Worlds of Power: Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa
Worlds of Power: Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa
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权力的世界：非洲的宗教思想和政治实践
DOI：
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发表时间：
2004
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
G. Haar
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
S. Ellis;G. Haar
随着基督教复兴（包括福音派入主白宫）、伊斯兰激进主义和传统宗教的复兴，很明显，世界并没有走向世俗国家的共同体。没有任何地方比非洲更紧密地交织在一起。在欧洲和美国的非洲移民寄钱回家建造教堂和清真寺，非洲政治家咨询占卜师，游击队员相信护身符可以保护他们免受子弹的伤害，以及寻求仪式治疗的普通人：所有这些都将宗教思想应用于社会各个层面的日常生存问题。非洲非但没有从世界地图上消失，今天还是基督教的主要中心和伊斯兰激进主义的一个日益增长的领域，而非洲传统宗教在西方也越来越多地皈依。如果不认真对待宗教思想，人们就无法理解当今的政治。关于女巫、奇迹或死而复生的故事会煽动政治行动。在非洲，宗教信仰对政治有着巨大的影响，从社会的顶层到底层。宗教思想展示了人们对世界的实际看法以及如何应对世界。埃利斯和特尔·哈尔坚持认为，如果我们要把握宗教在当今非洲的政治意义，就必须掌握宗教思想的具体内容，但他们的书也告诉我们，宗教和政治实践之间的关系一般。
With Christian revivals (including Evangelicals in the White House), Islamic radicalism and the revitalisation of traditional religions it is clear that the world is not heading towards a community of secular states. Nowhere are religious thought and political practice more closely intertwined than in Africa. African migrants in Europe and America who send home money to build churches and mosques, African politicians who consult diviners, guerrilla fighters who believe that amulets can protect them from bullets, and ordinary people who seek ritual healing: all of these are applying religious ideas to everyday problems of existence, at every level of society. Far from falling off the map of the world, Africa is today a leading centre of Christianity and a growing field of Islamic activism, while African traditional religions are gaining converts in the West. One cannot understand the politics of the present without taking religious thought seriously. Stories about witches, miracles, or people returning from the dead incite political action. In Africa religious belief has a huge impact on politics, from the top of society to the bottom. Religious ideas show what people actually think about the world and how to deal with it. Ellis and Ter Haar maintain that the specific content of religious thought has to be mastered if we are to grasp the political significance of religion in Africa today, but their book also informs our understanding of the relationship between religion and political practice in general.