Radical Change in Zambia's Christian Ecumenism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4603799 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hermen Kroesbergen (0000-0001-6992-4760, Justo Mwale University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 331-343 |
| Publication date | 2018-03-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070.2018.1424469 |
| OpenAlex | W2789642768 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 5 |
This account of religious change in Zambia discloses shifts in the ideas and practices of Christian unity since independence. It shows that state-backed appeals, at times repressive, under the slogan ‘one nation, one church’ gave way to a series of alternatives in institutional ecumenism, leading towards a challenge to the very nature of ecumenism, grassroots as well as institutional. The new stress is on individual choice and personal services, and yet membership in congregations persists – a complex, even contradictory, situation here conceptualised as ‘multiple devotions’. The disclosure in this article calls into question conventional views of the importance of schism in churches and brings certain current tendencies – ‘multiple devotions’, ‘charismatic transmission’, ‘mushrooming churches’ – into focus in relation to wider, even global, religious movements, including the impact of neo-Pentecostalism and the striking new efflorescence of evangelical bodies self-labelled as ‘Ministries International’, in an imported style. The analysis suggests that in many of the ‘Ministries International’ there is a turn from church membership with fellowship in a solidary congregation to an individualistic patron–client relationship between pastor and believer. Each Ministry presupposes an asymmetrical relationship: one person ministers to another. Instead of a group of people coming together, a Ministry International offers services to whomever is interested, often on a casual basis; and, although without any drive for older forms of church unity or usual aspirations for past forms of grassroots ecumenism, the Ministries International are widely perceived to be a force for interdenominational tolerance
Christianity · Ecumenism · Grassroots · Political science · Politics · Schism · Sociology · Theology · African cultural and philosophical studies · Christian Theology and Mission · Law · Religion, Society, and Development
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2020 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |