External Research Profile
Degrees Held
- Licentiate (History), University of Liège, 1974
- PhD (History), University of Liège, 1983
- Lectorate in Theology, Centre of Institutional Studies, Order of Preachers, Lille, 1987
Research Interests
- History of Christianity, Oral History, Memory Studies, Genocide Studies
Teaching Interests
- History of Christianity
- Currently seconded to the Humanities Institute, College of Humanities
Selected Publications
Monographs
Edited Volumes
Journal Articles
Chapters in Book
Monographs
- Denis, P. 1984. Les Églises d’étrangers en pays rhénans (1538-1564). Belles Lettres. Paris.
- Denis, P., 1987. Le Christ étendard. L’Homme-Dieu au temps des Réformes 1500-1560. Éditions du Cerf. Paris.
- Denis, P. and Rott, J. Jean Morély (ca 1524 – ca 1594) et l’utopie d’une démocratie dans l’Église. Éditions Droz. Geneva.
- Denis, P., The Dominican Friars in Southern Africa. A Social History (1577-1990). 1998. Brill. Leiden.
- Denis, P., 2003. Le temps du voyage. De Johannesburg à Bruxelles en taxi-brousse. Éditions du Cerf. Paris.
- Denis, P. 2010. Lettres d’Afrique du Sud. La nation arc-en-ciel à la croisée des chemins. Brussels.
- Denis, P. and Duncan, G. 2011. The native school which caused all the trouble. A history of the Federal Theological Seminary of Southern Africa (1963-1993). Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P. 2019. Edmond Richer and the Renewal of Conciliarism in the 17th century 2029. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Göttingen.
- Denis, P. 2022. The Genocide against the Tutsi and the Christian Churches. Between Grief and Denial. ames Currey. Woodbridge.
- Denis, P. 2023. The Black Dominican Sisters in Natal (1922-1939). At the Crossroads of Race and Gender. University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. Pietermaritzburg.
Edited Volumes
- Denis, P. (ed.), Protestantisme aux frontières. La Réforme dans le duché de Limbourg et dans la principauté de Liège (XVIe – XIXe siècles). Actes du Colloque du Centre Interuniversitaire d’histoire du protestantisme et de la Réforme catholique tenu à Verviers les 22 et 23 avril 1983. 1985. P.M. Gason. Aubel.
- Denis, P., The Making of an Indigenous Clergy in Southern Africa. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 25-25 October 1995. 1995. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P., Facing the Crisis. Selected Texts of Archbishop D. E. Hurley. 1997. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P., Mlotshwa, T. and Mukuka, G. (eds), The Casspir and the Cross. Voices of Black Clergy in the Natal Midlands. 1999. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Brain, J. and Denis, P (eds), The Catholic Church in Contemporary Southern Africa. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P. (ed.), Orality, Memory & the Past. Listening to the Voices of Black Clergy under Colonialism and Apartheid. 2000. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P. (ed.), Dominicans in Africa. A History of the Dominicans Friars in sub-Sahara Africa. Dominican Publications. Dublin.
- Denis, P. and Sappia, C. (eds), Femmes d’Afrique dans une société en mutation Academia-Bruylant. Louvain-la-Neuve.
- Denis, P. (ed.), Never too small to remember. Memory Work and Resilience in Times of AIDS. 2005. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Becker, C. and Denis. (eds), L’épidémie du sida en Afrique subsaharienne. Regards historiens. 2006. Academia-Bruylant. Louvain-la-Neuve.
- Denis P. and Ntsimane, R. (eds). 2008. Oral history in a wounded country. Interactive Interviewing in South Africa. University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P., Ntsimane, R. and Cannell, T. (eds) Indians versus Russians. An oral history of political violence in Nxamalala (1987-1993). 2010. Cluster Publications, 2010. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P., Ntsimane, R. and Houser, S. A journey towards healing. Stories of people with multiple woundedness in KwaZulu-Natal. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P. (ed.), Edmond Richer, De la puissance ecclésiastique et politique. Texte de la première édition latine (1611) et française (1612). Éditions du Cerf. Paris.
- Denis, P. and Ngoetjana, L. (eds). Voices of farmers, landless people, land movements and church in KwaZulu-Natal. 2016. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P. (ed.), Faith and Migration. Proceedings of the 2nd Dominican Study Week, Pietermaritzburg, 28-30 November 2016. 2017. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P., Kearney, P. and Argall, J. (eds), A Life in Letters. Selected Correspondence of Denis Hurley/ 2018. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P. and Gatwa, T. (eds). Memory work in Rwanda. Churches and civil-society organisations 25 years after the genocide against the Tutsi. 2020. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Deeb, M., Denis, P. and James, M. (eds), Reluctant Prophet. Tributes to Albert Nolan OP. 2023. ATF. Adelaide / University of Johannesburg Press, Johannesburg.
