Pentecostalism, Pilgrimage to Prayer Mountains and Pilgrims’ Adherence to Holiness Ethics in Ghanaian Christianity

Abstract

The influence of Pentecostalism as a global religious culture is obvious in almost every sphere of human endeavour. As a Christian religious category, Pentecostalism permeates virtually all dimensions of Christian faith and practice. In spite of the visibility and vociferous presence of Pentecostalism as a worldwide Christian religious culture, its influence on Christians’ visitation to Prayer Mountains (PMs) and the pilgrims’ devotion to holiness ethics appear not to have been traversed in scholarship. This paper attempts to fill this gap by employing a multidisciplinary approach to gather the relevant field data. The discussion is theoretically anchored on Miroslav Volf’s ‘The Christian Faith as a Prophetic Religion.’ Using this theory as a hermeneutical framework of the influence of pilgrimage to PMs on society, the paper discloses, among others, that Ghanaian Christians’ pilgrimage to PMs and the pilgrims’ adherence to holiness ethics are replications of Pentecostal practices. Keywords: Pentecostalism, pilgrimage, Abasua Prayer Mountain, holiness ethics