Ghana S New Christianity

Author : Paul Gifford
Publisher : C. Hurst & Co. Publishers
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Religion
ISBN : UOM:39015059152028

Get Book

Ghana's New Christianity by Paul Gifford Pdf

In sub-Saharan Africa over the last two decades there has been an explosion of Christianity. This book sets out to identify its particular character, focusing on a particular place: Greater Accra, the capital of Ghana. Paul Gifford examines a wide range of Accra's new churches, giving priority to mega-churches. Every dimension -- discourse, theological vision, worship, rituals, music, media involvement, use of the Bible, conventions, finances, clientele -- is analysed. Gifford argues that this Christianity is not otherworldly: its emphasis is on success, achievement, wealth here and now. Yet within this general orientation there is diversity. At one end of the spectrum are churches that, building on the traditional religious imagination, see demonic forces everywhere blocking personal success. In the churches the key factor is the special 'man of God' who is understood to have the 'anointing' to conquer these forces, to 'reverse the curse' that is holding the believer back. At the other end is a strain of this new Christianity that discounts spiritual forces and sees victory resulting from the believer's own education and skills, and from transforming culture.The book also joins the debate over the role of this Christianity in modernizing economic and political structures. It sets the scene by describing Ghana's political and economic situation in the decades when these churches were proliferating, and outlines the current debate on the reasons for Africa's economic plight. It is argued that although focusing on success and wealth can provide motivation in circumstances where it is so easy to despair, the pervasive emphasis on miracles militates against any natural fostering of a new work ethic. As for their political role, some churches are easily co-opted; others challenge the government, but for 'spiritual' reasons that provide little incentive to grapple with issues of governance; by contrast, Gifford finds one important church encouraging change of the entire political culture. No other book has set forth the complex nature of Africa's new Christianity with such clarity, or offered such a searching analysis of its power to tackle Africa's predicament.

Author : Paul Gifford
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2004-07-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0253217237

Get Book

Ghana's New Christianity, New Edition by Paul Gifford Pdf

A sober, firsthand look at evangelical Christian churches in Accra, Ghana.

Author : John Riches
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 871 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780521858236

Get Book

The New Cambridge History of the Bible by John Riches Pdf

This volume examines the development and use of the Bible from late Antiquity to the Reformation, tracing both its geographical and its intellectual journeys from its homelands throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean and into northern Europe. Richard Marsden and Ann Matter's volume provides a balanced treatment of eastern and western biblical traditions, highlighting processes of transmission and modes of exegesis among Roman and Orthodox Christians, Jews and Muslims and illuminating the role of the Bible in medieval inter-religious dialogue. Translations into Ethiopic, Slavic, Armenian and Georgian vernaculars, as well as Romance and Germanic, are treated in detail, along with the theme of allegorized spirituality and established forms of glossing. The chapters take the study of Bible history beyond the cloisters of medieval monasteries and ecclesiastical schools to consider the influence of biblical texts on vernacular poetry, prose, drama, law and the visual arts of East and West"

Author : Paul Gifford
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 1998-07-22
Category : History
ISBN : 0253212049

Get Book

African Christianity by Paul Gifford Pdf

These detailed analyses of the state of the churches in each country suggest more general patterns operating widely across sub-Saharan Africa.

Author : Jane E. Soothill
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 276 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2007-03-31
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789047419396

Get Book

Gender, Social Change and Spiritual Power by Jane E. Soothill Pdf

Against a backdrop of debate concerning the role of Pentecostalism as a mediator of 'modernity', this book examines the interaction between charismatic Christianity, spiritual power and gendered social change in contemporary Ghana.

