Sacrifice Of Africa

Displays the power of Christianity to unleash true political transformation in Africa

Christianity is rapidly expanding in Africa – but so also are the vexing realities of war, civil unrest, corruption and violence. What are the connections between these two faces of Africa? Can Christianity become the much-needed social force for a new future in Africa? How would such a future come about, and what would it look like?

These questions lie at the heart of The Sacrifice of Africa by Emmanuel Katongole. A Catholic priest from Uganda, born in 1960, who lived through the reign of Idi Amin and who has seen firsthand the problems that ravage his home country and its neighbors, Katonogole argues that recurring civil war, violence, corruption and instability are wired within the imaginative landscape of modern Africa, are set within the founding narratives of Africa’s inception into the modern world through colonialism and its successor institution, nation-state politics.

In the face of these entrenched political imaginations, the most critical social challenge is one of “daring to invent” the future through new foundational narratives that reflect and nurture a fresh, different vision for African politics and social life. This is the primary political difference that Christianity can make in Africa.

The stories of three African Christian leaders and their work – Bishop Paride Taban and the Holy Trinity Peace Village in Southern Sudan; Angelina Atyam in Uganda and the Concerned Parents Association in Uganda; and Maggie Barankitse and Maison Shalom in Burundi – cap off Katongole’s inspiring vision of hope for Africa.