Finding a Social Voice : The Church and Marxism in Africa / Joseph C. McKenna.
McKenna, Joseph C., author.
2023
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Title Finding a Social Voice : The Church and Marxism in Africa / Joseph C. McKenna.
Author McKenna, Joseph C., author.
ISBN 9780823295517
DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823295517
Published New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2023]
Copyright ©1997
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource (255 p.)
Other Standard Identifiers 10.1515/9780823295517 doi
Summary From the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, the influence of Marxist ideas expanded in sub-Saharan Africa. The Catholic Church saw this influence as likely to affect the accomplishment of its mission, and its pastoral efforts accordingly sought to deal with the Marxist thrust. In the late 1980s, Marxist influence in Africa declined sharply as Marxist political dominance became less intense. Nevertheless, the Church's encounter with African Marxism constituted an important chapter in both secular and ecclesiastical history. Finding a Social Voice records and analyzes the significant elements of this encounter. Father McKenna's book investigates how postcolonial African regimes under varying degree of Marxist influence have interacted with the Catholic Church, and studies how the Church has grown through its response to that interaction. The book contributes greatly to the virtually unexplored topic of church-state interaction in contemporary Africa. McKenna's claim that the Catholic Chruch's response to Marxism was a "part of its coming to maturity," part of its bringing its social perspective to bear on the processes of political, economic, and social modernization through which traditional cultures were passing, is an important contribution to the more recent literature on the emergence of "civil society" in Sub-Saharan Africa. The text also provides an introduction to post-Vatican II understandings of ecclesiastical activity in Africa. It reviews the theory and practice of Marxism as developed by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and the leaders of Soviet Russia and other Communist countries. It then presents an overview of the ways in which Marxist influence worked in Africa and a similar overview of how the Church functioned and was affected by that influence. Finally, the book offers case-studies on the interaction of Marxism and the Church in four diverse Africa countries: Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The introductory chapters make this book accessible to the general reader; the book as a whole is an enrichment of our understanding of contemporary Africa.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 27. Jan 2023)
In Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014
Fordham University Press eBook-Package Archive Pre-2000
Available in Other Form print 9780823217120
Linked Resources Online Access
Record Appears in Online Resources > Ebooks
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Frontmatter
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
1. Rationale, Approach
2. Marxism: Theory and Practice
3. Marxism's Influence in Africa: An Overview
4. The Church in Africa and Its Encounter with Marxism: An Overview
5. Marxism and the Church in Mozambique
6. Marxism and the Church in Madagascar
7. Marxism and the Church in Zimbabwe
8. Marxism and the Church in Zambia
9. Comparisons, Contrasts, Reflections
Sources Cited
Index

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