The Paradox of Becoming

Chammah J. Kaunda obtained a PhD in African theology and Christianity from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He is currently Assistant Professor of World Christianity and Mission Studies at the United Graduate School of Theology, Yonsei University, Korean Republic. He is also Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Religion and Theology at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. His current research interests focus on Afri-Pentecostalisticity in its critical engagement with decoloniality, poetics of mysticality and materiality, and the intellectual history of African theological ideas. Kaunda draws on various theoretical approaches including critical Africana theories, African philosophy and theology, decolonial theology, black liberation theology, missiology, ecumenism anthropology, and political, gender, and ecological theologies. He has authored over 100 (and counting) peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters for internationally renowned journals and book publishers. He also co-edited over six volumes, authored one book, and co-authored one book. He has been a guest editor for various academic journals. In 2018 he was recognized in the list of the top 10 most published researchers under 40 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

“The Paradox of Becoming offers an important and creative new perspective on Pentecostal theology that will challenge existing ways of thinking in this field. The author offers a bold statement for a Pentecostalicity that has critical insights and implications for how we think about identity and being human that is rooted in African worldviews, but with applications for all people across the globe. This is a must read!”
—Anthony G. Reddie, Director of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture, Regent’s Park College, The University of Oxford

“Pentecostal theologies and philosophies are evolving disciplines. This is both a ground- and path-breaking study that takes the study of planetary pneumatology through African primal or indigenous philosophical thought seriously. Chammah Kaunda throws us a heartwarming challenge for Pentecostal theology and philosophy to take seriously the groanings of creation foisted on the cosmos by human brokenness and the demystification of the primordial sacred order through the human disregard for that on which our destiny rests.”
—J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Baëta-Grau Professor of African Christianity and Pentecostal Theology, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana