caa a22 4500 388044306 CHVBK 20180307125031.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199804 xx s 000 0 eng 10.2307/524681 doi S0002020600034156 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.2307/524681 Longman Timothy P. Empowering the Weak and Protecting the Powerful: The Contradictory Nature of Churches in Central Africa [Elektronische Daten] [Timothy P. Longman] Christian churches play sharply contradictory roles in African societies, both helping the ruling classes maintain their domination of the masses and helping the masses resist domination. An analysis of Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo reveals that various social groups vie to use the churches to support their political programs. In Rwanda, for example, both supporters and targets of the genocide received assistance from the churches. Churches have no predetermined relationship to structures of power, but represent important sites of political contestation, a fact that challenges the view that civil society, in which churches are a vital segment, necessarily serves the interests of the society as a whole. Copyright © African Studies Association 1998 African Studies Review Cambridge University Press 41/1(1998-04), 49-72 0002-0206 41:1<49 1998 41 ASR https://doi.org/10.2307/524681 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.2307/524681 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Longman Timothy P. NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- African Studies Review Cambridge University Press 41/1(1998-04), 49-72 0002-0206 41:1<49 1998 41 ASR CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge