Of faith and visual alertness: the message of "mediatized" religion in an African Pentecostal context
Pentecostalism and its recent progenies, the Charismatic movements, have within the last three decades moved from the periphery to the center of Christian life in Africa (Asamoah-Gyadu 2005; Gifford 1998). An unprecedented use of the mass media by these relatively new religious collectivities has co...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2005]
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| In: |
Material religion
Year: 2005, Volume: 1, Issue: 3, Pages: 336-356 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | Pentecostalism and its recent progenies, the Charismatic movements, have within the last three decades moved from the periphery to the center of Christian life in Africa (Asamoah-Gyadu 2005; Gifford 1998). An unprecedented use of the mass media by these relatively new religious collectivities has contributed significantly to the visibilities they enjoy. This paper looks at the relevance of visual media in contemporary African Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity. I will first place the movements in question in their proper religious context and then examine how they have colonized public space through an extensive appropriation of modern media technologies, and what this teaches us about this type of African Christianity. The sub-Saharan African country, Ghana, is the immediate geographical context for the study. In this paper, "Pentecostalism" refers to the spirituality of Christian churches and movements, which in continuity with occurrences in the Acts of the Apostles, value, affirm, and consciously encourage the experiential presence of the Holy Spirit as part of normal Christian life and worship. The coterminous expression "Charismatic" usually refers to historically younger streams of Pentecostal groups that function within existing historic mission denominations as "renewal movements." Drawing their members mainly from among disenchanted youths of historic mission churches, several of these charismatic renewal groups have since the late 1970s been incorporated as autochthonous churches operating in urban settings in Africa. In Ghana, the new churches are popular referred to as, Charismatic ministries (CMs). |
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| ISSN: | 1751-8342 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Material religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2752/174322005778054078 |