Religion and Politics in Kenya: Essays in Honour of a Meddlesome Priest edited by Ben Knighton

Date added: 19/11/2015

Religion and Politics in Kenya: Essays in Honour of a Meddlesome Priest
edited by Ben Knighton

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Published: Sep 15 2009

ISBN: 9780230614871

Using Bishop David Gitari as a lens, this book examines contrasting political initiatives and responses by Christian and Islamic leaders. It represents an unusual and exciting opposition between church and state that collapsed after Gitari retired as Archbishop, but might yet be renewed. It exposes the political mosaic of postcolonial Kenya, teasing out the considerable religious dimension of Kenyan and African politics, of which the West has lost sight.

Ben Knighton is Ph.D. Programme Leader at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies

'Christianity claims perhaps 80 per cent of Kenya's population and frequently provides the grammar of the nation's political discourse. Yet Kenya's post-independent history has been dogged by governmental corruption and more recently by shocking ethnic violence. This thought-provoking collection of essays in honour of Archbishop David Gitari uncovers the ambiguous relationship between these two facets of modern Kenyan history, showing how Christians have been too often politically indifferent or easily manipulated, and yet on occasion also extraordinarily courageous. It deserves a wide readership and deep reflection.'

(Brian Stanley, Professor of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh)

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