James Jay Carney, PhD

Professor

Theology

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Contact

J.Carney@creighton.edu
College of Arts and Sciences
Christian Spirituality (Master of Arts)
Graduate School
Theology
African Studies
Spiritual Direction and Directed Retreats (Graduate Certificate)

James Jay Carney, PhD

Professor

Theology

J.J. (Jay) Carney is Professor of Theology and African Studies and serves as the Amelia B. and Emil G. Graff Chair in Catholic Theological Studies at Creighton University. His scholarship has primarily focused on modern African Catholicism, and he is currently working on research projects on African Jesuits and Small Christian Communities in eastern Africa. Dr. Carney's first monograph, Rwanda Before the Genocide: Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era (Oxford University Press), won the African Studies Association's Ogot prize for best book in Eastern African studies. More recent works include For God and My Country: Catholic Leadership in Modern Uganda (Cascade); Contesting Catholics: Benedicto Kiwanuka and the Birth of Postcolonial Uganda (James Currey; co-authored with Jonathon Earle); The Surprise of Reconciliation in the Catholic Tradition (Paulist; co-edited with Laurie Johnston) and On the Eighth Day: A Catholic Theology of Sport (Cascade; co-authored with Max Engel and Matt Hoven). At Creighton, Dr. Carney teaches courses on the Christian Tradition, Sport and Spirituality, Reconciliation, and African Christianity, and 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 previously directed Creighton’s Christian Spirituality Program and 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 and Jesuit History

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
  • 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
  • Routledge
    'Christendom in Crisis: The Catholic Church and Postcolonial Politics in Central Africa.' In Christianity in Africa, edited Elias K. Bongmba, 2016
  • 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
  • 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
  • Modern Theology
    Carney, James J. The People Bonded Together by Love: Eucharistic Ecclesiology and Small Christian Communities in Africa
    30, p. 300-318 2014
  • 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

Publications

  • 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

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