“Christopher Tounsel makes a major contribution to the study of South Sudanese political thought. He has drawn on the literature of Black liberation theology in Africa as well as the Americas, giving the South Sudanese a place in the theoretical literature that has excluded them up to now. Chosen Peoples presents unique material that has the potential to shift the way we understand the history of Sudan and South Sudan and the role of religion in politics more generally.” - Douglas H. Johnson, author of South Sudan: A New History for a New Nation
“Chosen Peoples is a remarkable achievement, revealing unexplored chapters of South Sudanese history and placing them into a novel analytic frame that will impact how we think about postcolonial liberation for many years to come. In this brave book, Christopher Tounsel does not shy away from asking difficult questions of his material, the reward being that he opens considerable space for thinking anew about the mutual construction of race and religion in the two Sudans and beyond.” - Noah Salomon, author of For Love of the Prophet: An Ethnography of Sudan’s Islamic State
"In a study that will resonate with anyone familiar with the political language of medieval Christian Europe or the 19th-century United States, Tounsel shows how biblical and religious language utterly permeated political rhetoric and self-fashioning in South Sudan. . . . Chosen Peoples is richly instructive for understanding the influence of the Bible in societies where it represents a powerful and challenging new presence." - Philip Jenkins, Christian Century
"Tounsel helps to draw new attention to South Sudan. He unpacks the influence of Christianity on the politics of identity in the country. Rather than providing a comprehensive history of the political and social influences of Christian churches in South Sudan, Tounsel focuses on specific institutions at different points in history that highlight the diverse ways in which Christianity shaped South Sudanese identities." - Timothy Longman, Sociology of Religion
"[Chosen Peoples] is an important text that touches on a new moment in the development of African Christian political thought—a moment when Black Africans drew from discourses of liberation theology to fight for liberation from other Black Africans." - David Ngong, Reading Religion
"An important contribution to scholarship . . . Chosen Peoples offers critical insight into the complex ways in which categories of religion, race and ethnicity work in different contexts, and also raises serious questions about the limitations of Christianity - and possibly religion more generally - as a basis of nation building and as a means of promoting national cohesion and collective identity." - Adriaan van Klinken, Religion
"[Chosen Peoples] is a valuable addition to studies on the politics of South Sudan and the role of religion in non-Western public life." - Paul Gifford, Journal of Contemporary Religion
"Chosen Peoples offers novel insights into South Sudan’s religious and political history. By prioritizing political theologies as a question of historical inquiry, it makes an important intervention in both South Sudan’s emerging historiography and in the broader trajectories of African intellectual history." - Jonathon L. Earle, Journal of African History
"This book provides a vivid history of South Sudan. It gives a very clear and concise account of events from the beginning of the civil wars to the aftermath of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and the efforts by the people of South Sudan to liberate itself from the North." - Lawrencia Baaba Okai, African Studies Quarterly
“[Chosen Peoples] provides crucial insight into the role that biblical symbolism played as source material for the vision and vocabulary of the ideological construction of independent South Sudan. It both provides a path for continued analysis . . . and also situates South Sudan in the broader study of religious meaning-making in Africa today.” - Zachary Mondesire, Journal of Religion
"Chosen Peoples is essential reading for all those seeking to understand Sudan’s and South Sudan’s traumatic journey over the last 100 years in its social, political, and spiritual dimensions." - Andrew Wheeler, Sudan Studies
"Christopher Tounsel’s book offers a new perspective, exploring how Christianity has interacted with race, ethnicity and nationalism across a broad sweep of southern Sudan’s history. . . . Tounsel’s use of archival sources is impressive." - Jesse Zink, Studies in World Christianity
"Christopher Tounsel’s new book is a creative, substantive, and important look at the role of religion in the creation of the world’s youngest nation-state, South Sudan. . . . Tounsel’s prose is beautiful, but its sources really set the book apart."
- Nathaniel Homewood, Religious Studies Review
"By showing how stories of the Bible seized imaginations and gave military leaders and thinkers a way of voicing aspirations and triumphs while addressing friends and foes, Christopher Tounsel presents a book that has a strong literary dimension. His book covers material that is often serious, sometimes downright grim, because of its connections to war. Nevertheless, Tounsel manages to convey a sense of optimism in the history he tells."
- Heather J. Sharkey, Religious Studies Review
"The crisp style of writing, the arguments, and the engaging discussions in the various chapters make this book a must-read for scholars, students, and individuals interested not only in African studies and history but also in the application of religious thought in political situations." - Kwaku Nti, Journal of Global South Studies
"Through meticulous scholarship, including archival research in Europe, Africa and the United States combined with field work and interviews with South Sudanese political and religious leaders, Tounsel tells the story of South Sudan’s complex history of foreign domination and colonialism and its protracted struggle for liberation. . . .Tounsel’s book provides important insights into the possibilities and the limitations for employing religious language and imagery in the public square as we do the work of peace, freedom and justice." - Christopher Ney, Fellowship Magazine
"Chosen Peoples is a fascinating and engaging book. . . . The book is excellent reading for scholars of Sudan, and of religion, politics, and race regardless of context." - Henni Alava, Journal of Religion in Africa
"Tounsel’s book is an important contribution to the literature on Sudan, South Sudan, and Africa at large. " - Shail Mayaram, Political Theology