Author : Daniel Nii Aboagye Aryeh
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 228 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2019-01-03
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781532618635

Get Book

Biblical, Traditional, and Theological Framework for Understanding Christian Prophetism in Ghana Today by Daniel Nii Aboagye Aryeh Pdf

The basis for this project is to verify and determine the extent to which contemporary prophetic ministry in Ghana appropriates prophetism in the early church, Corpus Paulinum, and traditional prophetism in Ghana. The spirit of prophecy which was believed to have ceased in Judaism and during the intertestamental period has now been restored at the inauguration of Christianity. Notwithstanding, Paul gave stipulations for prophets and prophecy in the church in 1 Corinthians 14. This confirms that prophecy was a common phenomenon in the early church and Pauline communities. Contemporary prophetic ministry in Ghana claimed to have conformed to Pauline stipulations concerning prophets and prophecy in the church, but what is their level of conformity? Contemporary prophetic ministry is becoming popular due to its appeal and compatibility with religious worldviews and its pragmatic outlook that resonates with the Ghanaian phenomenon of religion. As an adherent of the Akan traditional religion would go to a religious intermediary for ebisa (literally to “inquire” or “ask”) into present or future happenings, contemporary prophets have positioned themselves to be agents of ebisa in Ghanaian Christianity. This book explores biblical and traditional understandings of prophetism that have influenced contemporary Christian understanding of prophets and prophecy in the church.

Author : Karen Lauterbach
Publisher : Springer
Page : 221 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2016-11-25
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783319334943

Get Book

Christianity, Wealth, and Spiritual Power in Ghana by Karen Lauterbach Pdf

This book centers around mid-level charismatic pastors in Ghana. Karen Lauterbach analyzes pastorship as a pathway to becoming small “big men” and achieving status, wealth, and power in the country. The volume investigates both the social processes of becoming a pastor and the spiritual dimensions of how power and wealth are conceptualized, achieved, and legitimized in the particular context of Asante in Ghana. Lauterbach integrates her analysis of charismatic Christianity with a historically informed examination of social mobility—how people in subordinate positions seek to join up with power. She explores how the ideas and experiences surrounding the achievement of wealth and performance of power are shaped and re-shaped. In this way, the book historicizes current expressions of charismatic Christianity in Ghana while also bringing the role of religion and belief to bear on our understanding of wealth and power as they function more broadly in African societies.

Author : Emmanuel Kingsley Larbi
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 572 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Ghana
ISBN : STANFORD:36105121511088

Get Book

Pentecostalism by Emmanuel Kingsley Larbi Pdf

Author : Brian Stanley
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 502 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2018-06-26
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781400890316

Get Book

Christianity in the Twentieth Century by Brian Stanley Pdf

A history of unparalleled scope that charts the global transformation of Christianity during an age of profound political and cultural change Christianity in the Twentieth Century charts the transformation of one of the world's great religions during an age marked by world wars, genocide, nationalism, decolonization, and powerful ideological currents, many of them hostile to Christianity. Written by a leading scholar of world Christianity, the book traces how Christianity evolved from a religion defined by the culture and politics of Europe to the expanding polycentric and multicultural faith it is today--one whose growing popular support is strongest in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, China, and other parts of Asia. Brian Stanley sheds critical light on themes of central importance for understanding the global contours of modern Christianity, illustrating each one with contrasting case studies, usually taken from different parts of the world. Unlike other books on world Christianity, this one is not a regional survey or chronological narrative, nor does it focus on theology or ecclesiastical institutions. Rather, Stanley provides a history of Christianity as a popular faith experienced and lived by its adherents, telling a compelling and multifaceted story of Christendom's fortunes in Europe, North America, and across the rest of the globe. Transnational in scope and drawing on the latest scholarship, Christianity in the Twentieth Century demonstrates how Christianity has had less to fear from the onslaughts of secularism than from the readiness of Christians themselves to accommodate their faith to ideologies that privilege racial identity or radical individualism.

