Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Gillis J. Harp
Keyword(s):  
American History ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
American Conservatism ◽  
Conservative Politics ◽  
Political Conservatism ◽  
Protestant Christianity

This work attempts to take a long view of the evolving relationship between certain Protestants and conservative politics. It is primarily a book about American Protestants but it is also about political conservatism. My purpose is to demonstrate the ways in which conservative thought has been formed by religious views associated with different strands of orthodox Protestantism. Secondarily, I also seek to show the ways that Protestants have been influenced by conservatism. This book seeks to answer three interrelated questions within the context of an overview of American history from the colonial period to the recent past. One, what has religion—in particular, Protestant Christianity—done for conservatism? Two, what particular components of these religious beliefs and of conservative thought allowed their convergence in various periods? Three, what effects has this interaction had on American conservatism and on some forms of Protestant Christianity?

The Politics of Evangelical Identity

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Bean
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
Evangelical Christianity ◽  
Conservative Politics ◽  
Evangelical Churches ◽  
Political Conservatism ◽  
Evangelical Identity ◽  
Moral Attitudes ◽  
The U.S

It is now a common refrain among liberals that Christian Right pastors and television pundits have hijacked evangelical Christianity for partisan gain. This book challenges this notion, arguing that the hijacking metaphor paints a fundamentally distorted picture of how evangelical churches have become politicized. The book reveals how the powerful coalition between evangelicals and the Republican Party is not merely a creation of political elites who have framed conservative issues in religious language, but is anchored in the lives of local congregations. Drawing on research at evangelical churches near the U.S. border with Canada, this book compares how American and Canadian evangelicals talk about politics in congregational settings. While Canadian evangelicals share the same theology and conservative moral attitudes as their American counterparts, their politics are quite different. On the U.S. side of the border, political conservatism is woven into the very fabric of everyday religious practice. The book shows how subtle partisan cues emerge in small group interactions as members define how “we Christians” should relate to others in the broader civic arena, while liberals are cast in the role of adversaries. It explains how the most explicit partisan cues come not from clergy but rather from lay opinion leaders who help their less politically engaged peers to link evangelical identity to conservative politics. This book demonstrates how deep the ties remain between political conservatism and evangelical Christianity in America.

The tompon-tany and the tompon-drano in the History of Central and Western Madagascar

1982 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 61-76
Author(s):  
Finn Fuglestad
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Conceptual Revolution

At some undefined time in the fairly recent past central and western Madagascar witnessed a conceptual 'revolution' which had far-reaching political consequences. The religious beliefs and symbols which constituted the main ingredients of this 'revolution'--and probably also the people who propagated them--were in some way connected with the Zafindraminia-Antanosy and the Anteimoro of the southeastern and eastern coast. It is quite clear that these and similar groups had been strongly influenced by Islam and that they practiced what could perhaps be described as a corrupt or diluted Islam or a syncretic 'pagan' Muslim religion. (It is significant that as their name indicates the Zafindraminia claim descent from Raminia who they hold to have been the mother of Muhammad.) One of the main ingredients of this religion was the cult of the ody or guardian amulets, objects usually made of wood which are strikingly reminiscent of the so-called “charms” or “gris-gris” sold by Muslim clerics over much of Africa. Another ingredient is represented by the institution of ombiasy. The ombiasy (the main manufacturers of ody) whom the Frenchman Etienne de Flacourt at Fort-Dauphin in the seventeenth century took to be Muslim clerics were originally the “priests” (or the “devins guérisseurs,” according to Hubert Deschamps) of the Anteimoro and the Zafindraminia-Antanosy. Subsequently this institution was disseminated throughout nearly the whole of Madagascar. Yet another ingredient was the system of divination known as sikidy, which also spread to other parts of Madagascar, including Imerina and the Sakalava country.These beliefs, symbols, and institutions deeply influenced the people of the west coast (the present-day Sakalava country) and of central Madagascar (Imerina and Betsileo country).

Album of American History: Colonial Period

1944 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 445
Author(s):  
Stanley Pragellis ◽  
James Truslow Adams ◽  
R. V. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
American History ◽  
Colonial Period

The Cwezi-Kubandwa Debate: Gender, Hegemony and Pre-Colonial Religion in Bunyoro, Western Uganda

Africa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Doyle
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
The State ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
Organizational Resources ◽  
Colonial Authority ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
Western Uganda

AbstractThe Cwezi-kubandwa cult was the most prominent form of religious belief in the interlacustrine region of East Africa during the pre-colonial period. It has long been regarded as providing ideological support to monarchical regimes across the region. Recently, though, scholars have contrasted the hegemonic ambitions of the state with evidence that Cwezi-kubandwa also provided opponents of pre-colonial authority structures with both ideological and organizational resources. In particular historians of the cult have hypothesized that Cwezi-kubandwa offered women a refuge from patriarchal political and domestic institutions, and that Cwezi-kubandwa was dominated by women in terms of its leadership, membership and idioms. This article challenges the new orthodoxy by suggesting that both traditional religion's hegemonic and counter-hegemonic roles may have been over-estimated. A re-examination of the Nyoro sources indicates instead that Cwezi-kubandwa was far from homogeneous and dominant, that kubandwa was not obviously oppositional to other, supposedly male-dominated, religious beliefs, and that Cwezi-kubandwa brought female exploitation as well as empowerment. These findings require either a re-evaluation of the nature of Cwezi-kubandwa across the region, or recognition that the cult was much more geographically diverse than has hitherto been believed.

The Interface of Christianity and Conservation in Colonial Malawi, C. 1850-1930

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wapulumuka Mulwafu
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Conservation Of Natural Resources ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe study of the relationship between religion and the environment in Malawi has only recently begun to be appreciated. Christian missionaries in general did not actively promote the campaign for conservation of resources but some early missionaries frequently evoked biblical images and ideas that had a strong bearing on the perception and management of the environment. Later, certain religious groups were vocal in their support for or opposition to state-sponsored conservation schemes in the colonial period. This paper demonstrates that African religious beliefs and customs equally played a critical role in creating a set of ideas about conservation and the environment. The study is part of an effort to recover some early voices promoting conservation of natural resources in the country. It thus addresses the issues of religion and conservation as critical in the initial encounter between Europeans and Africans.

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