Download or read book Ghana s New Christianity written by Paul Gifford and published by C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Ghana s New Christianity New Edition written by Paul Gifford and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2004-07-15 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sober, firsthand look at evangelical Christian churches in Accra, Ghana.

Download or read book Gender Social Change and Spiritual Power written by Jane E. Soothill and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2007 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book African Christianity written by Paul Gifford and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1998-07-22 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These detailed analyses of the state of the churches in each country suggest more general patterns operating widely across sub-Saharan Africa.

Download or read book Pentecostalism written by Emmanuel Kingsley Larbi and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sensational Movies written by Birgit Meyer and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Christianity Wealth and Spiritual Power in Ghana written by Karen Lauterbach and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-25 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Word Made Global written by Mark R. Gornik and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2011-07-22 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking work of ethnography, urban studies, and theology, Mark Gornik's Word Made Global explores the recent development of African Christianity in New York City. Drawing especially on ten years of intensive research into three very different African immigrant churches, Gornik sheds light on the pastoral, spiritual, and missional dynamics of this exciting global, transnational Christian movement.

Download or read book The New Cambridge History of the Bible Volume 4 From 1750 to the Present written by James Carleton Paget and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 871 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the Bible's role in the modern world, with a focus on its dissemination throughout the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Download or read book Gender Social Change and Spiritual Power written by Jane E. Soothill and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2007-03-31 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Looking Back Moving Forward written by Girish Daswani and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking Back, Moving Forward investigates the embodied practices, interpersonal relationships, and moments of self-reflection in the lives of members of the Church of Pentecost in Ghana and amongst the Ghanaian diaspora in London.

Download or read book Translating the Devil written by Birgit Meyer and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an ethnography of the emergence of a local Christianity and its relation to changing social, political and economic formations among the Peki Ewe in Ghana. Focusing on the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which arose from encounters between the Ewe and German Piestist missionaries, the author examines recent conflicts leading to the secession of many pentecostally oriented members, which it places in a historical perspective. The main argument is that, for the Ewe, involvement with modernity goes hand in hand with new enchantment, rather than disenchantment, of the world. At the grassroots level, the study focuses on the image of the Devil, which the missionaries communicated to the Ewe through translation and which currently receives much attention in the Pentecostal churches. It is shown that this image played and still plays a crucial role in the local appropriation of Christianity, since diabolisation confirmed the existence of local gods and witchcraft and incorporated them into Christian belief as demons. Comparing the discourses and practices of mission and Pentecostal churches, the study reveals that the latter pay much more attention to Satan - especially through 'deliverance' rituals. Pentecostalism's increasing popularity thus stems from the fact that it ties into historically generated local understandings of Christianity, which, despite a declared dislike of non-Christian religious practices, stand much closer to Ewe religion than missionary Christianity. With its emphasis on the hybrid image of the Devil and people's obsessions with occult forces as a way to mediate the attractions and discontents of modernity, this book sheds light on a hitherto neglected dimension in studies of African Christianity.

Download or read book Sighs and Signs of the Spirit written by Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and published by Wipf and Stock. This book was released on 2015-08-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Biblical Traditional and Theological Framework for Understanding Christian Prophetism in Ghana Today written by Daniel Nii Aboagye Aryeh and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-01-03 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Jesus in African Culture written by Kwame Bediako and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Christianity in the Twentieth Century written by Brian Stanley and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-26 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Changing Face of Christianity written by Lamin Sanneh and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-03-10 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.