Böcker av Paul Gifford

A compelling analysis of the connection between violence and the sacred, using Rene Girard's mimetic theory to point the way towards Christian reconciliation.

''Religion'' can be used to mean all kinds of things, but a substantive definitionΓÇôΓÇôbased on the premise of superhuman powersΓÇôΓÇôcan clarify much. It allows us to attempt to differentiate religion from culture, ethnicity, morality and politics. This definition of religion necessarily implies a perception of reality. Until recent centuries in the West, and in most cultures still, the ordinary, natural and immediate way of understanding and experiencing reality was in terms of otherworldly or spiritual forces. However, a cognitive shift has taken place through the rise of science and its subsequent technological application. This new consciousness has not disproved the existence of spiritual forces, but has led to the marginalisation of the other-worldly, which even Western churches seem to accept. They persist, but increasingly as pressure groups promoting humanist values. Claims of ''American exceptionalism'' in this regard are misleading. Obama''s religion, Evangelical support for Trump, and the mega-church message of success in the capitalist system can all be cultural and political phenomena. This eclipsing of the other-worldly constitutes a watershed in human history, with profound consequences not just for religious institutions but for our entire world order.

Is African Christianity a religious marketplace now dominated by only two big players, the Catholic Church and Pentecostals?

Since independence in 1963, Kenya has been a personalised patronage state, run by a corrupt elite for its own benefit. Under the bland label 'Kenyan Christianity', several different if overlapping realities can be distinguished, and it is these which this book investigates, relating them to the country's politics and public life.

Paints a clear and coherent picture of the evolution of erotic ideas and their imaginary and formal expressions in modern French writing. This book retraces the formative matrix of French tradition by engaging with classic sources; and the modern variations on these perennial problematics are then pursued in ten chapters.

This study examines the role of Christianity in Liberia under the corrupt rule of Samuel K. Doe (1980-90). Paul Gifford argues that the Church encouraged obedience and acceptance of the status quo and thus served to entrench Doe's power and promote US objectives in the region.