Journal Articles
2020 to date
- Denis, P. 2021. “The debate on the church’s guilt in post-genocide Rwanda”, Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 169.
- Denis, P. 2021. “Crossing the lines of race and gender. The quarrel on the integration of the first black Dominican Sisters, Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 42/2.
- Denis, P. 2021. “The Missionaries of Africa and the Rwandan Genocide”, Journal of Religion in Africa, 50/1-2.
- Denis, P. 2021. “The splintering of South African evangelicalism during the last decade of apartheid”. South African Historical Journal, vol. 73/3.
- Denis, P. 2021. “White and black women under the same roof. The early history of Montebello’s black sisterhood, 1922-1939”. Journal of Natal and Zulu History, 34/1.
- Denis, P. 2021; “Difficult navigation. Dealing with divided memories in post-genocide Rwanda”. Oral History, 49/1.
- Denis, P. 2022. “Towards a history of the first Catholic women religious born in African or of African descent”. Journal of Religious History, 46/2.
- Denis, P. 2024 “Christian feminism and African women’s theology in apartheid South Africa”. Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique / Journal of Church History, 119/1-2.
- Denis, P. 2024. “Can history bring reconciliation in divided Christian communities?”. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 50/2.
- Denis, P. 2024. “Continuités et discontinuités dans l’histoire du Refuge protestant aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles”. Revue du Nord, 449.
- Denis, P. 2024. “Admiré et contesté : André Sibomana, prêtre, journaliste et militant des droits de l’homme”, Matériaux pour l’histoire de notre temps, 151-152.
- Denis, P. 2025. “Worlds The 1984 suspension of the South African and Namibian white churches from the Lutheran World Federation”, South African Historical Journal, 77.
Chapters in Book
2020 to date
- Denis, P. 2020. “Contested memories and competing narratives of the past in post-genocide Rwanda”, in Tharcisse Gatwa and Philippe Denis (ed.), Memory work in Rwanda. Churches and civil-society organisations 25 years after the genocide against the Tutsi. Cluster Publications. Pietermaritzburg.
- Denis, P. 2020. “The correspondence of Denis Hurley, archbishop of Durban, as historical source, in Dries Vanysacker and Jean-Marie Auwers (ed.), Pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova. Studies in Christian History in Honour of Mathijs Lamberigts/Études d’histoire du christianisme en l’honneur de M. Lamberigts. Turnhout.
- Denis, P. 2021. “Family Memory and the Development of the Genocide Ideology in Rwanda”, in Radmila Švaříčková Slabáková (ed.), Family Memory and Intergenerational Transmission of the Past. New York and London.
- Denis, P. 2021. “Le Traité des Appellations comme d’Abus d’Edmond Richer (1623-1626). Contexte rédactionnel et propos ecclésiologique”, in Anne Bonzon, Caroline Galland (eds), Justices croisées. Histoire et enjeux de l’appel comme d’abus (XIVe-XVIIIe siècles. Presses Universitaires de Rennes. Rennes
- Denis, P. and Egan, Anthony. “Die katholische Kirche in Südafrika und den Nachbarländern seit 1945”, in Marco Moerschbacher (ed)., Kirche und Katholizismus seit 1945, Vol. 8, Afrika. Ferdinand Schöningh. Paderborn.
- Denis, P. 2022. “Memory work with HIV positive children under antiretroviral treatment in KwaZulu-Natal”, in Mathilde Rogez, Bernard Cros and Gilles Teulié (eds), The Legacy of a Troubled Past. Commemorative Politics in South Africa in the 21st century (Liverpool University Press. Liverpool.
- Denis, P. 2022. “Missionaries, colonial government and the labour question in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century” in Jairzinho Lopes Pereira (ed.), Church-State Relations in Africa in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Mission, Empire and the Holy See. Palgrave MacMillan. London.
- Denis, P. 2023. “Ethnic Classification and Trauma During the Rwandan Genocide”, in Santhiago, R., Hermeto, M. (eds) The Unexpected in Oral History. Palgrave Studies in Oral History. Palgrave Macmillan. London
- Denis, P. 2023. “Les métamorphoses de la congrégation des Dominicaines Missionnaires de Namur », in Eddy Louchez et Dries Vanysacker (ed.), Fîr d’esse walon. Études histoire en l’honneur du professeur Luc Courtois. Brepols, 2023. Turnhout.
