Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Winds of Change 1
1. The Nugent School and the Ethno-Religious Politics of Mission
Education 23
2. The Equatorial Corps and the Torit Mutiny 44
3. Liberation War 67
4. Khartoum Goliath: The Martial Theology of SPLM/SPLA Update
88
5. The Troubled Promised Land 113
Conclusion: Inheriting the Wind 135
Sources and Methodology 145
Notes 151
Bibliography 177
Index 199
Christopher Tounsel is Catherine Shultz Rein Early Career Professor in the College of the Liberal Arts and Assistant Professor of History and African Studies at Pennsylvania State University.
“Christopher Tounsel makes a major contribution to the study of
South Sudanese political thought. He has drawn on the literature of
Black liberation theology in Africa as well as the Americas, giving
the South Sudanese a place in the theoretical literature that has
excluded them up to now. Chosen Peoples presents unique material
that has the potential to shift the way we understand the history
of Sudan and South Sudan and the role of religion in politics more
generally.”
*South Sudan: A New History for a New Nation*
“Chosen Peoples is a remarkable achievement, revealing unexplored
chapters of South Sudanese history and placing them into a novel
analytic frame that will impact how we think about postcolonial
liberation for many years to come. In this brave book, Christopher
Tounsel does not shy away from asking difficult questions of his
material, the reward being that he opens considerable space for
thinking anew about the mutual construction of race and religion in
the two Sudans and beyond.”
*For Love of the Prophet: An Ethnography of Sudan’s Islamic
State*
"In a study that will resonate with anyone familiar with the
political language of medieval Christian Europe or the 19th-century
United States, Tounsel shows how biblical and religious language
utterly permeated political rhetoric and self-fashioning in South
Sudan. . . . Chosen Peoples is richly instructive for understanding
the influence of the Bible in societies where it represents a
powerful and challenging new presence."
*Christian Century*
"Tounsel helps to draw new attention to South Sudan. He unpacks the
influence of Christianity on the politics of identity in the
country. Rather than providing a comprehensive history of the
political and social influences of Christian churches in South
Sudan, Tounsel focuses on specific institutions at different points
in history that highlight the diverse ways in which Christianity
shaped South Sudanese identities."
*Sociology of Religion*
"[Chosen Peoples] is an important text that touches on a new
moment in the development of African Christian political thought—a
moment when Black Africans drew from discourses of liberation
theology to fight for liberation from other Black Africans."
*Reading Religion*
"An important contribution to scholarship . . . Chosen Peoples
offers critical insight into the complex ways in which categories
of religion, race and ethnicity work in different contexts, and
also raises serious questions about the limitations of Christianity
- and possibly religion more generally - as a basis of nation
building and as a means of promoting national cohesion and
collective identity."
*Religion*
"Chosen Peoples offers novel insights into South Sudan’s religious
and political history. By prioritizing political theologies as a
question of historical inquiry, it makes an important intervention
in both South Sudan’s emerging historiography and in the broader
trajectories of African intellectual history."
*Journal of African History*
"This book provides a vivid history of South Sudan. It gives a very
clear and concise account of events from the beginning of the civil
wars to the aftermath of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and the
efforts by the people of South Sudan to liberate itself from the
North."
*African Studies Quarterly*
"Chosen Peoples is essential reading for all those seeking to
understand Sudan’s and South Sudan’s traumatic journey over the
last 100 years in its social, political, and spiritual
dimensions."
*Sudan Studies*
"Christopher Tounsel’s new book is a creative, substantive, and
important look at the role of religion in the creation of the
world’s youngest nation-state, South Sudan. . . . Tounsel’s prose
is beautiful, but its sources really set the book apart."
*Religious Studies Review*
"The crisp style of writing, the arguments, and the engaging
discussions in the various chapters make this book a must-read for
scholars, students, and individuals interested not only in African
studies and history but also in the application of religious
thought in political situations."
*Journal of Global South Studies*
"Chosen Peoples is a fascinating and engaging book. . . . The book
is excellent reading for scholars of Sudan, and of religion,
politics, and race regardless of context."
*Journal of Religion in Africa*
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