It's my pleasure to
welcome you to the center's
inaugural Hackett Lecture
in Global Christianity.
It's also my distinct
pleasure and privilege
to welcome Professor Afe Adogame
from Princeton Theological
Seminary to inaugurate
this new annual series.
Before I get too far
along though, please
forgive me for reminding you
to silence your cell phones.
And I'd also like to
acknowledge and thank
the Department of African
and African-American studies
for cosponsoring this event.
And finally, as always, I'd
like to thank the center's staff
for making this event possible.
The Hackett Lecture
in Global Christianity
is made possible by a gift
from Jim Hackett, MGS alumnus
from 2016, in honor of
his father Hugh Hackett,
and part of a larger
Hackett family
fund established in support
of Harvard Divinity School.
With this gift, the Center for
the Study of World Religions
establishes on a permanent
basis an annual event
dedicated to fostering
the study of Christianity
as a global religion,
particularly
outside the contemporary west.
Each year, a
distinguished scholar
will be invited to
the center to lecture
on a theme of historical,
social, or theological
significance, with
particular attention
to the context of his or
her own country or region.
With the stimulus
of this initiative,
students at Harvard
Divinity School
will be able to investigate
important developments
in Christianity in a global
context and in this way
also to engage wider academic
fields across the university.
This broader understanding of
the Christian past and present
makes possible more
nuanced thinking
about other religious
traditions in the global arena.
The lecture will
be given each year
by a distinguished scholar.
She or he may be expert in
historical or contemporary
materials but will
be expected to speak
to the current situation in
the pertinent part of the world
as well.
There is no one better
qualified to help
us inaugurate this initiative
than Professor Adogame.
And I'd like to take
this moment to thank
my colleague, Professor
Ukuna, for bringing
Professor Adogame's important
work to my attention.
Professor Adogame is the
Maxwell M. Upson Professor
of Religion and Society at
Princeton Theological Seminary
and is a leading scholar
of the African diaspora.
He earned his PhD in
the history of religions
from the University of
Beyreuth in Germany,
and has served as associate
professor of world Christianity
and religious studies and
director international
at the School of
Divinity, New College,
at the University of
Edinburgh in Scotland.
He is no stranger to Harvard.
No stranger to the CSWR.
He just informed me that he
lived right over there in 2003
before my time here.
So welcome back.
His teaching and research
interests are very broad.
But they tend to
focus on interrogating
the dynamics between religious
experiences and expressions
into Africa and the
African diaspora
with a particular focus
on African Christianity's
new indigenous
religious movements
and the interconnections
between religion, migration,
globalization, politics,
economics, media,
and civil society.
He's published 16 books,
monographs, edited volumes,
and over 90 essays in
journals and books.
I will do him and all of you
the favor of not listing them.
Rather I just want to say a
brief word about his lecture
this evening
entitled "Contesting
the local in the global,
African Christianities
within the religious cosmos."
Professor Adogame will argue
that the global stature
of African Christianities,
in the plural,
indicates a shift in
contemporary Christianity's
center of gravity
from the northern
to the southern hemisphere.
The story of African
Christianities
in the 20th century is
one of faith in emotion
where sub-Saharan Africa
and the African diaspora
serve as significant theaters
for the ongoing dramatization
of Christianity.
His lecture will interrogate
how and to what extent
demographic mobility, civic
roles, and public visibility
in Africa and the
diaspora have put
African Christian
communities on the map
of the contemporary
religious cosmos.
Drawing from recent
ethnography, he
will explore how these
communities are involved
in processes of religious,
social, and cultural capital
engineering while confronting
barriers to development
and civic engagement.
So please join me in
welcoming Professor Adogame.
[APPLAUSE]
OK.
So good afternoon
or good evening.
Let me preface my lecture with
a word of special gratitude
to Professor Justin,
director of the Center,
for inviting me to present
the inaugural Hackett
Lecture in global Christianity.
It is my greatest
honor and privilege
to serve as the
inaugural Hackett
lecturer for a number
of reasons in addition
to be being a kind of
homecoming for me having
spent a very productive time
as a senior fellow here 17
years ago.
I recall quite vividly
Professor Diana Eck
as the Center's director then.
And I enjoyed a collaboration
with her and other colleagues
on the pluralism project.
My deep appreciation also
goes to the Department
of African and
African-American studies
as co-sponsors of this
inaugural lecture.
I'm informed that the Hackett
lecture has been made possible
by a recent grant or
gift from Jim Hackett,
MTS '16, in honor of
his father Hugh Hackett.
I'm told that with
this generous gift,
the Center has established
an annual lecture dedicated
to fostering the
study of Christianity
as a global religion,
particularly
outside the contemporary west.
I congratulate and
commend the Hackett family
for this laudable gift in light
of the perceptive shifting
contours of the center of
gravity of Christianity
from the global north
to the global south.
In my estimation,
conversations at this
and other related events will
help shift our scholarly gaze
to such unprecedented
developments
but, more importantly,
[INAUDIBLE] bold
pertinent questions
about the implications
for redrawing and reconfiguring
global religious maps
of the universe.
Permit me to recognize
the presence of Professor
Jacob [INAUDIBLE],,
my former teacher
who remains my academic
mentor since graduate studies
at [INAUDIBLE] University
live in Nigeria.
I have benefited enormously
from his mentoring
and I wish to appreciate
his manifold contributions
in shaping the field.
In fact, narratives
of my academic journey
would be incomplete
without his indelible mark.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH],,
as we say in Nigeria.
I would also like to
appreciate Mrs. [INAUDIBLE]..
My sincere appreciation to you
for allowing us, some of us
to benefit from his knowledge
and wealth of experience.
Finally, I would like to thank
my wife Esther, who has taken
time off to be here with me.
And this shows the importance
of this lecture for me.
I must not escape to thank
[INAUDIBLE] and [INAUDIBLE]
Rousseau, and other events
coordinators on center.
Colleagues, including the dean
of [INAUDIBLE] for being here
and for ensuring
that I make it here
without any logistic hitches.
So I wanted to
start by showing you
the roadmap of my presentation.
With that brief introduction,
our attempt to mirror African
Christianities as a
dance in masquerade,
and move on to talk
about the politics
of global religious dynamics.
And I will spend a bit
of time on the concept--
global Christianity or world
Christianity, and then finally,
engage the public sphere using
a case study of the Redeemed
Christian Church of God.
And finally, with
time allowing me,
demonstrate the unfolding of
local global transnational
religious spaces using the
case of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God.
So mirroring African
Christianities
as a dance in masquerade.
Chinua Achebe's
symbolism of a masquerade
is a useful starting point for
mapping African Christianities.
He suggests that in order to
describe a dance in masquerade,
you have to move with it.
According to Achebe
of blessed memory,
I quote, "I believe in the
complexity of the human story
and that there's no way you
can tell that story in one way
and say this is it.
Always there will be someone
who can tell it differently
depending on where
you are standing.
The [INAUDIBLE] in
telling the story
would tell it differently."
I think of that masquerade
in both festivals that dance
in the public arena.
The Igbo people say if
you want to see it well,
you must not stand in one place.
The masquerade is moving
through the big arena dancing.
If you are rooted to a spot,
you miss a lot of the grace,
so you keep moving.
And this is the way I
think the war stories
and the story of
Christianity should
be told from many different
perspectives," unquote.
This description of the world in
terms of a dance in masquerade
is for me very illuminating.
While masquerade as
a typical phenomenon
is used in representing and
invoking African culture
and Indigenous values,
metaphorically I
find it useful beyond its
aesthetic artistic significance
to represent the dynamism
and fluidity of African
Christianities as a
faith on the move.
So the story of
African Christianity
is one of a fate in motion.
This mobility depicts
dynamism and innovation.
It portrays creativity
and relevance.
Its texture could be described
as a buffet of Christianity
in Africa and
African Christianity.
