The Role of Christianity and Islam in the Civilizational Development of Modern Africa

Author:

Igor Sledzevskii, Timur Khayrullin

Abstract:

The paper is the result of a conference held on December 9, 2020 by the Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the topic «The Role of Christianity and Islam in the civilizational development of Modern Africa».The conference program consisted of three working sessions. The problems of the organized conference went beyond the issues stated for discussion and were of an interdisciplinary nature. In particular, several conflict points were identified that arose during the events of the Arab Spring and have not been resolved until today. First of all, this is the problem of radical Islamism, which is actively manifested in the region of Northern and Tropical Africa. The problem of the forms and features of Christianity as one of the most important confessions of modern Africa received special attention at the conference. The problem of the clash of secular and religious trends in the civilizational development of post-colonial Africa turned out to be of no small importance.

The structure of the paper consists of an introduction, which reflects the topic, problems, purpose, as well as the issues stated for discussion, followed by the short theses of the conference participants, representatives of the leading scientific and educational centers of Russia. At the end of the work, a conclusion is given, which summarizes the main results of the conference.

Keywords:

coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, civilization, Christianity, postcolonialism, secularism, theology

DOI:

10.31132/2412-5717-2021-56-3-96-119

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