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James Jay Carney, PhD

Professor

Theology

Contact

College of Arts and Sciences
Christian Spirituality (Master of Arts)
Graduate School
Theology
African Studies
Spiritual Direction and Directed Retreats (Graduate Certificate)
DHHC - Dowling Hall/Humanities Center - 136

James Jay Carney, PhD

Professor

Theology

J.J. (Jay) Carney is Professor of Theology and African Studies and directs the Christian Spirituality Program at Creighton University. His research has primarily focused on modern Catholic history and theology in Africa. Dr. Carney's first book, Rwanda Before the Genocide: Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era (Oxford University Press, 2014), won the African Studies Association's Ogot prize for best book in East African studies. More recent works include For God and My Country: Catholic Leadership in Modern Uganda (Cascade, 2020); Contesting Catholics: Benedicto Kiwanuka and the Birth of Postcolonial Uganda (James Currey, 2021; co-authored with Jonathon Earle); The Surprise of Reconciliation in the Catholic Tradition (Paulist, 2018; co-edited with Laurie Johnston) and On the Eighth Day: A Catholic Theology of Sport (Cascade, 2022; co-authored with Max Engel and Matt Hoven). At Creighton, Dr. Carney teaches introductory courses on the Christian tradition and more specialized courses in Sport and Spirituality, Reconciliation, and African Christianity. He has also taken CU students to Tanzania and Rwanda. Prof. Carney holds a B.A. from the University of Arkansas, an M.Div. from Duke University Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Church History from the Catholic University of America. He has also served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor at Uganda Martyrs University. 

Teaching Interests

  • Modern Catholicism in Africa

Research Focus

Modern Catholicism in Africa; Church & State in Modern Africa; Political Theology; Missiology; Modern Catholic History; Sport and Theology; Social Reconciliation; Ignatian Spirituality

Department

Theology

Position

Professor

Books

  • Wipf and Stock Press
    Max T. Engel and Matt Hoven On the Eighth Day: A Catholic Theology of Sport 2022
  • James Currey Press
    Jonathon L. Earle Contesting Catholics: Benedicto Kiwanuka and the Birth of Postcolonial Uganda 2021
  • Wipf and Stock Press
    For God and My Country: Catholic Leadership in Modern Uganda 2020
  • Routledge
    'Christendom in Crisis: The Catholic Church and Postcolonial Politics in Central Africa.' In Christianity in Africa, edited Elias K. Bongmba, 2016
  • Oxford University Press
    Rwanda Before the Genocide: Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era 2014

Articles

  • International Bulletin of Missionary Research
    Global Catholicism: Diverse, Troubled, Holding Steady
    46.1, p. 25-34 2022
  • Journal of Moral Theology
    Inculturating through the Lens of Liberation: John Mary Waliggo and the Renewal of Catholic Tradition in Africa
    10.2, p. 194-211 2021
  • Journal of Religion and Society
    Countering the Politics of Fear: Insights from the Life & Theology of Uganda’s John Mary Waliggo
    Supplement 23, p. 203-215 2021
  • Journal of Religious History
    “Benedicto Kiwanuka and Catholic Democracy in Uganda”
    44.2, p. 212-229 2020
  • International Bulletin of Missionary Research
    “Modern Roman Catholic Mission and the Legacy of Uganda’s Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga”
    43.2, p. 159-69 2019
  • Fides et Historia
    “Missionary Discourse and Racial Imagination in Rwanda”
    50.2, p. 66-78 2018
  • Journal of Religion & Society
    Go Set Africa on Fire? Lessons in Evangelization and Globalization from Early Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia
    Supplement 15, p. 4-18 2018
  • The Waliggo: A Philosophical and Theological Journal
    “Uganda’s Good Shepherd: The Public Witness of Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga, 1966-1986”
    7.2, p. 23-44 2017
  • Church History
    “The Politics of Ecumenism in Uganda, 1962-1986”
    86.3, p. 765-95 2017
  • Journal of Religion and Society
    First, “Faithful Citizenship in the USA and Uganda: A Comparative Analysis of Recent Catholic Pastoral Letters on Politics.”
    Supplement 14, p. 80-95 2017
  • Palgrave Macmillan
    ''The Bishop is Governor Here': Bishop Nicholas Djomo and Catholic Leadership in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.' In Leadership in Post-colonial Africa, edited Baba G. Jallow. 2015
  • Horizons
    Carney, J. J. Conflict, Conquest, and Conversion: Two Thousand Years of Christian Missions in the Middle East
    41, p. 181-183 2014
  • Modern Theology
    Carney, James J. The People Bonded Together by Love: Eucharistic Ecclesiology and Small Christian Communities in Africa
    30, p. 300-318 2014
  • International Bulletin of Missionary Research
    Carney, J. J. Christianity, the Papacy, and Mission in Africa
    37, p. 236-236 2013
  • Journal of Church & State
    Carney, J. J. Displacing the State: Religion and Conflict in Neoliberal Africa [Review]
    55, p. 149-151 2013
  • International Bulletin of Missionary Research
    Carney, J. J. Theology and Practice of Mission: God, the Church, and the Nations
    36, p. 100-100 2012
  • Journal of Religion in Africa
    Carney, J. J. Beyond Tribalism: The Hutu-Tutsi Question and Catholic Rhetoric in Colonial Rwanda
    42, p. 172-202 2012
  • Studies in World Christianity
    Carney, J. J. Far from having unity, we are tending towards total disunity: The Catholic Major Seminary in Rwanda, 1950-1962
    18, p. 82-102 2012
  • Canadian Journal of African Studies
    Carney, J. J. 'Christianity and Genocide in Rwanda' (book review)
    45, p. 173-176 2011

