The POLY Research Group will organise a series of public lectures during the winter term of 2025/26. Outstanding researchers from disciplines other than history will share their insights to enrich our historical perspectives. The first lecture, titled “From Water to Fire: How Baptismal Rituals Shape Power and Authority in African Christianities”, will be delivered by Professor Asonzeh Ukah.

In his lecture, Professor Ukah will address the topic of African Christianities. With an estimated 550 – 650 million adherents, African Christians represent a substantial and dynamic segment of the global Christian community. Because Christianity in Africa is profoundly heterogeneous, it is more accurate to speak of African Christianities. At the heart of this diversity lies the ritual of baptism – a focal point around which disparate African Christian traditions intertwine theology, cultural symbolism, and communal practice. African Christianity can be grouped into four broad currents: Coptic Orthodox Christianity, Colonial-Missionary Christianity, African-initiated Christianity, and African Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity. Each stream is internally varied, boasting its own history, socio-cultural customs, doctrinal emphases, organizational structures, and liturgical rites. Within these traditions, three principal forms of baptism emerge: John’s water baptism – the historic precursor to Jesus’ public ministry and the foundation of Christian baptism; baptism through Christ with the Spirit – a sacramental immersion in the Holy Spirit; Baptism in blood (or martyrdom, as documented among early African Christians of pre-Islamic North Africa). The meanings attached to baptism are equally manifold. Across African Christianities, the rite functions as: an entry into a faith community; a rite of passage that reshapes one’s socio-spiritual worldview and practice; a form of spiritual warfare, conferring purity and protection; A source of healing and wholeness; a transfer of allegiance from biological lineage to a transcendent Christian ancestry through Christ; An encounter with subversive power, decolonising and liberating believers from spiritual oppression toward a victorious, saved life. These varied interpretations map onto the rich tapestry of African Christian practice – from the earliest historical accounts to contemporary expressions. Drawing on archival material, ethnographic studies, and fieldwork within African Pentecostal Charismatic communities, this lecture foregrounds the most salient aspects of baptismal rituals across the continent. In essence, baptism in Africa is both a rite and a contested space – shaping identity, belonging, and spatial-temporal re configurations. It mirrors the pressing challenges and emerging opportunities that African Christians navigate amid rapid socio-political and religio-economic change.