Ghanaian Christians Research Articles

Sumsum Akwankyεrε: Emerging Modes of Mediation and Appropriation of Spiritual Power in Sections of Ghanaian Christianity

Sumsum Akwankyεrε has become a common religious expression and mantra in Ghanaian Christianity particularly among Churches and groups who claim to be ‘prophetic’. Sumsum Akwankyεrε is an Akan expression that actually has multiple meanings. Some of the meanings are ‘spiritual direction’, ‘divine instruction’, or ‘spiritual ways’ etc. Prophets and leaders of this stream of Christianity in Ghana are not trusted by recognised and respected Pentecostals and Charismatics primarily because of their doctrinal orientation and modes of mediating and appropriating spiritual power in their ministries. At the core of Sumsum Akwankyεrε is the synthesis of traditional or primal religious beliefs and practices, proof-texts. The Sumsum Akwankyεrε phenomenon is influencing many young independent pastors and some Pentecostals and Charismatics as well. Even though practitioners of Sumsum Akwankyεrε are noted for their moral scandals, self-deification, leadership flaws, and theological malaises, their ministries seem to be pointing to some timeless theological and missiological questions and issues facing African Christianity in general. These are also yelling indications of the fact that a new phase with new questions, concerns and directions are beginning to dawn on African Christianity whether we take them serious or not.

Christ, Evil, and Suffering in Ghanaian Christian Liturgy

This paper examines the contextualization of the Jesus story by Ghanaian Christians. It approaches it through the analysis and evaluation of inherent ideas in their songs, sermons and practices that reflect their interpretation of the Christian experience in relation to primal religion and culture, and the Bible. The results show that Ghanaian Christians do not play down the ubiquity of evil in the world. Nonetheless, they see in Jesus Christ the incomparable, victorious Saviour who has made it possible for believers to overcome the evils of this world. Accordingly, they insist that in Christ believers can enjoy “full” and “complete” salvation in every area of life.

Pidgin English in Ghanaian churches

This paper revisits the sociolinguistic discussions on the domain of use of Pidgin English in Ghana (cf. Huber 1999; 1995; Dako 2002; Ofulue 2011). It advances the claim that pidgin is currently undergoing a process of expanding its domain of use into some respected formal spaces (such as the church) in Ghana, particularly through gospel music. What this means is that the account in the literature that pidgin is absent in formal domains in Ghana can no longer be held to be accurate, for pidgin has now entered Christian religious worship. This has been possible partly through contacts within the West African sub-region. Unsurprisingly, the most popular pidgin songs in Ghanaian Christian communities, as reflected through responses to questionnaires administered, bear features of Nigerian Pidgin English; some of the songs have obviously been imported from Nigeria. Could this development be the watershed for the redemption of the image of Pidgin English in Ghana? For the purpose of this paper, Christians who fellowship in Accra only were surveyed; Accra serves as a haven for church activities due, perhaps, to its highly cosmopolitan background, and numerous churches are headquartered in this city.

Religion and the Public Sphere: Religious Involvement and Voting Patterns in Ghana's 2004 Elections

Since the end of the cold war, the sub-Saharan African region has witnessed an increased pace of democratization. Ghana has evolved an orderly political succession in a vibrant democratic culture, and has conducted five successful elections since the early 1990s. These elections have been deemed free, fair, and devoid of the fraud that is common in many African countries. As a result, Ghana is considered a beacon of hope for democratic activists in sub-Saharan Africa as they challenge the absence of good governance in their own nations. Studies that examine Ghana's new democratic experiment abound, but nearly all focus on ethnicity and the electoral process. Far fewer have examined religion, a powerful identifiable force in the Ghanaians' lives, and how it affects the electoral process. This study uses 2005 Afrobarometer Survey data to examine the links between religion and voting patterns in Ghana's 2004 elections. Findings suggest that, in contrast to Muslims, Ghanaian Christians, especially the Protestant groups, were more supportive of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) than the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Implications for the findings are suggested, at least with respect to social inequalities and political discourse in Ghana.