- Denis, P. 2024. “Un conflit de mémoire : Église et génocide », in Stéphane Audouin-Rouzeau, Annette Becker, Samuel Kuhn and Philippe Schreiber, Le choc. Rwanda 1994 : le génocide des Tutsi. Paris.
- Denis, P. 2024. « Les Églises rwandaises confrontées à la mémoire douloureuse et contestée du génocide des Tutsi », in Katherine Shirk Lucas (éd)., Mémoire des violences sexuelles dans les Églises : devoirs, responsabilités, justice. Paris.
- Denis, P. 2024. « Sœurs noires, sœurs blanches. La difficile intégration des candidates africaines à la vie religieuse dans les congrégations dominicaines du Natal (1922-1939) », in T. Malbert and R. Oulahal (eds), Femmes et religion dans lessociétés de l’Océan Indien. Presses Universitaires Indianocéaniques. Saint-Denis de la Réunion.
- Denis, P. 2024. “Bible Abuse, Denial and Silence. Exploring Community Responses” in Tinyiko Maluleke, Kenneth Ngwa, Andrew Mbuvi, Aliou Niang, and Alice Yafeh-Deigh (eds.), Biblical Hermeneutics in Context and the Struggle for Meaning: A Festschrift in Honor of Gerald O. West. Wipf and Stock. Eugene, Oregon.
- Denis, P. 2024. “Edmond Richer, Jean Bodin and the Idea of Sovereignty” in Cornel Zwierlein and Daniel Lee (eds), Sovereignty: European and Global Histories, 1400-1800. Brill. Leiden.
- Denis, P. 2024. “Religious men and women confronted with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa”, in Mathieu Brejon de Lavergnée and Emmanuele Colombo (ed.), Religious Orders, Public Health, and Epidemics: From the Black Death to COVID-19. Aschendorf Verlag, Münster.
- Denis, P. 2024. “The founding moment: how members of religious congregations became AIDS activists”, in Jim Cochrane et al., Handbook on Religion and Health. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Denis, P. 2024. Christianity, Islam and the anti-apartheid movement”, in Daniel Magaziner (ed.), Oxford Handbook of South African History. Oxford University Press. New York and Oxford.
Community Involvement
- 1990-2024. Thandanani Children’s Foundation. Chairperson (until 2000) / Board Member
- 1992-1995. Zenzeleni Project, Mpophomeni. Treasurer.
- 1996-2019. Sinomlando Centre for Oral History and Memory Work in Africa. Director (until 2013) / Board member.
- 1999 to date. Khuleleni Children Trust. Founder and Trustee.
- 2014 to date. Centre for Community Justice and Development.
Teaching Expertise
- 1981-1989. Honorary Lecturer, Department of History, University of Liège.
- 1988, 1990-1992. Lecturer in Church History, St Joseph’s Theological Institute.
- 1991, 1995, 1999, 2001. Visiting Professor, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Sorbonne, Paris.
- 1993-2022. Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor / Professor / Senior Professor in History of Christianity.
- 1995. Visiting Professor, Modern History, Université Paris-1 (Sorbonne).
- 1999. Visiting Professor, Institut d’Histoire des Religions et de la Laïcité, Free University of Brussels.
- 2001-2010. Visiting Professor, History of Sub-Saharan Africa, Department of History, Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve.
- 2015 to date. Domuni University. Lecturer in Church History (distance learning).
Students Supervision
PhD
- Dalisu Zungu (grad. 1995) The Revival of Religious Life in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa: the Example of the CHN-Zululand (1968-1980).
- Humphrey Mogashoa (grad. 1996) A Critical Study of the Life and Work of the Rev. W. Duma (1907-1977), as a Contribution to the History of the Baptist Church in Southern Africa.
- Clement Langa (grad. 1996) Mandlenkhosi Zwane (1932-1980): first African Bishop in Swaziland.
- Henry Mbaya (grad. 1997) The history of the Roman Catholic Church in Malawi (1964-1992) with reference to the issue of social injustice. A study of church-state relations.
- Alan Henriques (grad. 1997) The Catholic Church in the Culture of Apartheid. The Case of the Catholic Laity in Natal (1948-1965).
- George Mukuka (grad. 1997) The Impact of Black Consciousness on the Black Catholic Clergy and their training from 1965-1981.
- Malika Sibeko (grad. 1997) The Role of African Spirituality in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, with special reference to the Black members in Thaba-Nchu.
- Alverson Souza (grad. 1998) A black Heart: the work of Thomas Jefferson Bowen among blacks in Africa and in Brazil between 1840 and 1875.
- Radikobo Ntsimane (grad. 1999) The response of the Lutheran Church to the Group Areas Act in the North West.
