Emeritus Professor James Cochrane

Emeritus Professor

Currently convenor of the Leading Causes of Life Initiative, a loose international collaboration with some 70 Fellows, Emeritus Professor Jim Cochrane is also Senior Scholar at the School of Public Health, UCT, and Adjunct Faculty at Wake Forest University Medical School, North Carolina, USA. A graduate of UCT (BSc. Chem; PhD religious studies) and Chicago Theological Seminary (M.Div; D.Div h.c.), he is a nationally rated scholar of international reputation with close to 200 publications on religion in relation to public/community/population health, globalization, and society, as well as in social ethics, theological ethics, hermeneutics, the social history of Christianity in South Africa, and several other fields. He favours a transdisciplinary approach that takes seriously the complex (emergent, adaptive and sometimes contradictory) nature of the human phenomena associated with religion and spirituality.

After some years in anti-Apartheid NGO work, including the Christian Institute of Southern Africa (banned in 1977), the Careers Research and Information Centre (CRIC), and the Institute for Contextual Theology (which he helped found), he was appointed in 1987 to the School of Theology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, becoming its head from 1990-93. In 1997 on returning to the Department of Religious Studies at UCT, he created and led the Multi-Event ‘99 on ‘Religion in Post-Apartheid Society’, subsequently taking over as Director of the Research Institute for Christianity in Africa (RICSA), second Editor of the Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, and Editor after Francis Wilson of South African Outlook.

During this time he co-founded and directed the African Religious Health Assets Programme (ARHAP) from 2003-2011 with colleagues at Emory University, Wits University, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, later housed, as the International Religious Health Assets Programme, at the School of Public Theology, UCT. Formally retiring in 2011, with Prof Gary Gunderson of Wake Forest University he launched the Leading Causes of Life Initiative, which still continues.
 

Selected publications
Books & edited books (10 of 19)

  • James R. Cochrane, Gary Gunderson, & Teresa Cuts (eds). 2024. Handbook on Religion and Health: Pathways for a Turbulent Future, (Edward Elgar Publishing). doi.org/10.4337/9781802207996
  • Douglas R. McGaughey & James R. Cochrane, 2017. The Human Spirit: Groundwork (Stellenbosch: SUN Press). doi.org/10.18820/9781928357612 
  • Christine Lienemann-Perrin & James R. Cochrane (eds), 2013, The Church and the Public Sphere in Societies in Transition (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications).
  • Gary Gunderson & James R Cochrane, 2012, Religion and the Health of the Public: Shifting the Paradigm, New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
  • James R Cochrane, Barbara Schmid & Teresa Cutts (eds.), 2011, When Religion and Health Align: Mobilizing Religious Health Assets for Transformation, Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications.
  • James R Cochrane, & Bastienne Klein (eds), 2000, Sameness and Difference: Problems and Potentials in South African Civil Society. Washington D.C.: Center for Philosophy and Values.
  • - 1999, Circles of Dignity: Community Wisdom and Theological Reflection. Minneaopolis: Fortress Press
  • James R Cochrane, John de Gruchy & Steve Martin (eds). 1999, Facing the Truth: South African Faith Communities and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Cape Town: David Philip, and Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press.
  • James R Cochrane & G West (eds), 1991, The Three-Fold Cord: Theology, Work and Labour. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications.
  • – 1987, Servants of Power: The Role of English-speaking Churches in South Africa, 1903-1930, Johannesburg: Ravan Press.

Chapters in books (15 of 61)