Author : Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu
Publisher : Wipf and Stock
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2015-08-13
Category : Christianity
ISBN : 149823707X

Get Book

Sighs and Signs of the Spirit by Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu Pdf

J. Kwabena Asamoah Gyadu ""offers his reader a comprehensive and highly perceptive account of the appeal and theological influence of this kind of Christianity, combining scholarly excellence with a deep insider understanding of resonances with African religious sensibilities."" Martin Lindhardt (From the Foreword) This is a scholarly piece of work, presented in a simple, readable style that should make it easily accessible and beneficial to all, scholars and non-scholars alike. In this book, Asamoah-Gyadu returns to many familiar themes; he dialogues with other scholars in the field and also engages with the leaders of Charismatic/Pentecostal Christianity themselves. He consistently allows them to speak for themselves. Though an ordained minister of the Methodist Church, Ghana, Asamoah-Gyadu often points out how the mission-founded churches in Ghana have fallen behind their Charismatic/Pentecostal counterparts and the need for the former to learn from the latter. It is clear that this learning process has already started. Asamoah-Gyadu constantly demonstrates the primal and, therefore, African underpinnings of much that is in African Pentecostalism today. He clearly has soft spot for this brand of Christianity, but that does not deter him from pointing out elements that lack adequate biblical grounding. We thus end up with is a very comprehensive and balanced examination of the African Pentecostalism that has a great deal to teach African Christians but even more so Christians elsewhere. After all, as A. F. Walls has often indicated, African Christianity will be, if it is not already, a major component of the representative Christianity of the twenty-first century. This makes this book required reading for all those interested in the current state of African Christianity and the future of Global Christianity. Rev. B. Y. Quarshie, PhD, Rector, Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana Rev. Prof. J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu holds PhD (Theology) from the University of Birmingham, UK and DD (Honoris Causa) from the Asbury Theological Seminary, Kentucky, USA. He is Baëta-Grau Professor of Contemporary African Christianity and Pentecostal/Charismatic Theology at the Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Accra, Ghana. He is married to Theodora and they have three children: Theophil, Griselda, and Emmanuel.

Author : Lamin Sanneh,Joel A. Carpenter
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2005-03-10
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0198039409

Get Book

The Changing Face of Christianity by Lamin Sanneh,Joel A. Carpenter Pdf

Over the past century, Christianity's place and role in the world have changed dramatically. In 1900, 80 percent of the world's Christians lived in Europe and North America. Today, more than 60 percent of the world's Christians live outside of that region. This change calls for a reexamination of the way the story of Christianity is told, the methodological tools for its analysis, and its modes of expression. Perhaps most significant is the role of Africa as the new Christian heartland. The questions and answers about Christianity and its contemporary mission now being developed in the African churches will have enormous influence in the years to come. This volume offers nine new essays addressing this sea-change and its importance for the future of Christianity. Some contributions consider the development of "non-Western" forms of Christianity, others look at the impact of these new Christianities in the West. The authors cover a wide range of topics, from the integration of witchcraft and Christianity in Nigeria and the peacemaking role of churches in Mozambique to the American Baptist reception of Asian Christianity. The Changing Face of Christianity shows the striking cultural differences between the new world Christianity and its western counterpart. But with so many new immigrants in Europe and North America, the faith's fault lines are not purely geographical. The new Christianity now thrives in American and European settings, and northerners need to know this faith better. At stake is their ability to be good neighbors-and perhaps to be good Christian citizens of the world.

Author : Harri Englund
Publisher : Ohio University Press
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2011-08-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780821443668

Get Book

Christianity and Public Culture in Africa by Harri Englund Pdf

Christianity and Public Culture in Africa takes readers beyond familiar images of religious politicians and populations steeped in spirituality. It shows how critical reason and Christian convictions have combined in surprising ways as African Christians confront issues such as national constitutions, gender relations, and the continuing struggle with HIV/AIDS. The wide-ranging essays included here explore rural Africa and the continent’s major cities, colonial and missionary legacies, and mass media images in the twenty-first century. They also reveal the diversity of Pentecostalism in Africa and highlight the region’s remarkable denominational diversity. Scholars and students alike will find these essays timely and impressive. The contributors demonstrate how the public significance of Christianity varies across time and place. They explore rural Africa and the continent’s major cities, and colonial and missionary situations, as well as mass-mediated ideas and images in the twenty-first century. They also reveal the plurality of Pentecostalism in Africa and keep in view the continent’s continuing denominational diversity. Studentsand scholars will find these topical studies to be impressive in scope. Contributors: Barbara M. Cooper, Harri Englund, Marja Hinfelaar, Nicholas Kamau-Goro, Birgit Meyer, Michael Perry Kweku Okyerefo, Damaris Parsitau, Ruth Prince, James A. Pritchett, Ilana van Wyk

