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Stellenbosch Forum Webinar: African Christianities and American Evangelicalism
Start: 26/05/2022, 13:00
End: 26/05/2022, 14:00
Contact:Whitney Prins -
Location: MS Teams

​Topic: A Critical Consideration of the Relationship Between African Christianities and American Evangelicalism: A Cautionary Tale of Theo-Political Exceptionalism?

Date: 26 May 2022
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Platform: MS Teams
Register: https://bit.ly/3NnomQy

A MS teams link will be sent to all registered participants


About the lecture:

Why do many African evangelical Christians continue to support Donald Trump and the former Trump administration's political agenda? This lecture critically reconsiders some of the reasons why some African Christian individuals and African Christian groupings have been loyal to seemingly morally corrupt, socially problematic, American politicians and their political agendas. To understand this, we consider some historical and sociological factors that led to the widescale adoption of American evangelicalism by some African Christians. It is shown that some contemporary American evangelical beliefs are founded upon the myth of the ‘American Dream’ and the political-theological notion of ‘American exceptionalism’. These political theologies underpin the spread of American evangelical beliefs and ideologies worldwide, employing a network of financial and political patronage. Finally, we ask what African Christians might do to guard against economic and political abuses that shape and misshape African Christian theology and ethics.


About the presenter: Prof Dion Forster

Dion A. Forster is professor of Public Theology and Ethics. He serves as the Chair of the Department of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, and the Director of the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology in the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University. He holds a PhD in New Testament studies and a PhD in Systematic Theology.
Dion is a Rated researcher with the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. He has also served as a member of the Berlin Institute for Public Theology, the World Economic Forum's 'Expert Network', and the GERIS (Global Exchange on Religion in Society) of the European Union, as well as the G20's anti-racism policy task team for the IF20.


Much of his research focusses on the intersections of faith and public life.