Spirit-Filled World: Religious Dis/Continuity in African Pentecostalism

Abstract

African Pentecostalism is in continuity with popular religion in linking African challenges and problems to the spirit world. However, Allan Anderson, a leading Pentecostal theologian, argues that this continuity should be studied simultaneously with the discontinuity between African Pentecostalism and certain popular religions. Based on this argument, there exists a tension between continuity with certain popular religions in African Pentecostalism on the one hand, and discontinuity with certain aspects of it on the other hand—hence the concept “dis/continuity.” Seeking a balance, this review article explores Anderson’s text in regards to both the context of African Pentecostalism’s continuity with popular religion, where there is connection between people’s challenges and the spirit world, and the context of discontinuity, where African Pentecostalism is delinked from certain aspects of popular religion based on the very different ways in which African Pentecostalism addresses people’s various problems. In summary, while African traditional religions as an expression of popular religion use different mediums to find solutions, African Pentecostalism uses the power of the Holy Spirit for the same.