The Public Role of Religion in Modern Ghanaian Society
This article lends its voice to the discussion on Charles Taylor’s Varieties of Religion Today: William James Revisited, which critiques William James’s view that the public dimensions of religion will be less real and less necessary and, therefore, will decrease in modern societies. The article use...
| Опубликовано в: : | Pneuma |
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| Главный автор: | |
| Формат: | Электронный ресурс Статья |
| Язык: | Английский |
| Проверить наличие: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Загрузка...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Опубликовано: |
Brill
2018
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| В: |
Pneuma
Год: 2018, Том: 40, Выпуск: 1/2, Страницы: 71-90 |
| Индексация IxTheo: | CA Христианство CG Христианство и политика KBN Черная Африка KDG Свободная церковь |
| Другие ключевые слова: | B
Charles Taylor
religion and politics in Ghana
secularism
Pentecostalism
Africa
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| Online-ссылка: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) |
| Итог: | This article lends its voice to the discussion on Charles Taylor’s Varieties of Religion Today: William James Revisited, which critiques William James’s view that the public dimensions of religion will be less real and less necessary and, therefore, will decrease in modern societies. The article uses Ghana as a case study to show that religion is still a public phenomenon in modern African societies. Religion has always been a crucial part of Ghanaian public life, including politics, although today it finds expression in the context of pentecostal Christianity. As the religious phenomenon with the strongest presence in contemporary Ghana, Pentecostalism informs the lives of many. Nowadays, during political elections, voters would consider whether or not a candidate exhibits pentecostal religious qualities in deciding to vote him or her into office. Likewise, politicians use religious communities and leaders for the purposes of mobilizing voters or organizing constituencies. Furthermore, religious language has come to dominate political discourse and debates with politicians casting their messages and visions in religious (mostly biblical) imagery and allusions to appeal to worshipping populations both imaginatively and emotionally. In demonstrating the increasing public quality of religion in modern societies, this article identifies some of the strategies Ghanaian politicians use to play on the pentecostal imaginations of the Ghanaian populace, all in a bid to secure political power. This article argues that while religion is a private experience in modern Western societies, it is public and mainstream and influences almost all facets of life in modern Africa, particularly Ghanaian politics. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0747 |
| Второстепенные работы: | In: Pneuma
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700747-04001031 |