- Prudence Hategekimana (grad. 2000) A study in the history of liberation catechesis: the contribution of the Catholic Church in South Africa to the catechetical renewal from 1965 to 1991.
- Gabriel Mgyekwa (grad. 2000) The historical development of the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, Southern Diocese, 1990-1997.
- James Worthington (grad. 2001) Church and Family Life under Apartheid. Stories of black and white families in the Natal Midlands (1986-1994).
- Bongani Zulu (grad. 2003) A history of dispossession: the Hermannsburg Mission in Northern Zululand 1860-1913, with reference to eHlonyane (Ekuhlengeni), eNyathi, eNKombela and eNtombe Mission stations.
- Roger Rafanomezantsoa (grad. 2005) The contribution of Rainisoalambo (1844-1904), the father of revivals, to the indigenisation of the Protestant Churches in Madagascar: A historical perspective.
- Samuel Kwashang (grad. 2006) The Anglican Church in Northern Nigeria under the episcopacy of Bishop Titus Eyiolorunsefunmi Ogbonyomi (1976-1996).
- Delme Linscott (grad. 2007) Living as a Methodist minister in the late Twentieth Century. An oral history of Methodist ministers ordained between 1980 and 1999, with particular reference to clergy serving in the Natal West District.
- Stephen Joshua (grad. 2007) The History of AIDS in South Africa: a Natal ecumenical experience in 1987-1990.
- Charles Manda (grad. 2007) The Role of Christian Faith-Based Organizations In HIV and AIDS Intervention. A Review of ESSA Christian Aids Programme in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (1999-2005).
- Mark James (grad. 2008) The history of and spirituality of the Lay Dominicans in South Africa.
- Michael Mbona (grad. 2009) The Church and political violence in KwaZulu-Natal: and evaluation of the Natal Church Leaders Group’s ecumenical response (1987-1996).
- Owen Mkandawire (grad. 2010) An Ecclesiological Discussion of the Recent History of the Baptist Convention of Malawi (BACOMA) 1989-2004.
- Thamo Naidoo (reg. 2006) A Narrative History of Apostolicity as Propagated by the Apostolic Movement within the South African Pentecostal Tradition (1980-2008)
- Carl Brook (grad. 2010) Bonhoeffer and the New Monasticism.
- Andrew Kruger (grad. 2012) The Eucharist in a time of change. The Eucharist as practised at the Church of the Ascension, Hilton from 1975 to 2002.
- Linda Naicker (grad. 2012) Crossing the colour-bar: Mixed Race Relationships between black/white couples in the context of apartheid.
- Thomas Ninan (grad. 2015) Towards an HIV competent church: the Hillcrest AIDS Centre, a pioneering faith response to HIV and AIDS in South Africa (1990 to 2001).
- Ezechiel Rivuzimana (grad. 2016) Colonization and Evangelization. The development of the Catholic indigenous clergy in Burundi under the Belgian colonial administration, 1916 – 1961.
- Mbongeleni Dlamini (grad. 2017) Contested Memory: A contribution to the story of the emergence of Methodism in Umlazi.
- Ntobeko Dlamini (grad. 2019) The implication of queer sexuality in ministry: the life histories of the experiences of queer clergy in the Methodist Church of South Africa.
- Andrew-John Bethke (grad 2020) Anglican Ritualism in Victorian South Africa: Exploring Perceptions of the Ritualism between 1850 and 1885 in Contextual Comparison with the Wider Anglican Communion.
- Khulekani Mfeka (grad. 2022) A History of the Edendale Lay Ecumenical Centre 1966 – 1994
- Pretty Abraham (grad. 2022) Trauma, memory, and spirituality in the experiences of women who survived the Gukurahundi atrocities.
- Sandile Kheswa (grad. 2023) [co-supervision with Kalpana Hiralal] The role and contributions of the Black Sash Women in the Anti-Apartheid Struggle in Natal Midlands region from 1980-1994.
- Emilio Kasaba (grad. 2024) Apartheid and Theological Education: An Investigation of the Theological Education provided at St. Bede’s Theological College in Mtata, 1950-1992.
PhD
- Desmond van der Water (1999) The Challenge of the Kairos Document – Assessing the theological and praxiological responses of ecumenically-oriented churches in South Africa, with particular reference to the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA).
- George Mukuka (grad.2001) The establishment of the black Catholic Clergy in South Africa from 1887 to 1957.
- Samuel Frouisou (grad. 2003) Women in the church in Africa in the twentieth century, change and continuity. The case study of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon (1925-1999).
