Gifford, Paul 1944–

PERSONAL:

Born 1944. Education: B.A.; M.Litt.

CAREER:

Educator and writer. University of London, London, England, professor of African Christianity.

WRITINGS:

The Religious Right in Southern Africa, Baobab Books/University of Zimbabwe Publications (Harare, Zimbabwe), 1988.

Paul Valery: Le dialogue des choses divines, Corti (Paris, France), 1989.

Christianity, Ecumenical Documentation and Information Centre of Eastern and Southern Africa (Hatfield, Harare, Zimbabwe), 1990.

The New Crusaders, Pluto (Concord, MA), 1991.

Christianity and Politics in Doe's Liberia, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1993.

(Editor, with Brian Stimpson) Paul Valery: Musique, mystique, mathematique, Presses Universitaires de Lille (France), 1993.

Paul Valery: "Charmes," University of Glasgow French and German Publications (Glasgow, Scotland), 1995.

(Editor) The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa, E.J. Brill (New York, NY), 1995.

African Christianity: Its Public Role, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1998.

(Editor, with Brian Stimpson) Reading Paul Valery: Universe in Mind, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor, with David Archard, Trevor Hart, and Nigel Rapport) 2000 Years and Beyond: Faith, Identity, and the "Common Era," Routledge (New York, NY), 2002.

Ghana's New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 2004.

Contributor to Exporting the American Gospel, edited by Steve Brouwer, Routledge (New York, NY), 1996.

SIDELIGHTS:

Paul Gifford has written and edited a number of works focused on Christianity in Africa. In Christianity and Politics in Doe's Liberia, according to American Historical Review contributor Geoffrey Johnston, Gifford "argues with hardly a pause … [that] Christianity in Liberia during the 1980s was marked by the transfer of American fundamentalism to West Africa." "Because it was so other-worldly, fundamentalism provided significant support for Samuel Doe's corrupt and incompetent tyranny," continued Johnson's description of the book's thesis. "Far from being a positive force," related D. Elwood Dunn in Journal of Church and State, "this purported Christian growth is lamented as devoid of the substance of the gospel and social redemption."

In a Times Literary Supplement review of Christianity and Politics in Doe's Liberia, A.M. Daniels complained that Gifford's "hostility towards the kind of religion he describes means that the thousands of ordinary Liberians who have accepted it have no more than a walk-on part in the book, as mere creatures of circumstance." Daniels found further fault with Gifford's presentation and analysis of "politically quietist theology," as well as noting that "in ascribing the longevity of Doe's regime … he omits or underestimates internal factors." "Nevertheless," noted Daniels, Christianity and Politics in Doe's Liberia "will be of interest to both Africans and sociologists of religion." Although Johnston was also unimpressed with some aspects of the book, he similarly found the "good book" to have value: "It is well written, clearly argued, and provides a very useful case study of African Christianity since the Pentecostal explosion." "It raises issues about the relationship between state and civil society that are sure to figure prominently in the aftermath of the civil war that has devastated [Liberia] over the past four years," complimented Dunn. Based solely on this view, continued Dunn, "the book is a welcome addition to the literature on Liberia."

Gifford's more recent works discussing Christianity in Africa include 1995's The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa, which Gifford edited, and African Christianity: Its Public Role, which was called a "fascinating survey" by Christopher Fyfe in the Times Literary Supplement. The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa grew out of a 1993 conference at the University of Leeds. "This comparative volume" contains thirteen "extremely informative" chapters that underscore "the different ways in which the churches in Africa have responded to and, more particularly, shaped, the wider society," noted Rosalind I.J. Hackett in Journal of Church and State. The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa "should serve handsomely to counter any surviving political reductionist explanations that democracy is a purely Western or Protestant-derived phenomenon," praised Hackett. African Christianity is a "lucid, well-informed survey" in which "Gifford shows … the ‘mainline’ missionary Churches are more powerful than ever before, while the independent Churches are declining, eclipsed by the Pentecostal, ‘born again’, Churches which have swept over Africa from the United States in recent decades," wrote Fyfe. The reviewer added: "[Gifford's] concern is with their public role…. To put them in their public context, he has a masterly brief opening chapter outlining the successive, unusually contradictory, political theories expounded by Africanists over the years."

