Religious Authority and the State in Africa PDF Download

Author: Jennifer G. Cooke
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 144225887X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 123

View

Book Description
Two important dynamics have driven political and social change in sub-Saharan Africa during the past 25 years. New religious trends have emerged within the main faiths of Islam and Christianity, in particular the emergence of more charismatic, assertive forms of religious expression. Meanwhile, political space has opened in scores of countries as one-party rule has given way to a process of democratization, yet to be completed. Based on their field work in each country, the authors examine the various ways in which religious actors have chosen to engage with the state. They also consider how governments and political actors respond to, and seek to manage, these interactions.

Author: Stephen Ellis
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195220162
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

View

Book Description
With Christian revivals (including Evangelicals in the White House), Islamic radicalism and the revitalisation of traditional religions it is clear that the world is not heading towards a community of secular states. Nowhere are religious thought and political practice more closely intertwined than in Africa. African migrants in Europe and America who send home money to build churches and mosques, African politicians who consult diviners, guerrilla fighters who believe that amulets can protect them from bullets, and ordinary people who seek ritual healing: all of these are applying religious ideas to everyday problems of existence, at every level of society. Far from falling off the map of the world, Africa is today a leading centre of Christianity and a growing field of Islamic activism, while African traditional religions are gaining converts in the West. One cannot understand the politics of the present without taking religious thought seriously. Stories about witches, miracles, or people returning from the dead incite political action. In Africa religious belief has a huge impact on politics, from the top of society to the bottom. Religious ideas show what people actually think about the world and how to deal with it. Ellis and Ter Haar maintain that the specific content of religious thought has to be mastered if we are to grasp the political significance of religion in Africa today, but their book also informs our understanding of the relationship between religion and political practice in general.

Author: Seth Tweneboah
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000706737
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 320

View

Book Description
Applying a legal pluralist framework, this study examines the complex interrelationships between religion, law and politics in contemporary Ghana, a professedly secular State characterised by high levels of religiosity. It aims to explore legal, cultural and moral tensions created by overlapping loci of authority (state actors, traditional leaders and religious functionaries). It contends that religion can function as an impediment to Ghana’s secularity and also serve as an integral tool for realising the State’s legal ideals and meeting international human rights standards. Using three case studies – legal tensions, child witchcraft accusations and same-sex partnerships – the study illustrates the ways that the entangled and complicated connections between religion and law compound Ghana’s secular orientation. It suggests that legal pluralism is not a mere analytical framework for describing tensions, but ought to be seen as part of the solution. The study contributes to advancing knowledge in the area of the interrelationships between religion and law in contemporary African public domain. This book will be a valuable resource for those working in the areas of Law and Religion, Religious Studies, African Studies, Political Science, Legal Anthropology and Socio-legal Studies.

Author: Stewart M. Hoover
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 027107793X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308

View

Book Description
As the availability and use of media platforms continue to expand, the cultural visibility of religion is on the rise, leading to questions about religious authority: Where does it come from? How is it established? What might be changing it? The contributors to The Media and Religious Authority examine the ways in which new centers of power and influence are emerging as religions seek to “brand” themselves in the media age. Putting their in-depth, incisive studies of particular instances of media production and reception in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America into conversation with one another, the volume explores how evolving mediations of religion in various places affect the prospects, aspirations, and durability of religious authority across the globe. An insightful combination of theoretical groundwork and individual case studies, The Media and Religious Authority invites us to rethink the relationships among the media, religion, and culture. The contributors are Karina Kosicki Bellotti, Alexandra Boutros, Pauline Hope Cheong, Peter Horsfield, Christine Hoff Kraemer, Joonseong Lee, Alf Linderman, Bahíyyah Maroon, Montré Aza Missouri, and Emily Zeamer, with an afterword by Lynn Schofield Clark.

Author: Haim Malka
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442281227
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

View

Book Description
This important and timely study, Faith in the Balance: Regulating Religious Affairs in Africa, provides unique insights into how five governments on the African continent do just that: manage the politics of religion and the role of religion in politics.

Author: John Osogo Ambani
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004446427
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 82

View

Book Description
The book offers a critical account of the practice of state-secularism in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda in comparison to France, Turkey and the US.

Author: Olusola Ogunnubi
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793645620
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 317

View

Book Description
Religion and Global Politics: Soft Power in Nigeria and Beyond examines the deployment of religious soft power in African states and the potential it has for transforming perceptions of the continent. The contributors refocus the attention on religion away from the ‘misery’ discourse of conflict and violence towards the domain of international relations, diplomacy and foreign policy in Africa. Through this shift, the contributors analyze the ways in which religion has impacted the external relations of African states. Religion and Global Politics introduces the theme of religion to the discourse of African international relations and politics to provide a thorough examination of religion’s influence on politics in the daily lives of African people.

Author: M. Christian Green
Publisher: African Sun Media
ISBN: 1991201915
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 449

View

Book Description
The Covid‑19 pandemic was global in its spread and reach, as well as in its medical, social and economic effects. In many respects, the global effort to “flatten the curve” produced a flattening of experience around the world and a striking coincidence of similar experiences in countries the world over. The identity, simultaneity and uniformity of experience were also manifest in common concerns at the intersection of law and religion in many nations around the world, including Africa. The lockdowns and closure of religious worship centres – churches, mosques and religious organisations of all sorts – raised questions of freedom of religion and the related concern for freedom of assembly, along with concerns about the relation of religion to science and public health, religious channels of communication and religious provision of social services. After all, health, communications and social services are all areas in which African religious organisations play key roles. Potential tensions around these issues raised further considerations about the nature of religion-state relations, the status of religious authority and whether religious and state actors would work together or at odds in addressing the Covid‑19 pandemic.

Author: Austin Metumara Ahanotu
Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

View

Book Description
The history of religions in contemporary Africa is not just history. It is, in fact, political history. This theme of the religious metaphor in the engagement of power relations is impressively illuminated in this thoroughly researched collection of essays on religion, state and society in contemporary Africa.

Author: Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004083554
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

View

Book Description
The essays in this volume are the product of an interdisciplinary research seminar on The Early State in Africa, conducted during the 1979-1980 academic year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This seminar was one of a series of seminars on comparative civilizations. The participants included historians, sociologists, political scientists, and specialists in comparative religion, who shared an interest in the emergence and dynamics of the state in Africa and were concerned with trying to understand its origins and its various manifestations on the continent.