- Richard Matthew Lubawa (grad. 2003) A history of church leadership development. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) Iringa Diocese 1899-1999.
- Humphrey Mogashoa (grad. 2005) South African Baptists and finance matters (1820-1948).
- Henry Mbaya (grad. 2005) The making of an African clergy in the Anglican Church in Malawi with special focus on the election of bishops (1898-1996).
- Stephen Joshua (grad. 2011) The Catholic Response to HIV/AIDS in KwaZulu-Natal (1986 – 2005): A Historical-Critical Approach.
- Kennedy Gondongwe (grad. 2012) The development of indigenous clergy in the Methodist Church in Mashonaland (1888-1930).
- Radikobo Ntsimane (grad. 2013) A Critical History of the Lutheran Medical Missions in Southern Africa with Special Emphasis on Four Hospitals.
- Michael Mbona (grad. 2013) The Church and HIV and AIDS: An evaluation of the response of the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church and the United Methodist Church to HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment in Manicaland, Zimbabwe (1985-2007).
- Maimbo Mndolwa (grad. 2013) From Anglicanism to African socialism. The Anglican Church and Ujamaa in Tanzania (1955-2005).
- Millicent Atujuna (grad. 2013) [School of Built Environment and Development] Church-Based Social Spaces and HIV/AIDS in Rural South Africa.
- Mxolisi Mchunu (grad. 2014) [School of Historical Studies] A History of Political Violence in KwaShange, Vulindlela district and of its effects on the memories of survivors (1987-2008).
- Edward Ishaya (grad. 2015) Christian Life and the Rise of Pentecostalism in Adamawa State Nigeria, 1970 to 2005.
- Lois Moyo (grad. 2016) [co-supervision with Prof Isabel Phiri] Faith and resilience in child or youth-headed households: a gendered exploration into the socio-economic and religio-cultural circumstances of children and youths living on their own in Slangspruit in Pietermaritzburg in times of HIV and AIDS.
- James Goddard (grad. 2016) Invitations to Integral Spirituality in the Students’ Christian Association’s Discipleship Programmes:1973 to 1997.
- Steve Mochechane (grad. 2016) Race and Culture in Pentecostalism. From Nicholas Bhengu and Andrew Pettegree to the International Assemblies of God (1933-1990)
- Cogitator Mapala (grad. 2017) Ethnicity and Christianity: A Historical Perspective on the Border Dispute between the Livingstonia and the Nkhoma Synods of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (1890-2013).
- Jock Agai (grad. 2017) Yoruba Origins: A Reflection on the Tradition of Yoruba Cultural Connection with the Ancient Egyptians (1846-1970).
- Angela Flint (grad. 2018) [co-supervision with Prof John Hilton] The portrayal of Christian heroism in the Psychomania of Prudentius.
- Mark James (grad. 2019) Deaf as Other. A Levinasian reading of Deaf ministry in the Catholic Church of South Africa from 1948 to 1994.
- Isaac Devadoss (grad. 2019) Christian identity, Hindu nationalism and religious communal violence in India with special reference to Kandhamal, Odisha (1985–2010).
- Ntabanyane Samson Khama Tseuoa (grad. 2022) Mission and colonialism. A critical examination of the life and work of Herman Dieterlen (1850-1933). Sesotho literary materials in the Morija Museum and Archives.
- Raymond Perrier (grad. 2023) Paddy Kearney: creation and re-creation of a Christian activist over five decades.
- Francis Marimbe (grad. 2023) [co-supervision with Shauna Mottiar) Gospel of Prosperity and Development. Dynamics on the Rise of the ‘Third Wave’ Religious Movement and Responsibility in Zimbabwe.
- Godfrey Jidauna (grad. 2024) The New Life for All missionary movement. Evangelistic crusades in colonial and precolonial Northern Nigeria (1953-1993).
- Dominic Mukuka (grad. 2024) [co-supervised with Prof. Simangaliso Kumalo]. Catholic Social Teaching and the Critique of Zambia as a Christian State: from 1991
- Sikhalo Cele (in progress). Reclaiming the memories of the survivors. An assessment of the Christian churches’ responses to the Gukurahundi atrocities in Matabeleland.
- Anne Mkwanazi (in progress) [co-supervised with Sibusiso Masondo] Transforming grace: Spirituality of Healing in the Roman Catholic Tradition among the African (AmaZulu) Women in KwaZulu Natal?
- Ntobeko Dlamini (in progress) Simon Gqubule (1928-2016), black intellectual and social activist in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.
- John Boyd (in progress) The Contested Memories of Saint Peter the Aleut —Alaskan Native and Orthodox Martyr.