Church and State Relations in Zambia: An Evangelical Perspective

Abstract

Church and State Relations in Zambia: An Evangelical Perspective contributes to the debate regarding how Church and state relations emerged in Zambia and how religion plays a massive role in Zambia’s political development and civic engagement. Tracing the history of religion’s impact on pre-independence and post-independence Zambia, this study examines three impacts of religion on politics and government: religion legitimating government, religion providing checks and balances and religion providing the tools for change and revolution.

This study used qualitative methods and is guided by a literature review on the historical development of Church and state relations in Zambia. Nevertheless, this literature data is analysed and framed within Osmer’s (2008:4) practical theology approach, which first examines the descriptive-empirical task and then moves to the interpretative task. It then examines the normative task and, finally, proposes a pragmatic approach upon which a practical action can be based.

Past studies on Church-state relations in Zambia have ignored the Evangelical contribution. Furthermore, some have neglected to account for the impact of the African Traditional Religion world-view on Zambia's religious character which mainly explains why Zambians have had few problems with a political worldview that synergizes the religious and the temporal. Unlike the European models of Church and state, the models in much of Africa, and hence Zambia, are not about which of the two institutions controlled the other between the Church and the state – but rather, how the Church, in this case, the Evangelical Church, should live in political space and in a state that has officially declared itself to be a Christian nation.

This official declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation presents both the opportunities and the challenges for the Evangelical Churches in Zambia to live out their spiritual mission without being perceived as the arm of the Christian state. Specifically, how can the Evangelical Church live out its mission in a state that has declared itself Christian?Church and State Relations in Zambia: An Evangelical Perspective contributes to the debate regarding how Church and state relations emerged in Zambia and how religion plays a massive role in Zambia’s political development and civic engagement. Tracing the history of religion’s impact on pre-independence and post-independence Zambia, this study examines three impacts of religion on politics and government: religion legitimating government, religion providing checks and balances and religion providing the tools for change and revolution.

This study used qualitative methods and is guided by a literature review on the historical development of Church and state relations in Zambia. Nevertheless, this literature data is analysed and framed within Osmer’s (2008:4) practical theology approach, which first examines the descriptive-empirical task and then moves to the interpretative task. It then examines the normative task and, finally, proposes a pragmatic approach upon which a practical action can be based.

Past studies on Church-state relations in Zambia have ignored the Evangelical contribution. Furthermore, some have neglected to account for the impact of the African Traditional Religion world-view on Zambia's religious character which mainly explains why Zambians have had few problems with a political worldview that synergizes the religious and the temporal. Unlike the European models of Church and state, the models in much of Africa, and hence Zambia, are not about which of the two institutions controlled the other between the Church and the state – but rather, how the Church, in this case, the Evangelical Church, should live in political space and in a state that has officially declared itself to be a Christian nation.

This official declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation presents both the opportunities and the challenges for the Evangelical Churches in Zambia to live out their spiritual mission without being perceived as the arm of the Christian state. Specifically, how can the Evangelical Church live out its mission in a state that has declared itself Christian?