Description
Book SynopsisThe African Church and COVID-19: Human Security, the Church, and Society in Kenya is a bold and incisive look at the African Church in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the book, contributors explore how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragilities of African society as well as the weaknesses in the Church’s role in helping and serving African communities. The African Church and COVID-19 analyzes the question of how the Church in Kenya should move forward in a post-COVID-19 era to address the vulnerabilities of socio-economic and political structures in Africa.
Trade ReviewAfrican scholars cannot outsource the responsibility of reflecting on the African condition to outsiders, no matter how well-meaning those outsiders might be. Contributors to this volume have taken this challenge seriously, investing resources in clarifying the role of the Church in Africa in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This volume bears testimony to the importance of contextual theologies, as the contributors have demonstrated how the Church has sought to be visible on the frontlines in responding to one of the most demanding pandemics of our time. It is a timely, well researched, and balanced publication.
-- Ezra Chitando, University of Zimbabwe and World Council of Churches, Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy
This book makes an excellent articulation of socio-ethical implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and the prophetic role of the church in Africa in addressing the pandemic. This ground-breaking book captures new ways of doing theology and ministering to the people of God in times of pandemic. While the world concentrates on medical care and healing of persons affected by the pandemic, it is equally important, as demonstrated by this book, to draw attention to the pains of isolation, poverty, unemployment, conflicts, human rights abuse, and political violence. This edited volume is an important book for students and lecturers in sociology, peace studies, religion, and political science.
-- Elias O. Opongo, Centre for Research, Training and Publications, Hekima University College, Nairobi
Drawing on the African context, this book offers a lucid and multidisciplinary insight of how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the religious and social life through human security lenses. This book illuminates and re-imagines through a whole-of-society approach how the Church in Africa is and ought to be responding to the ravages of the on(going) health epidemic. The book reflects and articulates the everyday realities brought by the pandemic but also takes a problem-solving perspective. This book would be useful for African theologians, historians, educators, and development practitioners.
-- John Mwangi, St. Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya
This book covers a wide array of issues related to the Christian community’s response to the widely disruptive COVID-19 pandemic. The volume’s multidisciplinary approach to the problem at hand is its most useful contribution. The book shows the fruits of collaborative engagement between the various university disciplines. Indeed, we need to make room for the other voice, and we need a trialogue between the church, the society, and the academy. The book also goes beyond mere description of the problem at hand to a carefully crafted prescription of remedies to it. Pastors, scholars, theologians, students, and Christian leaders will find this resource a gem to behold. I highly recommend it without reservation.
-- David Tarus, Executive Director, Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA)
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Imagining of a Post-COVID-19 Church in Africa
Martin Munyao
Chapter 1: Understanding COVID-19 Disease and the Church in Africa: Infections, Containment, and Vaccines
Natalia Gitu and Peter Martin Gitu
Chapter 2: ‘Can these Bones Live?’: African Christianity and Human Security in Post-Covid-19 Era
Chammah J. Kaunda
Chapter 3: The Church and Food Security in the Post-COVID-19 Era: A Call for Decolonializing the African Mind
Joseph Muutuki
Chapter 4: Environmental Justice and the Church in Post-COVID-19 Era
Peter Durito
Chapter 5: Religious Diplomacy and Interstate Relations During COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring Interfaith Engagements in Mediating for Peace and Harmony in the East African Region
Martin Munyao and Maureen Muturi
Chapter 6: The Church and Humanitarian Crisis in The Post-Covid-19 Era
Sylvia Tuikong
Chapter 7: The Church, Family, and Gender-Based Violence in the Post-COVID-19 Era
Patrick Musembi, Joseph Muutuki, and Josephine Munyao
Chapter 8: Assessing the Preparedness of the Church in Handling Mental Health Cases in Society in the Post-COVID-19 Period
John Mudegu
Chapter 9: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Socioeconomic Vulnerability of Households: An Assessment of Poverty Eradication Strategies Employed by Christian Chapel, Kenya
Patrick Musembi
Chapter 10: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Education in Kenya: Challenges and Opportunities
Evelyn Jepkemei and Martin Munyao
Chapter 11: The Church Will Provide: The Church and Public Education in Kenya
Wandia Njoya
Chapter 12: Church, COVID-19, and Gender-Based Violence in Kenya: Strategies for Intervention by the Post-COVID Church
Sylvia Muriuki
