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Author: Gwyneth H. McClendon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2019-11-14
Total Pages: 289
ISBN-13: 1108486576
DOWNLOAD EBOOKUsing Christianity in Africa, this book demonstrates that cultural influences, specifically religious sermons, can impact political participation.
Author: Terence O. Ranger
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 298
ISBN-13: 0195174771
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhat happens when a revivalist religion based on scriptural orthodoxy participates in the volatile politics of the Third World? This volume considers the case of Africa, the region with the world's fastest-expanding population. Christianity, especially in its evangelical and Pentecostal forms, has acquired many millions of new adherents in Africa in recent decades. The attitudes and behavior of these believers could have vast consequences for growth, development and democratization. In his Introduction, editor Terence Ranger provides a historical overview. The book then offers individual case studies of six countries: Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, and Mozambique. The contributors, mainly younger scholars based in Africa, bring first-hand knowledge to their chapters and employ both field and archival research to develop their data and analyses. The result is a groundbreaking work that will be indispensable to everyone concerned with the future of this volatile region.
Author: Richard Elphick
Publisher: James Currey
Published: 1997
Total Pages: 520
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAlmost three-quarters of South Africans in the late-1990s call themselves Christians. From colonial times, when missionaries embroiled themselves in frontier conflicts, until recently, when both defenders and opponents of apartheid draw heavily upon Christian doctrine and ritual, Christian impulses have shaped South Africa.
Author: John Vernon Taylor
Publisher:
Published: 1957
Total Pages: 140
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Paul Gifford
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 1998-07-22
Total Pages: 388
ISBN-13: 9780253212047
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThese detailed analyses of the state of the churches in each country suggest more general patterns operating widely across sub-Saharan Africa.
Author: Adriaan van Klinken
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2021-12-01
Total Pages: 201
ISBN-13: 0197644155
DOWNLOAD EBOOKReligion is often seen as a conservative force in contemporary Africa. In particular, Christian beliefs and actors are usually depicted as driving the opposition to homosexuality and LGBTI rights in African societies. This book nuances that picture, by drawing attention to discourses emerging in Africa itself that engage with religion, specifically Christianity, in progressive and innovative ways--in support of sexual diversity and the quest for justice for LGBTI people. The authors show not only that African Christian traditions harbor strong potential for countering conservative anti-LGBTI dynamics; but also that this potential has already begun to be realized, by various thinkers, activists and movements across the continent. Their ten case studies document how leading African writers are reimagining Christian thought; how several Christian-inspired groups are transforming religious practice; and how African cultural production creatively appropriates Christian beliefs and symbols. In short, the book explores Christianity as a major resource for a liberating imagination and politics of sexuality and social justice in Africa today. Foregrounding African agency and progressive religious thought, this highly original intervention counterbalances our knowledge of secular approaches to LGBTI rights in Africa, and powerfully decolonizes queer theory, theology and politics.
Author: Paul Gifford
Publisher:
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 283
ISBN-13: 9781850659341
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSince independence in 1963, Kenya has been a classic personalised patronage state, run by a corrupt elite for its own benefit, as became tragically evident in December 2007's stolen election and its aftermath. Kenya is also said to be 80 percent Christian. Under the bland label 'Kenyan Christianity', several different overlapping realities can be distinguished, and it is these which Gifford investigates in this book, relating them to the country's politics and public life. The politically engaged form that challenged the dysfunctional one-party state in the early 1990s is given due prominence, but Gifford contends that today the mainline churches, both Catholic and Protestant, are marked less by such political engagement than by their involvement in development, in which foreign missionaries and global networks play a huge role. The theology of Kenya's mainline churches is consciously focused on African culture, as a non-negotiable foundation, and the Catholic church has an additional agenda - to Africanise its religious congregations. Kenya is also noted for its rich variety of African indigenous Churches, all originating in a defence of Kenyan cultures, while in recent decades countless Pentecostal churches have also sprung up. They range from affluent middle class churches to refuges for the poor, but nearly all are characterised by a stress on power, success, achievement and prosperity that prioritises modernity rather than traditional culture. Gifford discusses their deployment of the media, crusades, organisation, theology and use of the Bible, and above all the economics that has made this phenomenon possible. Yet another distinct form is an enchanted Christianity in which demons or spiritual forces are deemed responsible for almost everything
Author: Adriaan van Klinken
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-04-14
Total Pages: 416
ISBN-13: 131707341X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIssues of same-sex relationships and gay and lesbian rights are the subject of public and political controversy in many African societies today. Frequently, these controversies receive widespread attention both locally and globally, such as with the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda. In the international media, these cases tend to be presented as revealing a deeply-rooted homophobia in Africa fuelled by religious and cultural traditions. But so far little energy is expended in understanding these controversies in all their complexity and the critical role religion plays in them. This is the first book with multidisciplinary perspectives on religion and homosexuality in Africa. It presents case studies from across the continent, from Egypt to Zimbabwe and from Senegal to Kenya, and covers religious traditions such as Islam, Christianity and Rastafarianism. The contributors explore the role of religion in the politicisation of homosexuality, investigate local and global mobilisations of power, critically examine dominant religious discourses, and highlight the emergence of counter-discourses. Hence they reveal the crucial yet ambivalent public role of religion in matters of sexuality, social justice and human rights in contemporary Africa.
Author: Adeshina Afolayan
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2018-06-29
Total Pages: 435
ISBN-13: 3319749110
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAs the epicenter of Christianity has shifted towards Africa in recent decades, Pentecostalism has emerged as a particularly vibrant presence on the continent. This collection of essays offers a groundbreaking study of the complex links between politics and African Pentecostalism. Situated at the intersection between the political, the postcolonial, and global neoliberal capitalism, contributors examine the roots of the Pentecostal movement’s extraordinary growth; how Pentecostalism intervenes in key social and political issues, such as citizenship, party politics, development challenges, and identity; and conversely, how politics in Africa modulate the Pentecostal movement. Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa offers a wide-ranging picture of a central dimension of postcolonial African life, opening up new directions for future research.
Author: Jeffrey Haynes
Publisher: Zed Books
Published: 1996
Total Pages: 284
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe impact of religion on the political process has come to the fore in recent years in a wide variety of societies. Yet the significant and varied ways in which the rapidly changing religious context has impacted on the politics of modern Africa is still a relatively neglected field. This book, which is designed to fill this gap in the teaching of African Politics, assembles and analyses an enormous amount of hitherto scattered material on the interaction between politics and religious groups in the post-independence, but also colonial, eras. Dr Haynes focuses on all three of the main organised religious traditions in Africa - Christian, Islamic and 'syncretistic' movements, including the rise of various fundamentalist groups. His thematic and comparative approach embraces all parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, and seeks to locate the role of religion in the African political process in its historical, social and international contexts. In doing so, he illuminates what has often been a profoundly important factor affecting the stability of governments, evolution of civil society and even the development trajectory of many African countries. The author's combination of theoretical context, rich empirical information and thoughtful analysis makes this book ideal as a text for students, as well as commanding a wider interest.
