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Religion, Politics, and Identity in a Changing South Africa
What is the role of religion in society? In the wake of September 11, public intellectuals provided easy answers. According to some, religion was the problem, others commented, religion was the solution. Generally, public debate about the force of religion in society has been organized by either/or propositions. Religion is a force for either freedom or bondage, for either peace or war, for either mutual recognition or antagonistic polarization. Analysis of religion and social change has also tended to be framed in terms of oppositions that inform research agendas and public policy. In this book, authors from South Africa, the United States of America, the Netherlands, and Germany test these oppositions.
Shamanism, Discourse, Modernity
Shamanism, Discourse, Modernity considers indigenous peoples’ struggles for human rights, anxieties about anthropocentric mastery of nature, neoliberal statecraft, and entrepreneurialism of the self. The book focuses on four domains - shamanism, indigenism, environmentalism and neoliberalism - in terms of interrelated historical processes and overlapping discourses. In doing so, it engages with shamanism’s manifold meanings in a world increasingly sensitive to indigenous peoples’ practices of territoriality, increasingly concerned about humans’ integral relationship with natural environments, and increasingly encouraged and coerced to adjust self-conduct to comport with and augment government conduct.
The Oxford Handbook of Christian Monasticism
The Oxford Handbook of Christian Monasticism addresses, for the first time in one volume, multiple strands of Christian monastic practice. Forty-four essays consider historical and thematic aspects of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican traditions, as well as contemporary 'new monasticism'.
Religious Identities and the Global South
This book offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary account of religious identities in the Global South. Drawing on literature in various fields, Felix Wilfred analyzes how religious identities intersect with the processes of globalization, modernity, and postmodernity. He illustrates how the study of religion in the Global North often revolves around questions of secularism and fundamentalism, whereas a neo-Orientalist quality often attends study of religion in the Global South. These approaches and theorizing fail to incorporate the experiences of lived religion in the South, especially in Asia. Historically, the religions in the South have played a highly significant role in resistance to the domination by the colonial forces, an important reason for the continued attachment of the peoples of the South to their religious universe. This book puts the two regions and their scholarly norms in conversation with one another, exploring the social, political, cultural, and economic implications.
Religious Leaders and the Regime in the Second Republic of Zimbabwe
Religious Leaders and the Regime in the Second Republic of Zimbabwe looks at the nexus of religion and politics in Zimbabwe. Religious leaders and institutes are discussed as either regime enablers, resistors, or transformers. This book focuses on how religion has played a role in thwarting democracy and has acted as a machine to silence dissenting voices, repression, and poor governance. The book addresses religious figures such as Andrew Wutawunashe, Talent Chiwenga, Bishop Mutendi, and Mapostori. In discussing these figures, the book highlights how ZANU PF has taken advantage of religious power to thwart democracy while rewarding regime enablers. The book also discusses the road to 2023 Zimbabwean elections and highlights the role of the church in creating an enabling and catastrophic environment. This book challenges oppressive systems perpetrated by religious leaders and politicians.
The Prosperity Gospel in Africa
Africans’ prevailing interest in the prosperity gospel is not only connected to the influence of American prosperity teachers reaching a worldwide audience through their imaginative use of the media, but is also related to the African worldview and African traditional religion, and its lasting influence on contemporary Africans and the way they think about prosperity, as well as their interest in prosperity in post-colonial Africa. The research from a classical Pentecostal perspective about the impact of the prosperity message on Africa is necessary, timely, and relevant because of its influence in the African Pentecostal movement and its potential to harm the faith of believers, leading to the potential disillusionment of Christian believers who put their trust (and money) in formulas and recipes that seemingly only work for others, especially the prosperity leaders who lead by example with incredulous riches and wealth.
Women's Spirituality in the Transformation of South Africa
The changes in South Africa, as well as globally, have had varying effects on the lives of South African women. This book traces some of these changes - as well as aspirations for change - in a particular field: women's search for the beyond, the transcendent. The papers range from personal experience to academic proposals for change.
Racial Integration in the Church of Apartheid
In Racial Integration in the Church of Apartheid Marthe Hesselmans uncovers the post-apartheid transformation of South Africa’s Dutch Reformed Church. This church once constituted the religious pillar of the Afrikaner apartheid regime (1948-1994). Today, it seeks to unite the communities it long segregated into one multiracial institution. Few believe this will succeed. A close look inside congregations reveals unexpected stories of reconciliation though. Where South Africans realize they need each other to survive, faith offers common ground – albeit a feeble one. They show the potential, but also the limits of faith communities untangling entrenched national and racial affiliations. Linking South Africa’s post-apartheid transition to religious-nationalist movements worldwide, Hesselmans offers a unique perspective on religion as source of division and healing.
New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa
New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa casts a critical look at Africa's rapidly evolving religious media scene. Following political liberalization, media deregulation, and the proliferation of new media technologies, many African religious leaders and activists have appropriated such media to strengthen and expand their communities and gain public recognition. Media have also been used to marginalize and restrict the activities of other groups, which has sometimes led to tension, conflict, and even violence. Showing how media are rarely neutral vehicles of expression, the contributors to this multidisciplinary volume analyze the mutual imbrications of media and religion during times of rapid technological and social change in various places throughout Africa.
