Christianity and Catastrophe in South Sudan - (Studies in World Christianity) by Jesse A Zink (Hardcover)

About the Book

Jesse Zink has written a must-read for all interested in the ongoing crises in Africa and, in particular, the vexed relationship between violence and religion.

Book Synopsis

Amidst a catastrophic civil war that began in 1983 and ended in 2005, many Dinka people in Sudan repudiated their inherited religious beliefs and embraced a vibrant Anglican faith. Christianity and Catastrophe in South Sudan chronicles the emergence of this grassroots religious movement, arguing that Christianity offered the Dinka new resources that allowed them to cope with a rapidly changing world and provided answers to the spiritual questions that war raised.

Christianity and Catastrophe in South Sudan is rooted in extensive fieldwork in South Sudan, complemented by research in the archives of South Sudanese churches and international humanitarian organizations. The result is a detailed profile of what Christianity means to a society in the middle of intense crisis and trauma, with a particular focus on the roles of young people and women, and the ways in which the arrival of a new faith transformed existing religious traditions.

Christianity and Catastrophe in South Sudan stakes out a new field of inquiry in African Christianity. Jesse Zink has written a must-read for all interested in the ongoing crises in Africa and, in particular, the vexed relationship between violence and religion.

Review Quotes

In this fascinating book, Jesse Zink uncovers the continuities and ruptures behind the mass conversion to Christianity of Dinka people in South Sudan at the end of the last century, a process that began during the senseless wars that killed tens of thousands.

--Paul S. Landau "Journal of Ecclesiastical History"

Christianity and Catastrophe in South Sudan marks a significant study of religious change among the East Nile and West Nile Dinka of South Sudan.

--Bob Rice "International Bulletin of Mission Research"

...Zink looks at how a classical missionary organization, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) of the Anglican Church, allowed local Dinka Christian leaders, including both men and women, to oversee, guide, and consolidate the conversion process. This is a well-documented, well-told story of an important recent development in Christian history, and it will be appreciated by anyone interested in African Christianity or world Christianity more generally.

-- "Choice"

At the heart of the significance of this story is the profound insight it gives into the potential of Christian theology, vision, values and spiritual power to work in dialogue and harmony but also disruption and challenge with African cultures and traditions, and to renew them and equip them for the diverse threats and challenges of the modern age

--Andy Wheeler "Sudan Studies"

The book is essential both for those interested in church growth and in the Sudans. At the same time, it has much broader implications for anyone interested in religious change and anyone interested in the consequences of war.

--Naomi R. Pendle "Journal of Church and State"

Zink's work is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of what Anglican Christianity looks like around the world at the local level. Here, a Christianity that is both local and global, liturgical and biblical, and that does its theology orally through sermon, prayer, and hymn enables people and communities in conflict, fear, and uncertainty to find a place to stand, a future to anticipate, a God to trust.

--Canon Wheeler "Church Times"

About the Author

Jesse A. Zink is an Anglican priest and principal of Montreal Diocesan Theological College in Montreal, Quebec. Previously, he was director of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide in Cambridge, UK. He is the author of three previous books about Anglicanism and the world church, including Backpacking through the Anglican Communion.