Among Gifford's other publication are several titles focusing on Paul Valery, among them 1989's PaulValery: Le dialogue des choses divines, Paul Valery: Musique, mystique, mathematique, a 1993 volume he edited with Brian Stimpson, and Paul Valery: "Charmes," which was released in 1995.

Gifford is also coeditor with David Archard, Trevor Hart, and Nigel Rapport of 2000 Years and Beyond: Faith, Identity, and the "Common Era." The book brings together specialists in philosophy, theology, anthropology, and cultural history to ask strategic questions concerning the millennium. For example, among the seven essays are an examination of the future of human nature and a discussion of whether or not a pre-modern Bible can address a postmodern world. "There is a danger with projects rooted in a particular commemorative event that they quickly become dated," wrote Fiona Bowie in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. "This is not the case with 2000 Years and Beyond, an edited volume of essays based on a seminar series at the University of St Andrews, which sparkles with intellectual power and eloquence."

In his 2004 book, Ghana's New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy, the author examines the rising tide of Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on Greater Accra in Ghana. He discusses Christianity within the context of Ghana's political and economic situation and also examines how charismatic movements and a fervent belief in success and wealth in life can be a motivating factor to change circumstances in places where despair usually dominates. "This book is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand the role of Christianity, particularly the new Pentecostal churches in Ghana," wrote Noel Leo Erskine in Africa Today. Journal of International Affairs contributor Eamon Kircher-Allen commented that the author's "analyses are meticulous and literal."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Africa, summer, 2000, Donal B. Cruise O'Brien, review of The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa, p. 520.

African Affairs, April, 1999, Kevin Ward, review of African Christianity: Its Public Role, p. 272.

Africa Today, fall, 2006, Noel Leo Erskine, review of Ghana's New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy, p. 137.

American Historical Review, October, 1994, Geoffrey Johnston, review of Christianity and Politics in Doe's Liberia, p. 1374.

Choice, June, 1999, D. Jacobsen, review of African Christianity, p. 1805.

Church History, December, 1997, Joel A. Carpenter, review of Exporting the American Gospel, p. 885.

Foreign Affairs, January-February, 2005, Nicolas Van De Walle, review of Ghana's New Christianity, p. 198.

French Studies, January, 2001, Peter Collier, review of Reading Paul Valery: Universe in Mind, p. 116.

International Bulletin of Missionary Research, January, 2000, Ogbu U. Kalu, review of African Christianity, p. 36; July, 2005, Ogbu U. Kalu, review of Ghana's New Christianity, p. 160.

Journal of African History, July 1, 2005, "Charismatic Christianity and ‘Modernity’ in Ghana," p. 372.

Journal of Asian and African Studies, August, 2001, Elias Bongmba, review of African Christianity, p. 322.

Journal of Church and State, autumn, 1994, D. Elwood Dunn, review of Christianity and Politics in Doe's Liberia, pp. 851-852; autumn, 1997, Rosalind I.J. Hackett, review of The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa, pp. 809-810; spring, 2000, Caleb O. Oladipo, review of African Christianity, p. 374.

Journal of European Studies, December, 1999, Harry Guest, review of Reading Paul Valery, p. 446.

Journal of International Affairs, fall-winter, 2007, Eamon Kircher-Allen, review of Ghana's New Christianity, p. 272.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, September, 2001, Simon Coleman, review of African Christianity, p. 576; June, 2004, Fiona Bowie, review of 2000 Years and Beyond: Faith, Identity, and the "Common Era," p. 457.

Modern Language Review, April, 1991, Kirsteen H.R. Anderson, review of Paul Valery: Le dialogue des choses divines, pp. 471-472; April, 1995, Ursula Franklin, review of Paul Valery: Musique, mystique, mathematique, pp. 455-456; July, 1996, Ursula Franklin, review of Paul Valery: "Charmes," pp. 735-736.

Religion, April, 2000, Matthews A. Ojo, review of The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa, p. 186; April, 2000, Matthews A. Ojo, review of African Christianity, p. 187.

Times Literary Supplement, July 22, 1994, A.M. Daniels, review of Christianity and Politics in Doe's Liberia, p. 29; December 25, 1998, Christopher Fyfe, review of African Christianity, p. 22.