Afe Adogame

Biography

Afe Adogame, the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Religion and Society, is a leading scholar of the African diaspora. He earned a PhD in history of religions from the University of Bayreuth in Germany and has served as associate professor of World Christianity and religious studies, and director international at School of Divinity, New College, at The University of Edinburgh in Scotland. His teaching and research interests are broad, but tend to focus on interrogating new dynamics of religious experiences and expressions in Africa and the African diaspora, with a particular focus on African christianities and new indigenous religious movements; the interconnectedness between religion and migration, globalization, politics, economy, media and the civil society.

Select Publications

Sole-Authored Books

• Indigeneity in African Religions: Oza Worldviews, Cosmologies and Religious Cultures, Bloomsbury Academic, 2021
• The African Christian Diaspora: New Currents and Emerging Trends in World Christianity, Bloomsbury Academic, 2013
• Celestial Church of Christ: The Politics of Cultural Identity in a West African Prophetic Charismatic Movement, Peter Lang, 1999

Edited and Co-Edited Books

• Topographies of African Spirituality: Essays in Honor of Jacob K. Olupona, Routledge, 2025
• The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Indigenous Religions, Routledge, 2025
• The Routledge Handbook of Megachurches, Routledge, 2024
• Interconnectivity, Subversion, and Healing in World Christianity: Essays in Honor of Joel Carpenter, Bloomsbury Academic, 2023
• Fighting in God’s Name: Religion and Conflict in Local-Global Perspectives, Lexington Books, 2020
• Migration and Public Discourse in World Christianity, Fortress Press, 2019
• Global Perspectives on Sports and Christianity, Routledge, 2016
• Christianity in the Modern World: Changes and Controversies, Routledge, 2014
• The Public Face of African New Religious Movements in Diaspora: Imagining the Religious ‘Other’, Ashgate Publishing, 2014
• Africa in Scotland, Scotland in Africa: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Hybridities, Brill, 2014
• Engaging the World: Christian Communities in Contemporary Global Societies, Regnum Books, 2014
• African Traditions in the Study of Religion, Diaspora, and Gendered Societies, Ashgate Publishing, 2013
• Alternative Voices: A Plurality Approach for Religious Studies. Essays in Honor of Ulrich Berner, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013
• African Traditions in the Study of Religion in Africa: Emerging Trends, Indigenous Spirituality and the Interface with Other World Religions, Ashgate Publishing, 2012
• Religion on the Move!: New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World, Brill, 2012
• Religion Crossing Boundaries: Transnational Religious and Social Dynamics in Africa and the New African Diaspora, Brill, 2010
• Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora: The Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage, Continuum, 2008

Major Research Grants and Awards

• Project Chair and co-Director, The Templeton Religion Trust (TRT) on the project “Engaging African Realities: Integrating Social Science within African Theology” hosted by Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity, Calvin University, Grand Rapids (2021-2024). Grant amount awarded: $2.4 million. Link:
  https://nagelinstitute.org/project/engaging-african-realities/
• Regional Project Leader (Africa – Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya), The John Templeton Foundation (JTF) project, “Modernization, Megachurches and the Urban Face of Christianity in the Global South” hosted by Canisius College (2020—2022). Grant amount awarded: $1.9 million. Link: https://www.themegachurchproject.com/
• PTS Trustee Fund for Faculty Initiatives “Faith and Food: The Intersectionality of Belief, Politics, Security and Human Flourishing.” October 2024. Grant Amount awarded: $70,000.
• Recipient of two (2) Isaiah Partnership Faculty Microgrant (part of the Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative’s grant), Princeton Theological Seminary. June 2023.

Conferences and Workshops Convened

• Host and Convener, Engaging African Realities (EAR) Templeton/Nagel Project Culminating Conference, Suites by Wyndham Hotel, Garki, Abuja. Nigeria. 8-11 April 2024.
• Co-Convener, 5th International and Interdisciplinary World Christianity Conference, “Revisiting Women and Gender in World Christianity, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. March 11-15, 2024 (in collaboration with the University of Ghana).
• Co-Convener and host, An International, Interdisciplinary Conference, “Afterlives of Slavery: The Troubles I’ve Seen – Religious Dimensions of Slavery and Its Afterlives” (organized by Princeton Theological Seminary in collaboration with the National Museum of African History and Culture, Washington DC, Howard University Divinity School, Washington DC and the University of Liberia, Monrovia. Howard University Divinity School, and NMAAHC, Washington DC, October 19-21, 2023.
• Co-Convener and host, An International, Interdisciplinary Conference, “Afterlives of Slavery: Colonization, Christianity, and Commerce: The Afterlives of Slavery in the trans-Atlantic World” jointly organized by Princeton Theological Seminary, NJ.; Howard University School of Divinity, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian National
• Museum of African American History & Culture, Washington, D.C. USA; and The University of Liberia, Monrovia. Ministerial Complex, Monrovia, Liberia. October 17-19, 2022.
• Co-Convener, 3rd International, Interdisciplinary Conference: “Currents, Perspectives and Methodologies in World Christianity,” Princeton Theological Seminary, March 11–14, 2020