Publications

  • Theological Studies
    'A Generation after Genocide: Catholic Reconciliation in Rwanda.' 2015
  • Journal of Religion & Society Supplement Series
    'The Danger of Description: The Ethnic Labeling of the Poor in Colonial Rwanda'
    Supplement 10, p. 229-41 2015
  • Wiley-Blackwell
    “Charles Lavigerie,” in George T. Kurian, ed., The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization,
    Vol. II, p. 1321-1322 2012

Editing and Reviews

  • Paulist Press
    First, Laurie Johnston The Surprise of Reconciliation in the Catholic Tradition 2018

Presentations

  • "The Praxis & Politics of Mercy: Ambassadors of Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda." Invited Lecture, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA 2016
  • "Solidarity forged through Suffering: Catholic-Anglican Ecumenism and Political Resistance in Postcolonial Uganda, 1962-86." Panel Paper, Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association, Atlanta, GA 2016
  • "Church & State in Postcolonial Uganda: The Catholic Political Witness of Archbishop Joseph Kiwanuka and Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga," Panel Paper, Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, San Diego, CA, 2015
  • "Evangelization and Politics in Uganda and Rwanda," Invited Lecture, Le missioni in Africa: la sfida dellinculturazione Conference, Fondazione Ambrosiana Paolo VI, Milan, Italy. 2015
  • "The Ambiguity of Identity: Christian Reconciliation in Rwanda," Kripke Center Symposium on Religion and Identity, Creighton University. 2015
  • "A Generation after Genocide: Catholic Reconciliation in Rwanda." Invited Lecture, Africa Working Group & Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame 2014
  • "'For You, Reverend Father, and for our Archives': Recovering the Voice of Mgr. Aloys Bigirumwami in Late Colonial Rwanda." Invited Speaker, "Can the Native Christian Speak? Discerning the Voices of Indigenous Christians in Colonial and Missionary Archives" Conference, Emory University 2014
  • "Toward a Theology of Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda." Invited Lecture, Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences, Butare, Rwanda 2014
  • "'The Muhutu for Us is a Poor and Simple Man': The Sociopolitical Dimensions of Ethnic Discourse in Colonial Rwanda." Invited Lecture, Arizona State University 2014
  • "Pope Francis, Rwanda & Faith under Fire." Invited Lecture, St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 2014
  • "The Bishop is Governor Here: The Migration of Power to the Catholic Church in Tshumbe, DRC." Annual Conference of the African Studies Association, Baltimore, Maryland 2013
  • "The Danger of Description: The Ethnic Labeling of the Poor in Colonial Rwanda." Kripke Center Symposium on "The Bible, the Economy, and the Poor." Invited speaker 2013
  • "Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Small Christian Communities in East Africa." Invited speaker for World Catholicism Week, DePaul University, Chicago 2012
  • "An epicenter radiating tensions: The Catholic Major Seminary in Rwanda, 1950-1962," Yale-Edinburgh Conference on World Christianity and the History of the Missionary Movement, New Haven, Connecticut 2011

Federal

  • U.S. Fulbright Scholarship, Uganda

Other

  • "A Generation after Genocide: Catholic Reconciliation in Rwanda." Awarded $4,800 Summer Faculty Research Fellowship, 2014; jointly funded by CURAS/CCAS and Kripke Center. Principal Investigator.

  • Course Development Grant ($4,000), Holocaust & Genocide Studies, 2013. Developed Fall 2014 course entitled "The Rwanda Genocide as a Challenge for the Church."

  • “Social Reconciliation & Catholic Ecclesiology in the Diocese of Tshumbe, Democratic Republic of Congo.” Won $5,000 grant from George F. Haddix President’s Faculty Research Fund, Creighton University, 2012-13. Principal Investigator.

  • "Catholic Political Theology in Postcolonial Uganda, 1962-86." Awarded $5,000 research grant from Kripke Center for Religion and Culture, Creighton University, Summer 2015. Principal Investigator

  • Catholic Political Theology in Postcolonial Uganda, 1962-86, Kripke Center, Creighton University

  • "Racial Reconciliation and Christianity in America," Kingfisher Institute, Creighton University

  • Reimagining Church at the Grassroots: Living Ecclesial Base Communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

  • Haddix Sabbatical Research Grant, "Catholic Leadership in Modern Uganda" (Creighton University)

  • For God and My Country: Catholic Leadership in Postcolonial Uganda

Awards

  • 2015 Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize
    Awarded to the best book in East African studies published in 2014. The award was given to my book "Rwanda Before the Genocide: Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era" (Oxford University Press, 2014).
    African Studies Association
  • Honors Distinction on Dissertation
    Catholic University of America

Consulting

  • Grant Reviewer
    2007-Present
    Pastoral Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa
    2007
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