One cannot fully understand
Africa without his diaspora.
Neither can we understand the
African diaspora in isolation.
This is more as the
African Union now
characterizes the
African diaspora
as the sixth region of Africa.
This nexus has religious,
cultural, political, economic,
social, and strategic input
that cannot be undermined.
Thus, a pictorial
image of a masquerade
which is multiple colors
depicts and differentiates
and iterations of
Christianity in Africa
and the African diaspora.
This is why, therefore, I talk
about African Christianities
in a sociological, rather
than theological sense,
to capture the different
colors of Christianity
in Africa and its diaspora.
So I move to the next
point, navigating
the politics of global
religious demographics.
The Center for the Study of
Global Christianity at Gordon
Conwell Theological
Seminary, the World Christian
Encyclopedia-- now in
its third edition--
the Pew Research Center's forum
on religion and public life--
for instance, the
Pew Templeton Global
Religious Futures
Project, and the Atlas
of Global Christianity
have provided
robust demographic data, such
as geographical distribution
of the world's
Christian population--
extensive statistical
information,
which I find both helpful,
but also controversial.
So I shall spend a minute
drawing from these findings
to demonstrate African
Christianities within world--
global Christianity as an
instance of contestation
of the local and the global.
Christians in America
and Europe are often
surprised to learn that the
largest Christian continent
today is Africa, going by
demographic information
provided by these
sources I mentioned.
For instance, there are
more Christians in Africa--
some 520 million-- than in
the United States, Canada,
and Mexico combined--
380 million.
In 1900, only 2% of the world's
Christians lived in Africa.
In 2005, nearly 20% of the
world's Christians lived there.
Demographic projections
from the Pew Research Center
indicates that the global
Christian population
has been shifting southward
for at least a century,
and is expected to continue
to do so for the next four
decades.
But Europe's share of
the world's Christians
will continue to decline,
while sub-Saharan Africa's
will increase dramatically.
This is what came out
of their research.
Nearly half of the
world's Christians
already reside in Africa and the
Latin America Caribbean region.
By 2050, those two regions
will be home to more than 6
in 10 of the world's Christians.
The report continued.
In 1910, Europe was
home to roughly 2/3,
66% of the world's population--
Christian population, with
North America a distant second
with 15%.
In addition, by 2050,
5 of the 10 largest
Christian populations
in the world--
Nigeria, the Democratic
Republic of Congo,
Tanzania, Utopia, Uganda--
would be in Africa, which
had 3 of the largest 10
Christian populations in 2010.
So perhaps a question
could be asked--
what triggered this
rapid demographic shift
in sub-Saharan Africa?
Pew reports 2017
suggest that this shift
in the regional concentration of
the global Christian population
is being driven by a combination
of demographic factors,
including fertility, age, and
migration, as well as religious
switching into and
out of Christianity.
As their findings reveal--
further reveal, "in sub-Saharan
Africa, Christians, on average,
are relatively young,
and have more children
than their
co-religions elsewhere,
contributing to the projected
rapid population growth
in the decades ahead," unquote.
The same report added,
quote, "by contrast,
European Christians are much
older and have fewer children.
In addition, large
numbers of Europeans
who were born Christians
are leaving the faith,
with some of them
to join the ranks
of the religiously
unaffiliated--
what is now known as
the religious nones.
As a result, the share of all
Christians living in Europe
is expected to decline from
nearly a quarter in 2015
to just 14% by 2060.
Religious switching
out of Christianity
also is projected to
drive down the share
of the global
Christian population
in North America from 12%
in 2015 to 9% in 2060.
The Pew report
projects that by 2060,
9% of the world's
unaffiliated population,
the religious nones will live
in the United States alone.
So it must be noted that this
demographic shift is, however,
not an exclusive
preserve of Christianity.
As Pew report shows,
sub-Saharan Africa
is also home to a growing
share of the world's Muslims.
Between 2015 and 2016, the
share of all Muslims living
in the region is projected
to increase from 16% to 27%.
This Pew report of 2017
therefore concludes,
quote, "the importance
of sub-Saharan Africa
in the global
religious community
will be elevated
as it becomes home
to larger shares of both
faith by mid-century."
And it continues,
"by 2050, the region
will account for 38% percent
of the world's Christian,
and 24% of the world's Muslims.
One must quickly note
how christocentric or
Christianity-oriented
these statistics are.
And in that, the
revitalization, mobility,
and futures of indigenous
African religious traditions
is caricatured, and
often [INAUDIBLE]
in these religious demographics.
The minimization
and demonization
of indigenous
religious traditions
within global religious mappings
the entire global studies
of Christianity is an
indication of the power dynamics
inherent in global Christianity
and the politicization
of global religious statistics.
With the politicization of
statistics of Christians
in Europe and North America,
one cannot but wonder where
the Christians are against the
backdrop of dwindling church
membership, empty
pews, church closures,
death of clergy and priesthood,
the museumization of church
buildings, and in circumstances
in which church buildings more
and more desacralized, sold
and converted to bookshops,
restaurants, pubs,
bed and breakfast,
or even yoga centers or mosques.
This trend is even more
telling against the backdrop
of the proliferation
of the religious nones
within the religious landscape
and demographic categories.
So it's against
this backdrop that
the interdisciplinary
field of world Christianity
now attempts to interrogate
these complex questions,
such as, whose religion
is Christianity?
Or how is the fit recognized
in our culture or context
and milieus?
Or what is the public
role or social relevance
of the church in a constantly
changing global society marked
by secularization and
globalizing trends?
This enigma of statistics raises
another critique regarding
how church growth is measured,
both horizontally and
vertically.
Could it be that
we should transcend
demographic statistics,
and also look
at the public role and social
location of Christianity?
How is African
Christianity interrogating
politics, economic, social,
cultural, and strategic issues
of the day?
So before I move to addressing
some of these concerns,
let me briefly had highlight I
know that technological debate
about global Christianity
or world Christianity.
So to start here, I find
[INAUDIBLE] distinction
between world Christianity
and global Christianity partly
useful.
He asserts, and I quote,
"world Christianity
is the movement of
Christianity as it
takes form and shape in
societies that previously
are not Christian.
World Christianity is not
one thing, but a variety
of indigenous responses--
true, more or less, effective
local idioms, but in any case,
without necessarily the
European Enlightenment frame."
On the other hand, he
defines global Christianity
as the faithful replication of
Christian forms and patterns
developed in Europe--
also the US.
"It is, in fact," according to
him, "religious establishment
and the cultural captivity
of faith," unquote.
So [INAUDIBLE] remarks
further that the term
global Christianity
carries vestiges
still of that root [INAUDIBLE].
"Global Christianity
as an expression
also carries
connotations of parallels
with economic globalization.
Global Christianity
and Christendom
are interchangeable," unquote.
I also find [? Dale ?]
[? Irvin's ?] definition
of world Christianity
instructive here,
as he aptly notes, "over
the past several decades,
the phrase world Christianity
has gained in popularity
as a way to talk about
the contemporary global
configurations of the Christian
religion in all complexities.
The phrase carries
an implicit admission
within it, without
acknowledging as much the term
Christianity by itself
has too often been reduced
to naming one or more of the
dominant Western historical
forms of this
religion, rendering
the broad global Christianity
reality invisible," unquote.
To these, we must emphasize the
interface between the global
[INAUDIBLE] and
[INAUDIBLE] diasporas--
in both the South and the
Northern Hemispheres, but
also think about the [INAUDIBLE]
dynamics, [INAUDIBLE] networks,
which are often ignored in these
binaries of South and North
and North and South.
And this case, we often
forget about the East,
as if it's religiously bankrupt.
So the discourse on this shift
in the center of gravity,
as championed by scholars
like Andrew [INAUDIBLE],,
Philip Jenkins, [INAUDIBLE]
has been irritating
to the ears of some scholars,
including Robert Wuthnow,
[INAUDIBLE],, Paul Gifford, whose
works privilege extroversion
and ecclesiastical
externality in demonstrating
the exportation of American
Christianity or gospel.
I would argue that
such a backlash
is akin to skewed
interpretations
of globalization as synonyms for
Americanization of the cosmos.
Robert Wuthnow, in
his [INAUDIBLE] book
Boundless Faith, the Global
Outreach of American Churches,
offers a vehement critic
of what he dubbed as,
quote, "the global
Christian paradigm"
as a fairly thorough
refutation of what
he considered the presumptions
behind the idea of world
Christianity.
Wuthnow describes
world Christianity's
central presupposition
as the assertion
that Christianity's
center of gravity
is shifting to the
Southern Hemisphere.
As he remarks in the second
chapter of the book subtitled
the Global Christian Paradigm,
from Cultural Connection
to Demographic
Distance, I quote,
"the recent globalization of
American Christianity cannot be
understood or fully appreciated
until a huge conceptual
obstacle is removed.
Ironically, this
inhibiting factor
is squarely concerned
with globalization
and Christianity."
He continues, "the notion that
the real action in Christianity
is taking place outside of the
United States certainly cannot
be taken lightly.
Globalization should encourage
more, not less interest
in the connection
between the United States
and the rest of the
world," unquote.
As Wuthnow further contends--
quote again-- most germane to
the globalization of American
Christianity.
The new approach has paid
insufficient attention
to the interconnections
among Christian communities
on the various continents.
The failure to
emphasize these linkages
is not merely an oversight,
but stems from assumptions
central to the new
paradigm itself," unquote.
Wuthnow is apt in raising
the need to further nuance
the world Christianity narrative
to explore the interconnections
among Christian communities
on the various continents.
This is hardly a novel call.
However, his privileging
of American Christianity
in this religious
account and exchange
is somewhat
suspicious, and smacks
a narrow rendering of the
concept of global Christianity.
Second, his unilinear approach
to religious transnationalism
that is in rethinking the
international role of US
churches and prioritizing US
support everywhere belittles
the complexity of
the polycentricity
of Christianity-- what has been
well argued by [INAUDIBLE] from
the Munich School--
the South-South networks, but
also the South-North dynamics
that is now enriching
the discourse
on world Christianity.
So one can suggest
therefore that
his simple characterisation
of world Christianity,
or what he calls the global
Christianity paradigm, in terms
of demographic consideration--
as in one of the chapters,
Counting Christians--
is evidence that
he's probably not
abreast with the robust
historiography of the emerging
field of world Christianity.
Wuthnow questions the narrative
of world Christianity as what
he calls the global
Christian paradigm,
and whiffs of the concept
global Christianity
as a fairly recent invention.
Although Wuthnow provides
a useful genealogy
of the concepts here, he
also conflates their meanings
and history of usage.
Steve Brouwer, Paul
Gifford, and Susan Rose,
in their book Exporting
the American Gospel,
are collaborators
with Robert Wuthnow
in this project of
extroversion and externality.
In this book, but also in
other works of Paul Gifford,
they converse that African
churches have been reduced
to a state of plenary as
a result of the collapse
of African economies,
and consequently,
that the continent has
become increasingly receptive
to a form of Christianity
that is new, fundamentalist,
American, and through which
its resources, personnel,
and technology is that
of aberrant impact
on African religious landscape.
[INAUDIBLE] suggests
that American sources
and missionaries systematically
flooding the African continent
and forming a crucial dynamic
part of the African revival.
[INAUDIBLE] the externality
of the prosperity gospel
to African religious
sensibilities [INAUDIBLE]
simply as a hiccup
and a byproduct
of American Pentecostalism.
Just to summarize, this
it is difficult to sustain
this trend of argument, which
privileges ecclesiastical
externality on extroversion,
in explaining the public role
and demographic stature
of African Christianity.
The assumption that the new
form of African Christianity--
for instance, Pentecostalism--
was fully package in the US,
sealed, and delivered
to Africa is simplistic,
on the grounds that such
a social assumptions fail
to take due cognisance of
the colossal diverseness
and complexity of African
Christianity, and in that way,
glossing over indigenous
religious creativity
and innovation.
So I would argue that we
need to pay more attention
to the internal and
external dynamics that
lead to the mobility of
African Christianities in a way
that they are now
significantly reshaping
local and global religious
maps of the universe.
So let me go to the last
part of my presentation
just to demonstrate how some
of these strands of African
Christianities engage
in the public sphere.
And I think this, for me, is
where attention should go.
Generally speaking,
more attention
needs to be given to
the dynamics of African
Christianities in generating
social, cultural, and spiritual
capital, so as to eliminate
pathways in which the economy
and quality of
capital formation is
relevant to African Christian
communities in Africa,
but also in North America,
Europe, and elsewhere.
Religious institutions,
such as in Christianity,
remain a dynamic growing
force in public life
in Africa and its diaspora.
This is what makes new
African Christianities tick.
African Christianities
play a distinctive role
within specific
local contexts, where
those constituencies, such
as governments, trade unions,
blue collar workplaces
that previously generated
trust and sustained broad social
networks have deteriorated.
It is within this context
that we interrogate how
and to what extent Africans
Christianities generate or fail
to build religious and social
capital, while in the midst
of social and cultural flux.
So I will use the example
of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God as
a typical example
of an indigenous
Pentecostal church, which
are spread from Nigeria to--
what they claim--
about 195 countries,
with over 5 million members in
Africa, North America, Europe,
Asia, and elsewhere.
It's vertical and
horizontal growth.
It's not simply the result
of demographic spread.
The church has carved
a niche for itself,
in terms of its public
role, social relevance,
and local global impact
in Africa and beyond.
The church has experienced
considerable growth
within Nigeria and
beyond its borders,
and they also have very huge
statistics to show for it.
The Redeemed Christian
Church of God
is perhaps one of
the fastest growing
and one of the most popular
Pentecostal churches in Africa,
if not the world today.
In North America, for instance,
they lay claim to 600--
at least 600 branches spread
in various cities and states
of the US and Canada.
And their mission statements
makes clear their zeal,
their mission zeal.
Of course, it can be
said to be utopian,
but we can also see how
they are consciously
working to deal with this.
So the rest of the paper,
I just want to show,
for instance, some of the
ways in which this church is
grappling with social,
political, economic,
and religious issues.
Elsewhere, I explored
in more detail
how [INAUDIBLE] Pentecostal
churches such as the Redeemed
[INAUDIBLE] HIV and AIDS,
and join other stakeholders
in combating the pandemic.
I demonstrated that their
contribution to prevention
is partly visible, in terms
of broader development issues,
such as education
and social services,
with an emphasis on
abstinence and faithfulness
as exclusive strategies
for HIV prevention.
The Redeemed Christian
Church of God
has assumed one of
the powerful medium
for breaking the
silence on HIV and AIDS.
They engage through
therapy, spiritual healing,
providing spiritual succor,
more advocacy activities,
and medical help with the
provision of drugs, facilities,
and funds, to the
infected and the affected.
And an example is,
within the church,
they have the African
Missions, which
was initiated in 1996 to
support the church in reaching
its vision for Africa, but
also to educate and reduce
the spread of the AIDS epidemic
in many African countries.
An example, for instance--
on June 11 2003, the African
Missions, not America,
in collaboration with
City Hope International,
donated HIV and AIDS drugs
valued at $1.5 million
to Nigeria for use in treating
related complications.
The Redeemed Christian Church
of God [INAUDIBLE] an office
called the Redeemed AIDS
Program Action Committee, RAPAC,
to deal with HIV and AIDS
from both spiritual, but also
medical angles.
Another example
could be in the area
of drugs and rehabilitation.
The United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime
reported that there were 72 drug
treatment and rehabilitation
facilities in Nigeria.
These facilities included
government-owned specialized
units for the treatment
and rehabilitation
of drug-dependent persons
in psychiatric and general
hospitals, non-governmental
organizations,
and traditional healing centers.