“Whom Do Men Say that I Look Like?”: Representing Christ and Christian Personae in Ghana

From the earliest attempts to spread Christianity in Ghana, European missionaries used religious art as an important tool for spreading ideas about the Christian faith. This was particularly so for the Catholics and Anglicans who have long-established traditions of religious iconography. Initially this art was highly Eurocentric in that Christ and Christian personae were represented as Caucasians. In the 1960s the need for what was described as inculturation, “the ongoing and critical dialogue between faith and culture,” challenged this tradition, and there were a number of attempts to make religious art, especially in Catholic churches in Ghana, more Afrocentric. This article looks at how this switch from a Eurocentric religious art to an Afrocentric inspiration developed, and at the reaction on the part of Ghanaian Christians to what Afrocentric clergymen in the United States have described as an attempt to “dehonkify Christ.”

Transformation and acculturation in Ghanaian Christian songs

The rhythms of African songs and drums are the means of expressing people's thoughts, feelings and beliefs in Ghanaians’ everyday life. Since time immemorial, simple instruments, such as the flute, animal horns and drums, have been used to compose songs that express grief and happiness, or for worship and festivals by Ghanaians of various ethnic backgrounds. The inception of colonialism in the 1400s brought Christianity in its wake and the singing of hymns at church services by the converts. Although indigenous songs were not permitted to be sung at church services at that time, this did not stop their composition and use in local communities. This article discusses how traditional songs have been transformed and integrated into church activities and services as part of cultural evangelism in contemporary Ghana.

'On the "Mountain" of the Lord' Healing Pilgrimages in Ghanaian Christianity

AbstractIn Ghana, as with other African religious and cultural contexts, religion is a survival strategy. It is a dynamic phenomenon, which at every level of appropriation has been experiencing certain innovations informed by existential and supra-mundane needs. Some of these innovative appropriations of religion in contemporary Ghana include pilgrimages to religious sites in search of God's intervention for healing. Roman Catholicism, mainline Protestantism and Pentecostalism, the three main streams of Christian expression in Ghana have all had their members develop penchants for such pilgrimages although patronage is never denomination specific. In this article we examine some of the innovative ways in which healing pilgrimages have developed in the various Christian traditions and what implications these have for understanding religion in a contemporary African religio-cultural context.

'Singing with Understanding': the Story of Gospel Music in Ghana

'… I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.'1 The fastest growing musical expression in Ghana is the religious music that has come to be described as 'gospel music'. Especially since the late 1980s gospel music has assumed an increasingly prominent position in Ghanaian religious and social life. Gospel music constituted about 75% of recorded musical works in Ghana in 1993;2 and in 2001 it was believed that about 90% of musicians were plying their trade in churches.3 This boom in gospel music coincided with the phenomenal spread of the charismatic movement.4 The charismatic movement affected most branches of Ghanaian Christianity and also produced a distinct group of churches that eventually came to be known as 'Charismatic Churches'. The movement indelibly left its mark on the Church. In Ghana so much of Christian expression of spirituality at the popular level has been the result of the Charismatic movement. Gospel music has become one ofthe most important expressions of popular Christianity. Perhaps no other aspect of popular Christianity embodies the aspirations, fears, the self-understanding, and the faith and hope of the ordinary Ghanaian Christian as the various strands of popular religious music, which have together been referred to as 'gospel music'. The thesis of this paper is that contemporary Ghanaian gospel music represents a high point in a long processof assimilation of the Christian message by Ghanaians. It is one of themost important and popular expressions of Christianity as understood by Ghanaian Christians. Gospel Music Gospel music in the Ghanaian context is not defined according to the beat or rhythm. It is the song-text that defines a particular piece of music as 'gospel'. It appears the whole repertoire of musical traditions available in Ghana is enlisted to the service of gospel music. The most popular form [End Page 142] is gospel highlife.5 There are others in the style of traditional music forms such as asafo,6 adzewa,7 agbadza8 and even the traditional recreational jama,9 which has been popularised in recent times by the youth. In the gospel music repertoire one can also find singing that is not accompanied by any instrument, solo and recitatives. This leads to a range of music styles that makes room for the expression of different moods. Some ofthe songs are traditional western Christian hymns that are sung to new rhythm and tempo accompanied by guitar, drums and other instruments. It is, basically, the text that determines whether a particular song is 'gospel'. It is the Christian faith sung in the common style and idiom of the ordinary people; the music of faith set in the commonplace language of the people which does not require any effort to understand. It is Ghanaian Christians singing their faith with understanding. The song-text may be one of encouragement, an admonition to believers to live up to their responsibilities, an affirmation of a doctrinal truth, or even a rebuke of believers who are not being faithful. Gospel songs may also be prayers of petition or songs of praise and thanksgiving or direct evangelistic message appealing to unbelievers to accept the Gospel of Christ. Classifying Gospel Music It is not easy to classify gospel music. As it has been mentioned above, in terms of musical types, all the available musical types are represented. Charismatic Christians themselves, especially the youth, divide gospel songs into two: praise songs and worship songs. What differentiates thetwo is the tempo. 'Worship' songs are slow and poignant and are usually accompanied by raising of hands and swaying the whole body forward and backward while 'praise' songs are faster and are usually accompanied by dancing. The same song can be either 'praise' or 'worship', depending on the beat to which it is sung. In most cases, such classifications do not take into consideration whether the text of the song is actually about worship or praise. A useful classification would...

