Socio-Political Agenda for the Twenty-First Century Zimbabwean Church

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Year:
Pages:224
ISBN:0-7734-5577-9
978-0-7734-5577-1
Price:$179.95 + shipping
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This book deals primarily with the interface between religion and politics in the public square in Africa, in general, and Zimbabwe, in particular. The thesis is that Christian religion has a huge potential of democratizing the contemporary Zimbabwean social and political space. The book argues for a contextual theology that takes into serious consideration both social and political realities in the creation of democratic spaces. In Zimbabwe, the church and the school are generally the main foci of social life of the village in most communities. The absence of a strong civil society, independent press and independent judiciary system calls for the church and the school to play important roles in the construction of a democratic social and political order. Ordinary citizens interact on almost a daily basis with these two institutions on a village level.

Reviews

“... Dr. Jimmy G. Dube’s contribution to the growing body of scholarly work on contemporary African issues goes beyond identification of the sources of those problems to offer possible solutions as well. He acknowledges the vast global forces at work in the suffering of so many local communities in Zimbabwe, but like much of the recent work on these issues, his work addresses the need for proactive resistance and problem solving that does not reinforce the destructive patterns of globalization.” – (From the Foreword) Professor Morris L. Davis, Jr., Drew University

“ ...[this] is an incisive interdisciplinary work that sounds the trumpet for a contextual theology that addresses the devastating socio-political effects/affects of a colonial/postcolonial condition mainly experienced by the discarded members of Zimbabwean society. It is a persuasive and passionate plea for the blending of social praxis and theology whose main goal is to heal socio-political injustice, thereby relieving the spiritual sufferings of those who have been excluded from the global community.” – Professor Lynne St. Clair Darden, Drew University

“Zimbabwean born scholar Dr. Jimmy G. Dube has authored a timely and passionately argued book emphasizing and analyzing the context within which theology in and for Zimbabwe needs to be done. It is a context demanding a socio-politically engaged theology that critically evaluates the history of colonial and post-colonial Christianity in Africa and simultaneously resists the temptation to limit the scope of theological investigation to the realm of individual spirituality.” – Professor Michael Nausner, Evangelisch-Methodistische Kirche

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword by Morris L. Davis
Introduction
1. The Collision of African Religious Space with Western Imperialistic Christianity
2. The Christian Solution
3. Letting the People Down: The Church and Socio-Political Struggles in Zimbabwe
4. A Quest for a Socio-Political Theology of the Excluded
5. A 21st Century Socio-Political Theology of the Excluded
Selected Bibliography
Index

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