David Chidester

David Chidester (born 31 October 1952) is an American-born South African scholar of religion and emeritus professor of religious studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He is known for his work on comparative religion, African indigenous religions, American popular culture, and the history and theory of religious studies, often from postcolonial and materialist perspectives. He has authored or edited more than twenty books, including Salvation and Suicide, Patterns of Transcendence, Religions of South Africa, Savage Systems, Authentic Fakes, Wild Religion, Empire of Religion, and Religion: Material Dynamics.

Early life and education

Chidester was born on 31 October 1952.

On his retirement from UCT, the Journal for the Study of Religion published a Festschrift titled Materializing Religion: Essays in Honor of David Chidester (2018), highlighting his influence on religious studies in South Africa and internationally.

Research and contributions

Jonestown, violence, and death

Chidester's early work examined the intersections of religion, ethics, and politics in contemporary societies. Patterns of Action: Religion and Ethics in a Comparative Perspective (1987) and Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture (1988) explored religious dimensions of ethical decision-making and political conflict in the United States. The book received the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in Religious Studies and has been widely cited in scholarship on new religious movements and violence.

Shots in the Streets: Violence and Religion in South Africa (1991) analysed apartheid-era violence and state ideology as forms of "political religion", examining how myths, symbols, and rituals legitimised and contested the apartheid order.

With colleagues, he produced a series of annotated bibliographies on Christianity and other religious traditions in South Africa, helping to map the field for future research.

Colonialism, comparative religion, and empire

In Savage Systems: Colonialism and Comparative Religion in Southern Africa (1996), Chidester offered a critical history of how European travellers, missionaries, and scholars constructed African religions as "savage" in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, arguing that the comparative study of religion was deeply entangled with colonial power. The book received an AAR Award for Excellence in Religious Studies and has been influential in postcolonial critiques of religious studies. The book argues that race, rather than theology, was central to the formation of the field. Empire of Religion won the UCT Book Award and was discussed as a significant contribution to the decolonisation of religious studies. His essay "Material Terms for the Study of Religion" (2000) and later work developed key concepts for a materialist analysis of religion.

In Wild Religion: Tracking the Sacred in South Africa (2012), Chidester analysed religious creativity in post-apartheid South Africa, from heritage and reconciliation rituals to prison gangs, neo-shamans, Zulu cultural performances, and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The book has been used as a case study in discussions of indigenous religion, media, and public religion in South Africa.

Honours and recognition

In 2005 Chidester was rated an "A"-rated researcher by South Africa's National Research Foundation. He has received the American Academy of Religion's Award for Excellence in Religious Studies twice, for Salvation and Suicide and Savage Systems.

At UCT he received the Alan J. Pifer Award in 2004 for outstanding welfare-related research and has been awarded the UCT Book Award at least twice, for Shots in the Streets and Empire of Religion. In 2018 the Journal for the Study of Religion devoted a special issue, Materializing Religion: Essays in Honor of David Chidester, to his work.

Selected works

Monographs Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown (Indiana University Press, 1988; rev. ed. 2003). Patterns of Transcendence: Religion, Death, and Dying (Wadsworth, 1990). Shots in the Streets: Violence and Religion in South Africa (Beacon Press, 1991). Religions of South Africa (Routledge, 1992). Savage Systems: Colonialism and Comparative Religion in Southern Africa (University Press of Virginia, 1996). Christianity: A Global History (HarperSanFrancisco, 2000). Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular Culture (University of California Press, 2005). Wild Religion: Tracking the Sacred in South Africa (University of California Press, 2012). Empire of Religion: Imperialism and Comparative Religion (University of Chicago Press, 2014). Religion: Material Dynamics (University of California Press, 2018).

Edited volumes American Sacred Space (co-edited with Edward T. Linenthal, Indiana University Press, 1995). Nelson Mandela: From Freedom to the Future – Tributes and Speeches (co-edited with Kader Asmal and Wilmot James, Jonathan Ball, 2003). South Africa's Nobel Laureates: Peace, Literature and Science (co-edited with Kader Asmal and Wilmot James, Jonathan Ball, 2004). Religion, Politics, and Identity in a Changing South Africa (co-edited with Abdulkader Tayob and Wolfram Weisse, Waxmann, 2004). What Holds Us Together: Social Cohesion in South Africa (co-edited with Phillip Dexter and Wilmot James, Human Sciences Research Council, 2004).