Christianity, Identity, and Civil Society in Africa Harvard Divinity School 2337/AAAS 160 Spring Semester 2019 Tuesday, 3-5 pm Rockefeller, Room 117

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1 Christianity, Identity, and Civil Society in Africa Harvard Divinity School 2337/AAAS 160 Spring Semester pm Rockefeller, Room 117 Office Hours: Thursday, 1-3pm, CSWR, 42 Francis Ave, room 114, by appointment: please contact Herchel Blemur at : hblemur@hds.harvard.edu or andovercswrfasupport@hds.harvard.edu Faculty Assistant: Herchel Blemur (for appointments) CSWR hblemur@hds.harvard.edu or andovercswrfasupport@hds.harvard.edu Description This course is a historical survey of the centuries-old Christian traditions in Africa. It begins with an outline of the trajectory of Christianity's origins and presence in Africa from its beginning in ancient Mediterranean lands through the early period of European missionaries to the contemporary period. The course provides the ethnography of the old mission churches, indigenous independent African churches, and contemporary evangelical and Pentecostal Charismatic movements. The course explores the role of Christianity in relation to historical, cultural, social, and material realities of the African continent. It examines a broad range of topical issues related to conversion, missionization, and the development and growth of Christian agencies in Africa in relation to the construction of social, theological, and religious identities, as well as Christianity's response to cultural pluralism, nationhood, citizenship, and civil society. There will be a number of guest speakers in class during the semester. Course Requirements You are required to complete weekly reading assignments and participate in class discussion. Each student will write two reading reports (5 pages per paper), one research paper (15-20 pages), and a book review.

2 Grade Breakdown Class participation and presentation 20% Reading reports 20% Book Review 20%...DUE April 5, 2019 Final paper 40%...DUE April 26, 2019 DATE January 29 DISCUSSION TOPICS and READING ASSIGNMENTS Introduction Methodological and Conceptual Issues Frans J. Verstraelen, Doing Christian History and Thought in an African Context: A Project in Scaffolding In Jan Platvoet, James Cox and Jacob K. Olupona, The Study of Religions in Africa: Past, Present and Prospects, Cambridge: Roots and Branches, 1996, pp * Begin reading Jacob Olupona, African Religions: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, February 5 The Early Christian Community in North Africa and The Horn of Africa Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa, Chapters 1 & 8 Margaret Miles, Roman North African Christian Spiritualities In Jacob K. Olupona, ed., African Spirituality Forms, Meanings and Expressions New York: Crossroad Press, 2000, pp * February 12 The Second Epoch: Early Mission in Sub-Saharan Africa ( ) John K. Thornton, Religious and Ceremonial Life in the Kongo and Mbundu Areas, In Linda M. Heywood, ed., Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora, Cambridge University Press 2002, * Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa, Chapters 2-3. February 19 Modern Missionary Epoch and Colonial Christianity in the 19 th Century onwards Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa, Chapters 4-8. Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff, Christianity and Colonialism in South Africa In Christianity and Colonialism in South Africa In American Ethnologist, 13, 1986 (1) 1-22.* Jean Camaroff, Missionaries and Mechanical Clocks: An Essay on Religion and History in South Africa In The Journal of 2

3 Religion 1991, 71(1) 1-17.* February 26 March 5 Prelude to Independence Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa, Chapters 9-11 Christianity in Independent Black Africa 1960 onwards Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa, Chapter 12 March 12 Christianity and African Culture John Bauer, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, Chapter 14, pp * Kwame Bedieko, Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, Birgit Meyer, Christianity in Africa: From African Independence to Pentecostal Charismatic Churches In Annual Review of Anthropology, 2004, 33: * March 19 Spring Break March 26 African Christianity in the Public and Private Sphere Alan Anderson, Exorcism and Conversion to African Pentecostalism In Exchange 2006, 35(1) Alan Anderson, New African Initiated Pentecostalism and Charismatics in South Africa In Journal of Religion in Africa 2005, 35(1) * Rene Devisch, Pillaging Jesus: Healing Churches and the Village Zaton of Kinshasa In Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 1996, 64(4) * April 2 Christianity and Civil Society Paul Clifford. Christianity, Development and Modernity in Africa. Oxford 2016 April 9 Neils Kastfelt, ed., Religion and African Civil Wars, Palgrave: Macmillan, 2005, Chapter 8* Matthew Hassan Kukah, Religion and Civil Society In Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria, pp Christianity, Sexuality and Gender 3

4 Isabel Phiri and Sarojoni Nadar, eds., African Women, Religion and Health, pp * Mercy Oduyoye, Feminist Theology in an African Perspective In Paths of African Theology, ed. Rosino Cabellini, pp * Philippe Denis, Sexuality and AIDS in South Africa In Journal of Theology for South Africa, 2003 (115:63-77).* Lloyda Francise, Sexuality and Women in African Culture In The Will to Arise: Women, Tradition and the Church in Africa, Mercy Amba Oduyoye and Musimbi Kanyon, eds. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, pp * Beth Maina Ahlberg, Is there a Distinct African Sexuality? A Critical Response to Caldwell In Africa Journal of International African Institute, (2) * April 16 Christianity, Human Rights and Law John Pobee Africa s Search for Religious Human Rights in Johan David van der Vyver, John Witte, Jr. (ed.) Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1996.* Simeon O. Ilesanmi, Religion and Public Life in Africa: A Comparative Perspective on the Ethics of Responsibility In Winston Davis, Taking Responsibility: Comparative Perspectives. University of Virginia Press, 2001, * Simeon O. Ilesanmi, From Periphery to Center: Pentecostalism is transforming the secular state in Africa. Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Autumn 2007)* Jacob Olupona, On Africa, a Need for Nuance (Responding to Simeon Ilesanmi) Vol. 35, No. 4 (Autumn 2007)* April 23 Emerging Issues in Church and Society Muslim-Christian Relations, Poverty and Liberation HIV/AIDS, Faith and Violence. Jean-Marc Ela, Christianity and Liberation in Africa In Paths of African Theology, Rosino Cabellini, ed., pp * Engelbert Mueng, Impoverishment as Liberation In Paths of African Theology, Rosino Cabellini, ed., pp * Frank Adams, Challenges Facing African Christianity in the 4

5 Post-Modern World In Evangelical Review of Theology, (4) * Margaret Farley, 2004, Partnership in Hope: Gender, Faith and Responses to HIV/AIDS in Africa In Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 20/1: * Christopher Benn, The Influence of Cultural and Religious Framework on the Future Course of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic In Journal of Theology for South Africa, 2002, (113:3-18). April 30 The Future of African Christianity in Local, Transnational and Global Contexts Rijk Van Dijk, Beyond the Powers of Ethiopia in William Van Bansberger and Rijk Van Dijk, eds., Situating Globality: African Agency in the Appropriation of Global Culture, pp * Rijk Van Dijk, From Camp to Encompassment. Discourse of Transsubjectivity in the Ghanaian Pentecostalism in Diaspora in Journal of Religion in Africa, (2) * Required Readings: Elizabeth Isichei. History of Christianity in Africa: From Antiquity to Present. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Press and New Jersey: Africa World Press, Olupona, Jacob, African Religions: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, Paul Clifford. Christianity, Development and Modernity in Africa. Oxford 2016 * Articles with asterisks will be placed on reserve. Further Readings: Bauer, John, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa: An African History, Nairobi, Kenya: Paulines Publications, Kwame Bediako. Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience. Maryknoll: Orbis Press, Ogbu Kalu. African Pentecostalism: An Introduction. Oxford University Press, Terence O. Ranger. Evangelical Christianity and Democracy. Oxford University Press,