A Divine Season: Christian Nationalist Activism in Zambia
Hardcover
Paperback
- Price:
- $29.95/拢25.00
- ISBN:
- Published:
- Aug 18, 2026
- Pages:
- 192
- Size:
- 6.13 x 9.25 in.
- 7 b/w illus.
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In 2015, Zambia began an ambitious program to 鈥渁ctualize鈥� the country鈥檚 constitutional declaration that it was a 鈥淐hristian nation.鈥� For Pentecostal Christian nationalist activists, this was a 鈥渄ivine season,鈥� an opportunity to change their country by submitting it to God鈥檚 control. In this book, Naomi Haynes examines these efforts at national transformation, offering a careful ethnographic exploration of Christian nationalist theology, ritual, and policy initiatives. Drawing on her extensive fieldwork in Lusaka, Zambia鈥檚 capital, Haynes describes how activists promoted Zambia鈥檚 Christian identity, whether by writing books and newspaper articles, posting on social media, building new monuments, praying for the nation, or lobbying for constitutional changes.
By tracing Zambian Christian nationalism鈥檚 internal contradictions and tensions, Haynes charts its ultimate failure, which she ascribes in part to institutional opposition from the civil service and Catholic and mainline Protestant denominations. She also points to what she terms its fatal theological flaw, going beyond the usual secular analysis in anthropology to engage with theological critiques of Christian nationalism. The example of Zambia offers the most fully realized expression of Christian nationalism outside the West, demonstrating what this movement can look like when given free political rein. With this book, Haynes provides an instructive account of an increasingly influential global movement.
