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Although Rwanda is among the most Christian countries in Africa, in the 1994 genocide, church buildings became the prima...
Although Rwanda is among the most Christian countries in Africa, in the 1994 genocide, church buildings became the primary killing grounds. To explain why so many Christians participated in the violence, this book looks at the history of Christian engagement in Rwanda and then turns to a rich body of original national- and local-level research to argue that Rwanda's churches have consistently allied themselves with the state and played ethnic politics. Comparing two local Presbyterian parishes in Kibuye before the genocide demonstrates that progressive forces were seeking to democratize the churches. Just as Hutu politicians used the genocide of Tutsi to assert political power and crush democratic reform, church leaders supported the genocide to secure their own power. The fact that Christianity inspired some Rwandans to oppose the genocide demonstrates that opposition by the churches was possible and might have hindered the violence. Author: Timothy Longman ISBN:9780521269537
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Events in Rwanda in 1994 mark a landmark in the history of modern genocide. Up to one million people were killed in a pl...
Events in Rwanda in 1994 mark a landmark in the history of modern genocide. Up to one million people were killed in a planned public and political campaign. In the face of indisputable evidence, the Security Council of the United Nations failed to respond. In this classic of investigative journalism, Linda Melvern tells the compelling story of what happened. She holds governments to account, showing how individuals could have prevented what was happening and didn't do so. The book also reveals the unrecognised heroism of those who stayed on during the genocide, volunteer peacekeepers and those who ran emergency medical care. Fifteen years on, this new edition examines the ongoing impact of the 1948 Genocide Convention and the shock waves Rwanda caused around the world. Based on fresh interviews with key players and newly-released documents, A People Betrayed is a shocking indictment of the way Rwanda is and was forgotten and how today it is remembered in the West. Author: Linda Melvern ISBN:9781856498319
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Since achieving independence in 1963, Kenya has existed as a classic, patronage state, ruled with an iron fist by a corr...
Since achieving independence in 1963, Kenya has existed as a classic, patronage state, ruled with an iron fist by a corrupt political elite. Kenya has also become nearly 80 percent Christian, and in this book, Paul Gifford explores the country's diverse churches and their role in shaping public and political life. During the 1990s, Kenya's Catholic and Protestant churches challenged the state's dysfunctional one-party rule; yet today these organizations are interested more in increasing the numbers of their missionaries and enlarging their global networks than in protesting the current regime. Gifford follows this historical shift, noting the specific theology of Kenya's churches, which deeply respect African culture as a non-negotiable component of African Christianity. He also covers the rich variety of Kenya's churches and their individual efforts to preserve Kenyan cultures. Countless Pentecostal churches have also emerged in recent decades, ranging from affluent middle-class institutions to shelters for the poor. Nearly all emphasize power, success, achievement, and prosperity, priorities that privilege modernity over tradition. Gifford discusses the influence of these churches on domestic media; their crusades, structure, and use of scripture; and their complex economics, which help to explain the thorough domestication of Kenyan Christianity in recent decades, reinforcing the country's corrupt political practices. Author: Paul Gifford ISBN:9781850659358
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There is an important if largely unremarked diversity within African Christianity; on the one hand, an enchanted Christi...
There is an important if largely unremarked diversity within African Christianity; on the one hand, an enchanted Christianity that views the world as pervaded by spiritual forces, and on the other a disenchanted Christianity that discounts them. An enchanted Christian sees his glorious destiny threatened by witches, spirits, and ancestral curses. Churches catering for this worldview lay bare the workings of this spirit world, and this enchanted imagination, along with the prosperity gospel, and emphasis on the pastor's "anointing," are the principal characteristics of much African Pentecostalism. Gifford argues that the enchanted religious imagination militates against development by encouraging fear and distrust, diminishing human responsibility and agency, and downplaying functional rationality. The prosperity gospel of "covenant wealth from tithes and offerings" is the antithesis of Weber's Protestant ethic; and to magnify the person of the pastor is to perpetuate the curse of the "Big Man." Official Catholicism, totally disenchanted and long associated with schools and hospitals, is now involved in development, from microfinance to election monitoring, from conflict resolution to human rights. This "NGO-ization of Catholicism," made almost inevitable by funding from secular donors like the EU and UN, even if defended theologically, comes at the price of failing to address the "religious" needs of so many African Christians. Author: Paul Gifford ISBN:9781849044776
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