Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora: The Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage [Paperback]

The rapid development of African Christianity and its offshoots in the Diaspora is rooted in colonial history and resistance to oppression, exploitation and slavery.
Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora offers new resources for the interpretation and analysis of African Christian movements. It draws attention to a number of key issues, including the translatability of the Christian faith, the process of contextualization in various cultures, the place and role of indigenous agencies, the global impact of contemporary African Christian expressions, its influence on ecumenical relations and inter-religious encounters, and its way of shaping new religious identities and landscapes in response to power relations and artificial boundaries. Topics covered include the concept of diaspora, deconstructing colonial mission, conversion, African cosmologies, African retentions, female leadership dynamics, liberation theology, a new discourse around HIV/AIDS, transnational religious networks, pentecostal/charismatic movements, charismatic renewal within former mission churches, dynamics of reverse mission, outreach via cyberspace, specific studies on Anglican, Baptist, Adventist and Kimbanguist missions, and the need for intercultural and interdenominational bridge building.

Roswith Gerloffis Founding Director of the Centre for Black and White Christian Partnership, Birmingham, UK, and former Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, UK.Klaus Hockis Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Rostock, Germany.List of Contributors \ Prologue Dominique Kounkou \ Introduction Afe Adogame, Roswith Gerloff & Klaus Hock \ Part I: Historical Developments \ 1. Political or Spiritual Partition: The Impact of the 1884/85 Berlin Conference on Christian Missions in Africa Olayemi Akinwumi \ 2. Ecclesiastical Cartography and the Invisible Continent Jonathan Bonk \ 3. Colonization in Africa: The Local and Global Implications for Christl#R