Our [INAUDIBLE]
strategies are undertaken
by faith-based [INAUDIBLE]
and treatment agencies,
such as the Wellspring
Rehabilitation
Centre [INAUDIBLE] and the
Christ Against Drug Abuse
Ministry [INAUDIBLE] in Lagos.
So they have CADAM--
an acronym for Christ
Against Drug Abuse Ministry--
as a fully registered
faith-based NGO in drug demand
reduction activities.
And so this is another example.
The last thing I
would like to come to
is to look at how we
can see the unfolding
of both local, global,
transnational religious spaces.
And I'm going to use the
international headquarters
of the church, which is called
Redemption City or Redemption
Camp, just to illustrate this.
So let me briefly examine
the territorially defined
sacred geography, social
compass, and moral landscape
of the Redemption Camp.
I look at the Redemption City
as a transnational religious
and social space,
a network hub that
hosts major religious events,
transmits spirituality
and religious ideologies,
represents a home away
from home to global visitors,
and a pilgrimage haven
for members and
non-members alike.
A guided tour of
the Redemption City,
which could last
several hours, revealed
its fluid contested
physical borders
and imagined boundaries,
spiritual ecologies,
socioeconomic loci, and its
complex cultural topography.
The Redemption City hosts annual
Holy Ghost Festival, Holy Ghost
Congress, and the
Annual Convention,
which represent the largest
gatherings of the church.
These programs could
also be gleaned
through national television
channels, cable TV,
also RCCG Dove Television
and livestreaming
through RCCG YouTube
channel, Facebook, Twitter,
and other social media
all over the world.
So the festival, the
congress, and the convention
become an annual hub within a
transnational religious space
of the Redemption City
that brings together
people networking along the
contours of religion, business,
politics, and economics.
So they embody space
of the Redemption Camp,
and as we shall see, its
reproduction in the Nigeria
diaspora exemplify as
transnational religious and
social spaces of contestation,
innovation, and change.
This site, as I
mentioned, doubles
as the international
headquarters.
Physical facilities in
the 2,500 hectares of land
include a new auditorium
measuring 3 by 3 kilometers.
And it can be argued
this is the largest
auditorium in the world.
And this has a sitting capacity
of over 3 million people
to host major events,
including the Holy Ghost
service, the congress monthly,
and the week-long annual
convention.
The new facility replaces
the old congress arena,
with a capacity of 1/2
million worshippers.
Redemption City has more
than 20,000 residents,
and an infrastructure,
residential estates,
and business facilities
characteristic
of a modern African city.
And as you can see, this is
the Redemption City, which
has at least 150 facilities.
And it has created a
[INAUDIBLE] this was [INAUDIBLE]
but because of this space--
the creation of this space,
it has generated a new city.
And there's a lot I
can say about this,
but I see that the time
is almost up for me.
So the religious
geography of the camp
encompasses physical structures,
including conference centers,
guest houses, a
presidential villa,
when the president and other
politicians are visiting.
It also has, at
present there are
11 banks that are located
in this space alone.
And the facilities-- it's
interesting to see what really
transpires in this space.
But what for me
is very important
is that we need to
begin to tease out
what transpire in this
place, because it's not just
a religious space.
It's also a business space.
It's also a political space.
It's an economic space, with
housing estates springing up
here and there.
So you can see it a bit--
I think is a bit blurry--
but what is interesting for
me, just to come to the end,
is the reproduction of
this space in the US.
The [INAUDIBLE] North American
headquarters located in Dallas,
and there's an attempt to
reproduce these facilities
in a multiplicity of ways,
leading one journalist to refer
to it as African church
plans Christian Disneyland.
And I think these
are issues that we
need to begin to think about
to try to understand how some
of these African churches
or African-led churches
are negotiating both
local and global spaces,
and they are
contesting space that
is religious, but also economic,
and political, and cultural,
and social.
And so this is what I would like
to share with you this evening.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
