Yale University Library Research Guides: African Christianity: Religion & Politics

Christianity and Politics

Christianity and Public Culture in Africa (Online) by Harri Englund (Editor) Shows how critical reason and Christian convictions have combined in surprising ways as African Christians confront issues such as national constitutions, gender relations, and the continuing struggle with HIV/AIDS. The wide-ranging essays included here explore rural Africa and the continent's major cities, colonial and missionary legacies, and mass media images in the twenty-first century.
Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa and Latin America (Online) by Paul Freston A comparative study of the political aspects of the evangelical Protestantism of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia.
Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa by Adeshina Afolayan (Editor); Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso (Editor); Toyin Falola (Editor) A study of the complex links between politics and African Pentecostalism.

African Public Theology by Sunday Bobai Agang (Editor); Dion A. Forster (Editor); H. Jurgens Hendriks (Editor) An example of public theology in Africa in relation to various social issues.
The Church and Politics: A Theological Reflection by Bernard Boyo An introduction to African political theology. Provides a foundation for understanding Africa's contemporary political concerns in their cultural and historical context. Alongside this overview of African political history, Boyo traces the impact of Western missionaries, evangelicals, liberation theology, and African theologians on the church's understanding of itself and its role within society.
The Tenderness of Conscience: African Renaissance and the Spirituality of Politics by Allan A. Boesak One of Boesak's most prominent examples of political theology.

Integrity in Nigerian Politics: An Introduction to Christian Political Ethics by GoodFriday N. Aghawenu An introduction to Christian political ethics and offers argument for its relevance in the complex moral terrain of today's political affairs. Focuses on Nigerian context specifically.
Political Spiritualities: The Pentecostal Revolution in Nigeria by Ruth Marshall Pentecostalism's rise is truly global, and Political Spiritualities persuasively argues that Nigeria is a key case in this phenomenon while calling for new ways of thinking about the place of religion in contemporary politics.
The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: Resistance and Resilience (Online) by Tibebe Eshete Seeks to refute the thesis that evangelicalism was imported. Instead, Eshete shows, it was a genuine indigenous response to cultural pressures.

Christianity, Islam, and Liberal Democracy: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa (Online) by Robert A. Dowd Drawing from research conducted in Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda, Christianity, Islam, and Liberal Democracy offers a deeper understanding of how Christian and Islamic faith communities affect the political attitudes of those who belong to them and, in turn, prospects for liberal democracy.
Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Africa (Online) by Terence O. Ranger (Editor) Offers individual case studies of six countries: Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, and Mozambique.
From Pews to Politics: Religious Sermons and Political Participation in Africa (Online) by Gwyneth H. McClendon; Rachel Beatty Riedl Argues that religious teachings communicated in sermons can influence both the degree and the form of citizens' political participation in Africa. Uses Zambia, Uganda, and Kenya as case studies.