7:30 pm, Mon., Jan. 26 in Blanchard Seminar Room 339, 501 College Ave., Wheaton
Christian Nationalism is Nationalism: Biblical Analogy as Political Theology in Contemporary Zambia
By tracing Zambian Christian nationalism’s 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.
Naomi Haynes is Senior Lecturer and Chancellor’s Fellow in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. An anthropologist of Christianity, Haynes’ work explores how religious ideas and practices shape traditionally “non-religious” parts of life, especially politics and economics. She has also contributed to ongoing interdisciplinary discussions between anthropology and theology with the goal of shaping social theory through nonsecular reasoning. Haynes’ first monograph, Moving by the Spirit, explores the social life of Zambian Pentecostal congregations that have been shaped by the prosperity gospel. Her second monograph, A Divine Season, to be published summer 2026, examines Christian nationalist activism in Zambia, the only African country to declare itself a “Christian nation.”
Sponsored by the department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Urban Studies and the Center for Applied Christian Ethics
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jill Caballero at 630.752.5886 or CACE@wheaton.edu.