  • – 2024. “Grounding Religion and Spirituality.” In James R. Cochrane, Gary Gunderson, & Teresa Cuts (eds), Handbook on Religion and Health: Pathways for a Turbulent Future, (Edward Elgar Publishing), ), 16-30. doi.org/10.4337/9781802207996
  • Gary Gunderson, Teresa Cutts & James R. Cochrane. 2024. “The Watershed of Life: A River Runs Through It.” In James R. Cochrane, Gary Gunderson, & Teresa Cuts (eds), Handbook on Religion and Health: Pathways for a Turbulent Future, (Edward Elgar Publishing), 444-459. doi.org/10.4337/9781802207996
  • – 2020. “African theology: Political and public.” In Elias Bongmba (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of African Theology (London: Routledge), 121-135. doi.org/10.4324/9781315107561
  • – 2018. “On Freedom: Risking a (Faithful) Reinterpretation.” In Elias Bongmba (ed.), Religion and Social Reconstruction in Africa (New York: Routledge), 226-242.
  • – 2016. “Fundamental Evaluation Criteria in the Medicine of the Twenty-First Century.” In Eckhard Nagel and Michael Lauerer (eds), Prioritization in Medicine: An International Dialogue. (Switzerland: Springer International Publishing), 11-37.
  • – 2015. "Religion in the health of migrant communities: cultural assets or medical deficits?" In Migration and Religion, ed. James A. Beckford. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, 107-128.
  • – 2012, "Instruments or Inhibitors of Civil Society? The Role of Christians in South African State Formation", in Samuel K. Elolia (ed.), Religion, Conflict and Democracy in Modern Africa: The Role of Civil Society in Political Engagement, Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock), 232-253.
  • – 2011, A Model of Integral Development: Assessing and Working with Religious Health Assets. In Gerrri ter Haar (ed.), Religion and Development: Ways of Transforming the World, Foreword by James D. Wolfensohn, London: C. Hurst & Co.; New York: Columbia University Press, 231-252.
  • – 2009, Reframing the Political Economy of the Sacred: Readings of Post-Apartheid Christianity. In Falling Walls: The year 1989/1990 as a Turning Point in the History of World Christianity (Einstürzende Mauern. Das Jahr 1989/90 als Epochenjahr in der Geschichte des Weltchristentums), Klaus Koschorke (Ed.), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 95-116.
  • – 2002, On Religion and Theology in a Civil Society. In Theology in Dialogue: The Impact of the Arts, Humanities, & Science on Contemporary Religious Thought, R. Wüstenberg & L. Holness (eds), Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 116-132.
  • – 2002, Globalization, ‘African Renaissance’ and Contested Identities. In Y. Pochta, N. Kirabaev (eds), Cultural Identity and Globalization: The Dialogue between Civilization, East-West, Part II, Moscow: Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, 41-64.
  • – 2000, The Fragility of Truth: Tolerance, Discourse Ethics and the Formation of a Democratic Citizenry. In A. H. Jama, N. Kirabaev, Y. Pochta (eds), Tolerance and Democracy: Dialogue of Civilizations, East-West, Part I  (IV International Philosophical Symposium, 1999), Moscow: Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, 154-158.
  • – 1996, Redeeming the Broken Body: Salvation and the Reconstruction of Society. In V. Brummer & Marcel Sarot (eds), Happiness, Well-Being and the Meaning of Life: A Dialogue of Social Science and Religion, Studies in Philosophy Series, Utrecht: Kok-Pharos, 76-98.
  • – 1991, Christian Conservatism and the Human Project: a Historic Struggle. In K. Nürnberger (ed.), A Democratic Vision for South Africa, Pietermaritzburg: Encounter Publications, 60-70.
  • – 1990, Christian Resistance to Apartheid: Periodisation, Prognosis. In M. Prozesky (ed), Christianity Amidst Apartheid: Selected Perspectives on the Church in South Africa, London: Palgrave MacMillan, 81-100.

Journal articles (18 of 60)

  • – 2023, The Cosmopolitan Christ: A Contemporary Agenda? Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 177: 21-40.
  • Idler, Ellen, Mohamed Jalloh, James R Cochrane & John Blevins. 2023. “‘Religion as a Social Force in Health: Complexities and Contradictions.” BMJ, 382, e076817. https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj-2023-076817.full
  • James R Cochrane, Naiema Taliep, Sandy Lazarus, Douglas McGaughey, Dan Christie, Mohamed Seedat, Teresa Cutts, & Gary Gunderson. 2022). “‘Spiritual Capacities’ in Psychological Research: Confronting the Appearances.” Social and Health Sciences, 20(1&2), doi.org/10.25159/2957-3645/10423
  • Naiema Taliep, Sandy Lazarus, Jim Cochrane, Jill Olivier, Samed Bulbulia, Mohamed Seedat, Hazel Swanepoel & Anna-Marie James (2020), Community asset mapping as a strategy for developing an interpersonal violence prevention program, Action Research, Vol. Jan 29: 1-23.
  • – 2016. Religion in Sustainable Development. The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 14:3, 89-94, doi.org/.1080/15570274.2016.1215818
  • – 2014. Thinking about Complexity: Transdisciplinarity and Research on Religion and Health in Africa. Religion and Theology, 21: 333-357.
  • – 2013. Spiritual Capacity, Spirituality and the Challenge of Freedom. Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, March, 145: 5-17.
  • – 2011. Against the Grain: Responsible Public Theology in a Global era. International Journal of Public Theology, 5, 44-62.
  • Paul Germond & James R Cochrane, 2010, Healthworlds: Conceptualizing Landscapes of Health and Healing. Sociology, 44: 2, 307-324.
  • – 2009, The Potential of Religious Entities for Strengthening Public Health Systems in Crisis. The Maghreb Review, 34, 1: 41-60.
  • – 2008, ‘Fire from Above, Fire from Below’: Health, Justice and the Persistence of the Sacred. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, August 116: 67-96.
  • – 2007, Violence, Religion and the Use and Abuse of Healthworlds, African Safety Promotion: A Journal of Injury and Violence Prevention, 5 (2): 5-16.  
  • – 2006, Of Bodies, Barriers, Boundaries and Bridges: Ecclesial Practice in the Face of HIV and AIDS. Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 126: 7-26.
  • – 2006, Religion, Public Health and a Church for the 21st Century. International Review of Mission, 95 (376-377): 59-72.
  • – 2006, Religion in the Health of Migrant Communities: Asset or Deficit? Journal of Migration and Ethnic Studies, 32 (4), 715 - 736.
  • – 2002, The Epistemic Violence of Racism: Hidden Transcripts of Whiteness. As “Het verborgen geweld van racisme: Verhulde uitingen van het blank zijn,” In ’Slavernij en Racisme: Waar waren en waar zijn de kerken?,’ Wereld en Zending, 4: 41-50.
  • – 2001, Revisiting Christian Resistance to Apartheid. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 27: 1, 37-54.
  • – 2000, Religious Pluralism in Postcolonial Public Life. Journal of Church and State, 42 (3), 443-465.

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