 452 people. In a case in Soweto, two teen-
agers who committed murder admitted that they got inter-
ested in the occult and starting worshipping Satan and per-
formed rituals such as lighting candles and drinking blood.
They wanted power and wealth (Jordaan, 2015:1). Accused
number one indicated that he became aware of Satanism in
2010 at the age of 12. He was listening to a lot of Rap music
and discovered that rappers were talking about Satanism. He

Theologia Viatorum 41-1-2017

also discovered that certain rappers and pop stars in the
United States were worshipping Satan which led to their suc-
cess. Through the internet he started doing his own research
about Satanism, as he desired to be successful in life. Ac-
cused number two said, in connection with the murder that he
felt as if he was burning up, he was then transported to a de-
sert where it was extremely hot. He then started digging for
water, he dug deeper for water as he was about to drink the
water he then came back to the scene. That is when he real-
ised that his act of digging in the desert, he was actually stab-
bing one of the deceased. After that he gave the knife to the
other child offender who said that he heard the demons in-
structing him to destroy the deceased who refused to carry
out the ritual (Case No: PLI 137/2014). The statement seems
to indicate, that at least temporarily, the perpetrator was un-
der the control of another force. This murder occurred in So-
weto in South Africa. In another part of the country satanistic
motivated behaviour was experienced

In the Free State, in central South Africa, Fouche, (2012:1)
reports that a trauma therapist in the capital city of the prov-
ince, Bloemfontein, remarked on a group, known as 666s,
that oversees a number of other gangs such as the Born to
Kill, Natural Born Killers and International Junior Portuguese).
“Members of the 666 gangs are typically involved in crimes
such as armed robberies and trade in human body parts.”
What has been witnessed in the Free State, is the outcome
of a migration from West Africa. Much as Voodoo and San-
teria are considered as Afro-Caribbean religions, they hail
from West Africa and

…originated in the 18th and 19th centuries during African
slave trading when owners imposed Catholicism on their
slaves and forbade traditional religious practices. In an at-

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

tempt to maintain their cultural and religious beliefs, Afri-
cans disguised their religion by assigning each of their
gods the image of a Catholic saint... (Perlmutter, 2013:4).

This is confirmed by Valentine, (2011:1) who writes that
slaves in Louisiana (USA) developed a syncretic religion by
amalgamating Catholicism with ancient “Vdoun” (Voodoo)
that developed in West Africa.

The first base of settlement for the 666 migrants was in Leso-
tho and then from there they spread into the eastern Free
State and then further throughout the province. De Beer
(2012:1) writes that:

At this point groups were loosely structured and more fo-
cussed [sic] on ritual magic, blood sacrifices, the drinking
of blood and worshipping Satan as deity. As these devil
worshipping cults grew over a period of 15 years, they
spread throughout the Free State province, especially in
the rural areas. They became known as the 666’s.

Further reports of occult activity emanate from reports about
a new phenomenon that has gripped teenagers around the
globe, the so-called charlie-charlie “game”. The “game” is in-
festing schools in South Africa. This involves two pencils
placed in the form of an “X” one over the other, and the words
“yes’ and “no’ written on a paper and asking Charlie ques-
tions. The pencils then move by some force without any of the
participants touching it. Erasmus (2015: 6) reports that chil-
dren in a school in Limpopo showed erratic behaviour after
being exposed to the game. Eye witnesses stated that when
a teacher started to pray the pencil stopped moving. These
are reports of those who witnessed the events. Pieterse and
Umraw (2015:1) report form Pietermaritzburg that they spoke
to top learners in a number of private and public schools
about the phenomenon. They also describe the game as be-

Theologia Viatorum 41-1-2017

ing played on a piece of paper in a similar fashion as de-
scribed above. It seems to be a different version of “… the
older Glassy Glassy game and is said to summon a demon
known in Mexican folklore as “Carlitos”, who moves the pen-
cils to answer questions posed to him”. According to the writ-
ers a learner said that he played it together with some friends
out of pure curiosity, …but ... When the pencil moved after we
asked Charlie if he was in the room, we all got up and ran,”
(Pieterse and Umraw (2015:1). These reports of something
out of the ordinary based on reports of those who participated
or observed the “game” are worthy of inquiry. This cannot
simply be brushed aside as irrational. We should clearly heed
the calls from researchers like Perlmutter (2013); Ellerby
2013) to shun our Western epistemological ideas and look at
ways of doing research on the supernatural Integrated Indig-
enous Phenomenology. The only proviso the author has is
that spiritual phenomena cannot be confined to Africa. The
epistemology advocated by Ellerby (2006) should rather
make room for a metaphysical phenomenology.

CRIMINOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHY AND CRIME

Volumes have been written about crime, its possible causes
and solutions. This article argues for a more tolerant episte-
mology that also considers alternatives to the current secular
view and allows research into phenomena in a way that is not
exclusivist. Having indicated that criminologists should take
cognisance of the fact that some perpetrators indicate contact
with the spiritual world, the challenge to researchers is to
carry out research based on alternative worldviews (meaning
other than secular) and to look at spiritual possession by
forces reported to be malevolent or benevolent as precipita-
tors or desisting forces. The influence of occult associations,
black magic and harmful religious practices should be thor-
oughly researched in their relationships/associations with

A paradigm shift in pre-theoretical deliberations on crime within spiritual existen-
tialism

crime. We should also do research on crimes committed in
the name of religion. The Roman Catholic inquisition and cur-
rent jihad attacks are typical examples of such crimes. Such
studies will enable us to develop theory on a vital part of hu-
man existence and open dimensions of crime causation hith-
erto not adequately covered in Criminology. Criminosophy
should lead us into research that will help us in developing
new theories on crime and the “supernatural”. This is well
summed up in the words of Hanegraaff (nd:9) when discuss-
ing western esotericism when he calls “..for the study of west-
ern esotericism not to restrict itself to empirico-historical de-
scription of narrowly-circumscribed currents and personali-
ties, but also to develop interpretive theories pertaining to var-
ious dimensions of western esotericism in general”.

RECOMMENDATIONS

We need to heed the wisdom of the father of phenomenol-
ogy, Husserl, who declared that we should study things out-
side of the demand for veracity and validity. This means re-
searchers must set aside the belief in what is true and real.
This creates an opportunity for researchers to use phenome-
nology to study religion and worldviews that fall outside the
positivistic paradigm. It is recommended that criminologists
develop research studies that will involve more cross-discipli-
nary approaches, particularly with anthropology and religious
studies. There is a dire need in our epistemology to engage
the matters of metaphysics and particularly what is under-
stood to be the spiritual world.

Theologia Viatorum 41-1-2017

CONCLUSION

Criminosophy or criminological philosophy should take cogni-
sance of the fact that there are phenomena that are not easily
explained with positivistic methodology. Yet phenomena in
the metaphysical/transcendental domains impact on the lives
and behaviour of people. Research should be undertaken
that may challenge entrenched scientism and develop ques-
tions for research that can shed light on transcendental phe-
nomena. Scientists are not comfortable when confronted by
mysticism, metaphysical tendencies and religion. Whether it
is western esoteric phenomena, African mysticism, occult
practices or other supernatural phenomena, the challenge to
criminologists is to engage these issues through specific epis-
temological practices that will allow us to get insight into how
these phenomena are possibly associated/related with crime.

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ABSTRACT
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