Author : Afe Adogame,Aminta Arrington
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 227 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2023-07-13
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781350333413

Get Book

Interconnectivity, Subversion, and Healing in World Christianity by Afe Adogame,Aminta Arrington Pdf

The rise of Christianity around the world has been the impetus for much religious and social change. The interconnectivity of religious centers has resulted in theological dialogue and innovation. The subversion of long-held categories of culture, gender, race, spirituality, theology, and politics has naturally occurred along with the transgressing of borders and boundaries. Yet at the same time, there has been occasion for healing through intercultural experiences of forgiveness, peacemaking, and reconciliation. Stimulated by the work and mentorship of Joel Carpenter, who has done much to expand the study of world Christianity less through focusing on his own research and writing, and more through amplifying the voices of others, the international contributors to this volume from all six continents promote a deeper understanding of World Christianity through the exploration of such related themes. Whether discussing primal spirituality in northeast India, white supremacy in South Africa, evangelical women and civic engagement in Kenya, or Calvinism in Mexico, the contributors draw upon ethnographic case studies to more deeply understand interconnectivity, subversion, and healing in World Christianity. Their essays provoke a reorientation of Christian thought within the study of World Christianity, enriching the current discourse and promoting vistas for further interdisciplinary studies.

Author : Lovemore Togarasei
Publisher : Springer
Page : 234 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2018-07-13
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783319785653

Get Book

Aspects of Pentecostal Christianity in Zimbabwe by Lovemore Togarasei Pdf

This edited book offers an engaging portrait into a vital, religious movement inside this southern Africa country. It tells the story of a community of faith that is often overlooked in the region. The authors include leading scholars of religion, theology, and politics from Botswana and Zimbabwe. The insights they present will help readers understand the place of Pentecostal Christianity in this land of many religions. The chapters detail a history of the movement from its inception to the present. Chapters focus on specific Pentecostal churches, general doctrine of the movement, and the movement’s contribution to the country. The writing is deeply informed and features deep historical, theological, and sociological analysis throughout. Readers will also learn about the socio-political and economic relevance of the faith in Zimbabwe as well as the theoretical and methodological implications raised by the Pentecostalisation of society. The volume will serve as a resource book both for teaching and for those doing research on various aspects of the Zimbabwean society past, present, and future. It will be a good resource for those in schools and university and college departments of religious studies, theology, history, politics, sociology, social anthropology, and related studies. Over and above academic and research readers, the book will also be very useful to government policy makers, non-governmental organizations, and civic societies who have the Church as an important stakeholder.

Author : Birgit Meyer
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 402 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2015-10-16
Category : Art
ISBN : 9780520287679

Get Book

Sensational Movies by Birgit Meyer Pdf

Tracing the rise and development of the Ghanaian video film industry between 1985 and 2010, Sensational Movies examines video movies as seismographic devices recording a culture and society in turmoil. This book captures the dynamic process of popular filmmaking in Ghana as a new medium for the imagination and tracks the interlacing of the mediumÕs technological, economic, social, cultural, and religious aspects. Stepping into the void left by the defunct state film industry, video movies negotiate the imaginaries deployed by state cinema on the one hand and Christianity on the other. Birgit Meyer analyzes Ghanaian video as a powerful, sensational form. Colliding with the state film industryÕs representations of culture, these movies are indebted to religious notions of divination and revelation. Exploring the format of Òfilm as revelation,Ó Meyer unpacks the affinity between cinematic and popular Christian modes of looking and showcases the transgressive potential haunting figurations of the occult. In this brilliant study, Meyer offers a deep, conceptually innovative analysis of the role of visual culture within the politics and aesthetics of religious world making.