What happens when a revivalist religion based on scriptural orthodoxy participates in the volatile politics of the Third World? This volume considers the case of Africa, the region with the world's fastest-expanding population. Christianity, especially in its evangelical and Pentecostal forms, has acquired many millions of new adherents in Africa in recent decades. The attitudes and behavior of these believers could have vast consequences for growth, development and democratization. In his Introduction, editor Terence Ranger provides a historical overview. The book then offers individual case studies of six countries: Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, and Mozambique. The contributors, mainly younger scholars based in Africa, bring first-hand knowledge to their chapters and employ both field and archival research to develop their data and analyses. The result is a groundbreaking work that will be indispensable to everyone concerned with the future of this volatile region.

In recent decades, Christianity has acquired millions of new adherents in Africa, the region with the world's fastest-expanding population. What role has this development of evangelical Christianity played in Africa's democratic history? To what extent do its churches affect its politics? By taking a historical view and focusing specifically on the events of the past few years, Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Africa seeks to explore these questions, offering individual case studies of six countries: Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, and Mozambique. Unlike most analyses of democracy which come from a secular Western tradition, these contributors, mainly younger scholars based in Africa, bring first-hand knowledge to their chapters and employ both field and archival research to develop their data and analyses. The result is a groundbreaking work that will be indispensable to everyone concerned with the future of this volatile region. Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Africa is one of four volumes in the series Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in the Global South, which seeks to answer the question: What happens when a revivalist religion based on scriptural orthodoxy participates in the volatile politics of the Third World? At a time when the global-political impact of another revivalist and scriptural religion -- Islam -- fuels vexed debate among analysts the world over, these volumes offer an unusual comparative perspective on a critical issue: the often combustible interaction of resurgent religion and the developing world's unstable politics.

Section 1: The Bible and broad political discourses in Africa. "Rewriting" the Bible or de-biblifying the public sphere? Proposals and propositions on the usage of the Bible by public figures in Zimbabwe/ by Masiiwa Ragies Gunda. The Bible and the quest for democracy and democratization in Africa: the Zimbabwe experience / by Eliot Tofa. The Bible and the quest for developmental justice: the case of orphans in Namibia / by Jannie Hunter. The Bible in the service of pan-africanism: the case of Dr Tafataona Mahoso's pan-african biblical exegesis / by Obvious Vengeyi. The ANC's deployment of religion in nation building: from Thabo Mbeki, to "the RDP of the soul", to Jacob Zuma / by Gerald West. The Bible and democracy in Africa: how biblical science can contribute towards the establishment of plurality and democracy, the Bible as a relevant tool in the quest for engendering plurality / by Jephthah Kiara Gathaka. Section 2: Some readings of the Bible in/for political discourses in Africa. Contextual theological reading of the Bible with indigenous communities: the case of the Basarwa/San in Botswana / by Moji Ruele. A theological reflection on Romans 13:1-7 in the 21st century Zimbabwean politics / by Phillemon M. Chamburuka. The Judas Iscariot episode In the zimbabwean religio-political debate of "selling out" / by Francis Machingura. Inspiring for liberation - legitimizing for occupation : interpretations of the Exodus from southern Africa / by Stephanie Feder. Politics of feeding: reading John 6 (and 1 Cor 11) as documents of socio-political conflicts / by Joachim Kügler. "If my people ..." a critical analysis of the deployment of 2 Chronicles 7:14 during the Zimbabwean crisis / by Ezra Chitando. Towards a new reading of the bible in africa - spy exegesis / by Canisius Mwandayi. Empowering the poor: the Bible and the poor in informal settlements in Africa with reference to Mangaung, South Africa / Pieter Verster. Section 3: The bible, gender and politics in Africa. The politics of "biblical manhood": a critical study of masculinity politics and biblical hermeneutics in a Zambian pentecostal church / Adriaan S. Van Klinken. The bible as a source of strength among Zimbabwean women during socio-economic and political crises / by Elizabeth Vengeyi. An analysis of the application of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-14: the politics of pentecostalism and women's ministries in Zimbabwe / by Tapiwa Praise Mapuranga.