Premium Benedicto Kiwanuka and Catholic Democracy in UgandaPremium
Author(s)
Carney J. J.
Publication year2020
Publication title
journal of religious history
Resource typeJournals
PublisherJohn Wiley and Sons Australia
In this article, I introduce Benedicto Kiwanuka (1922–72), Uganda’s first prime minister and most prominent modern Catholic politician, and explore how his religious and political sensibilities — especially his vision of democracy — intersected with Catholic thought and historical experience in Buganda and Uganda. Far from turning him into a “Catholic tribalist” looking to empower Catholics vis à vis other religious groups, Kiwanuka’s Catholic identity was a core component of his political commitment to non‐sectarian democracy, the common good, and pan‐ethnic nation‐building. He saw in Catholicism the possibility of envisioning political solidarity during a moment of social rupture, and he and his Democratic Party used Catholic and biblical discourse and theology to help undergird a broader political commitment to liberal democratic nationalism during Uganda’s transition to independence (1958–62). At the same time, Kiwanuka’s prophetic commitment to principle — an uncompromising dogmatism often expressed in religious and theological language — also helped cost him the opportunity to lead Uganda into and beyond independence.
Subject(s)aesthetics , democracy , gender studies , identity (music) , independence (probability theory) , law , mathematics , nationalism , philosophy , political economy , political science , politics , religious studies , sociology , solidarity , statistics
Language(s)English
SCImago Journal Rank0.117
H-Index13
eISSN1467-9809
pISSN0022-4227
DOI10.1111/1467-9809.12663
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