Anthropological Perspectives on Christianity and Conflict

Anthropological inquiry into Christianity and conflict examines how Christian beliefs, institutions and rituals intersect with processes of violence, negotiation and social repair. Researchers explore how theological discourses are mobilised in wartime, how moral economies shaped by Christian ethics influence patterns of exclusion or reconciliation, and how religious identities are renegotiated in post-conflict settings. Studies range from investigations of sexual violence framed through moral worlds informed by Christian norms, to analyses of how returnees from a religiously inflected armed movement navigate stigma and social control. Ethnographic accounts of churches, customary authorities and aid interventions reveal the global diversity of Christian engagements with conflict, from Pentecostal practices of confession as mechanisms of individual and communal transformation to the brokerage roles played by faith leaders in peacebuilding. Across contexts, anthropologists illuminate the practical applications of Christian rituals and moral vocabularies in mitigating or perpetuating violence, highlighting the interplay between local moral geographies and wider historical and political forces.

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Anthropological Perspectives on Christianity and Conflict publication trend

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Technical terms

Reintegration: The process by which former combatants or displaced individuals are absorbed back into civilian life, with attention to social acceptance and material support.

Stigmatization: The social practice of marking individuals as morally or socially tainted, often resulting in exclusion or controlled reintegration.

Moral spaces: The culturally defined settings—temporal and spatial—in which community norms and ethical judgments are applied to actions such as sexual conduct or ritual practice.

Customary authority: Traditional forms of leadership and social governance rooted in local customs, which may intersect with or contest formal religious and state institutions.

References

1. What Happened to Children Who Returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda?. Journal of Refugee Studies (2020).
2. Intergenerational land conflict in northern Uganda: children, customary law and return migration. Africa (2018).
3. Moral Spaces and Sexual Transgression: Understanding Rape in War and Post Conflict. Development and Change (2019).
4. Being Normal: Stigmatization of Lord’s Resistance Army Returnees as ‘Moral Experience’ in Post-war Northern Uganda. Journal of Refugee Studies (2020).
5. The practice of confession and absolution as an agent of change in a prophetic Pentecostal Church during COVID-19. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies (2021).