Independent Spirits: the Politics of Policing Anti-witchcraft Movements In Colonial Ghana, 1908–1927

AbstractScholars have debated the social origins of anti-witchcraft movements within African religions while largely ignoring the effects of colonial laws outlawing their practice. Yet, for the initiates, the period after a witch-finding movement was outlawed was the most difficult. Initiates believed banned gods retained their power to punish them severely if they did not atone for violations of movement rules. Performing ceremonies of repentance, however, meant breaking the law, risking heavy fines, home demolition and even imprisonment. The transcript of a 1913 trial of five men accused of conducting ceremonies of the outlawed Aberewa anti-witchcraft movement in Ghana allows us to explore this predicament. The tenacity of popular belief in outlawed gods influenced colonial policy towards anti-witchcraft movements, witchcraft law, and the development of contemporary Ghanaian Christianity.

Ghanaian Christianity and Popular Entertainment: Full Circle

In this paper I look at the relationship between Christianity and popular entertainment in Ghana over the last 100 years or so. Imported Christianity was one of the seminal influences on the emergence of local popular music, dance, and drama. But Christianity in turn later became influenced by popular entertainment, especially in the case of the local African separatist churches that began to incorporate popular dance music, and in some cases popular theatre. At the same time unemployed Ghanaian commercial performing artists have, since the 1980s, found a home in the churches. To begin this examination of this circular relationship between popular entertainment and Christianity in Ghana we first turn to the late nineteenth century.The appearance of transcultural popular performance genres in southern and coastal Ghana in the late nineteenth century resulted from a fusion of local music and dance elements with imported ones introduced by Europeans. Very important was the role of the Protestant missionaries who settled in southern. Ghana during the century, establishing churches, schools, trading posts, and artisan training centers. Through protestant hymns and school songs local Africans were taught to play the harmonium, piano, and brass band instruments and were introduced to part harmony, the diatonic scale, western I- IV- V harmonic progressions, the sol-fa notation and four-bar phrasing.There were two consequences of these new musical ideas. Firstly a tradition of vernacular hymns was established from the 1880s and 1890s, when separatist African churches (such as the native Baptist Church) were formed in the period of institutional racism that followed the Berlin Conference of 1884/85. Secondly, and of more importance to this paper, these new missionary ideas helped to establish early local popular Highlife dance music idioms such as asiko (or ashiko), osibisaaba, local brass band “adaha” music and “palmwine” guitar music. Robert Sprigge (1967:89) refers to the use of church harmonies and suspended fourths in the early guitar band Highlife composition Yaa Amponsah, while David Coplan (1978:98-99) talks of the “hybridisation” of church influences with Akan vocal phrasing and the preference of singing in parallel thirds and sixths in the creation of Highlife.

The Role of Christian Churches in National Politics: Reflections from Laity and Clergy in Ghana

This study examines the role of Christian churches in national politics in Ghana. It draws on various forms of data: a 1994 survey questionnaire, in-depth interviews, and content analysis of existing data. A total of 355 responses were received on the survey while 110 people were interviewed on a variety of church and political issues. Respondents were drawn from Catholic and Protestants denominational backgrounds. The preliminary results of the study lend support to the view that since the 1980's, Ghanaian Christians have been more actively involved in politics than ever before. These findings have important implications for the role religion plays in political development in Ghana.