A critical examination of the impact of Evangelical Christianity on African societies today
Evangelical Christianity's presence is increasing exponentially in African states and is exercising significant influence in virtually all spheres of life.
African Evangelicalism and the Transformation of Africa is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary study of the impact of Evangelical Christianity on Africa. It examines the social, cultural, political, and economic forces at play, and its essays address Evangelical subjectivity and identity formation in Nigeria, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other nations. Its contributors also reflect on ways that the African diaspora and transnational ties have contributed to the makeup of contemporary African Evangelicalism.
Readers will gain a deeper understanding of how Evangelical Christianity is transforming both public and private life in Africa today.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Jacob K. Olupona
Part I: Subjectivity and the Political
1 Governance as Trauma in Nigeria: Turning Evangelicalism into Pentecostal Incredible Nimi Wariboko
2 Evangelical Christianity and Politics in Africa: A New Map for an Old Terrain Esther E. Acolatse
3 Ethiopian Evangelicals and Politics: Polite Distance or Keen Interest? Tibebe Eshete
4 Governing Religious Life in Idi Amin's Uganda Derek R. Peterson
5 "Are You Ready to Hear?": Politics, Prophecy, and Practical Theology in Malawi Blair D. Bertrand
Part II: Embodiment, Gender, and Identity
6 Embodiment and Evangelical Christianity: Missions, Prophets, and Bodies in Post-colonial Democratic Republic of Congo Yolanda Covington-Ward
7 Notes on Women's Evangelical Revolutions in Northern Nigeria Shobana Shankar
8 Weddings Are Not a Sexy Affair!: Youth Sexualities, Embodiment, and Moral Imaginaries in a Neo-Pentecostal Church in Kenya Damaris Seleina Parsitau
9 "A Mightier Power": Women and Gender Construction in the African Challenge, 1951–1961 Andrew E. Barnes
Part III: African Traditional Religion and Interfaith Relations
10 Awakening the Market: Small Pentecostal Genres and Religious Accommodation in Kinshasa Katrien Pype
11 "Let us Offer Thanks for the Nation of Ghana": Indigenous Harvest Festival as a Civil Ceremony of Thanksgiving Mariam Goshadze
12 "I Am a Witch for Jesus!": Confronting Ritual Praxis, Symbolic Violence, and Trauma in African Evangelical Pentecostalism Afe Adogame
Part IV: Global/Transnational Christianity and Mission
13 Some Thoughts on Evangelical Christianity in Africa and the Diaspora Jacob K. Olupona
14 African Evangelical Politics in Global Perspective Paul Freston
15 "Africa . . . Leads the Way": Kwame Bediako's Understanding of the Remaking of Christian Theology Tim Hartman
16 Evangelical Transformation and Transnationalism in Africa Stephen Offutt
About the Contributors
Reviews
"This edited book is a testimony to the fact that African Evangelism truly engenders transformational impulses and insights. The rivers of faith that flow throughout the African diaspora have inexorably produced fresh constellations for engaging Christianity. The perspectives and paradigms that are carefully laid out in this book are creative, critical, and cross-cultural. I recommend it with robust enthusiasm."—Akintunde E. Akinade, professor of comparative theology, Georgetown University in Qatar
About the Author
Jacob K. Olupona is professor of African and African American studies in Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and a professor of African religious studies at Harvard Divinity School. He has written and edited several volumes on African religion, including African Religions: A Very Short Introduction (2014).
