Emmanuel Bueya SJ / State Power vs People's Sovereignty: The Catholic Resistance to Authoritarianism in the DRC

In some African countries, power is seized by a single leader who is not accountable to the public. The people resist this by adhering to a more legitimate authority than the State: their conscience. In DRC, this Catholic resistance has manifested itself as an evangelical alternative, Bantu philosophy, and confrontations by Catholic laypersons against the Leviathan-State. Why should a handful of individuals be granted a monopoly on violence? Is not the state they represent merely one form of human organization among many others?
Emmanuel Bueya Bu-Makaya is a Jesuit priest and Professor of Philosophy. He is currently the International Visiting Jesuit Fellow in the McFarland Center.

This lecture is a part of the series Catholic Resistance to Authoritarianism: Finding Moral Courage.

McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture | Website | View More Events

Contact the organizers