Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu Research Articles

Prophetism in African Christianity and Biblical Traditions

Abstract This article examines the portrayal of prophetism in the works of J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and compares it with the depiction of prophetism by the author of the gospel of Luke. Prophetism is a recurrent religious phenomenon in the Christian faith, particularly in Africa. Many scholars have undertaken seminal works on the subject, depending on the popularity and effect of the experience on contemporary Christianity. Many Christian denominations have suffered schism due to the erupting of prophetic ministry and have also benefitted from the phenomenon by negotiating for religious innovations that resonate with the worldview of members of the congregation. Often, the questions asked are whether these strands of prophetism are aligned with the biblical philosophy of prophetism and which genre of the Bible contemporary prophetism reflects. This study engages the narrative research method to discuss critically how Asamoah-Gyadu writes about prophetism in contemporary African Christianity and how the author of Luke portrays it and draws lessons for scholars, contemporary prophets, and Christian denominations in which the experience is not common.

African Pentecostalism and World Christianity: Essays in Honor of J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, edited by Nimi Wariboko and Adeshina Afolayan

African Pentecostalism and World Christianity: Essays in Honor of J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, edited by Nimi Wariboko and Adeshina Afolayan

Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa by Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and Todd M. Johnson.

ROSS, Kenneth R., J. Kwabena ASAMOAH-GYADU and Todd M. JOHNSON. Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017. 538pp. Hbk. ISBN: 9781474412032. £150.

Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, and Todd M. Johnson

<i>Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa</i>, edited by Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, and Todd M. Johnson

Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, and Todd M. Johnson

Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, and Todd M. Johnson

Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and Todd M. Johnson

Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and Todd M. Johnson

Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and Todd M. Johnson

Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and Todd M. Johnson

Sighs and Signs of the Spirit: Ghanaian Perspectives on Pentecostalism and Renewal in Africa, written by Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

Sighs and Signs of the Spirit: Ghanaian Perspectives on Pentecostalism and Renewal in Africa, written by Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

Responses, reflections, and afterthoughts

This is the author’s response to the comments offered by J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Rosalind I. J. Hackett, Duane Jethro, Stefanie Knauss, David Morgan, and Don Seeman on Birgit Meyer’s book Sensational Movies. It addresses the entanglement of Africa and the West; positive and negative evaluations of African tradition and culture; the importance of a comparative stance towards imaginaries and the imagination in religious studies; the role of sound in relation to the visual; and material religion.

Witchcraft Accusations and Christianity in Africa

January 2015 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, a contributing editor, is the Baeta-Grau Professor of Contemporary African Christianity and Pentecostal/Charismatic Studies, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Accra, Ghana. He has served as visiting scholar at Harvard University (2004), Luther Seminary in St. Paul (2007), and the Overseas Ministries Study Center (2012). —kwabena.asamoahgyadu@gmail.com I the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Deliver us from evil.” Such rescue from evil and its consequences is critical for anyone wishing to live by God’s promises in the Bible. For the churches in Africa, evil preeminently includes witchcraft. In Africa, successful Christian ministry (i.e., ministry with significant personal relevance and impact) is impossible unless one takes into account the supernatural evil implied by the word “witchcraft.” Grasping the power and influence of evil, including witchcraft, is critical, not only for realistic pastoral care, but also for understanding African responses to the Gospel throughout Christian mission history. For example, the spectacular growth of African Independent/Initiated Churches (AICs) in the early twentieth century is linked, in particular, to the inability of Western missions to come to terms with the reality of supernatural evil, especially witchcraft, and to articulate a Christian pastoral response to it. Historic Western mission Christianity has generally been perceived to be powerless when it comes to dealing with supernatural evil. Those who are spiritually afflicted and troubled have therefore turned to alternate resources outside the sphere of mission churches— traditional witchdoctors, medicine cults, charismatic prophets, or a combination of these—in search of diagnosis, explanations, and solutions to problems ranging from ill health to infertility to failing economic fortunes. A century after the emergence of AICs, witchcraft and belief in its destructive power remain resilient in African life and thought. Evil of supernatural provenance requires—and in AICs has called forth—powerful prayers of intervention. These churches deal with witchcraft in the context of activities of prophecy and spiritual warfare. Indeed, the single most important contribution made by indigenous churches toward the renewal of Christianity in Africa has been the integration of charismatic experiences, particularly prophecy, healing, and deliverance, into church life. The pneumatic churches, including here Africa’s independent Pentecostal and charismatic churches, as well as the classical AICs, for whom dealing with supernatural evil is a major pastoral focus, combine biblical notions with traditional ones in devising the hermeneutical interpretations, rituals, and sacred spaces to deal with supernatural evil’s perceived effects on people and society.

Book review: Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: Interpretations from an African Context, written by J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

Book review: Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: Interpretations from an African Context, written by J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

Between the Spirit and the Word: Reading the Gendered African Pentecostal Bible

This article reviews the gendered Pentecostal Bible as documented by various researchers. It assesses how the prophetic-spirit framework encounters and functions within the framework of the inerrant but patriarchal written word. The Spirit framework is an oral canon that opens spaces of gender empowerment. Yet Pentecostal scholars problematise the supposedly liberating Spirit, highlighting that it sometimes denies the materiality of human existence and inhabits the constraining parameters of patriarchal church structures. The article suggests that in addition to the Spirit-Word framework, new Pentecostal theological categories, such as healing and deliverance and the prosperity gospel need to be investigated for the new spaces they open for gender justice. 'The authority of the Bible as the word of God, and the experience of the Holy Spirit form two of the most important sources of Pentecostal theology' (Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu 2004:390).

Ludwig Frieder and J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, eds., African Christian Presence in The West New Immigrant Congregations and Transnational Networks in North American and Europe (Trenton, NJ: African World Press, 2011). vii + 472 pp.

Ludwig Frieder and J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, eds., African Christian Presence in The West New Immigrant Congregations and Transnational Networks in North American and Europe (Trenton, NJ: African World Press, 2011). vii + 472 pp.

Religion Crossing Boundaries: Transnational Religious and Social Dynamics in Africa and the New African Diaspora. Edited by Afe Adogame and James V. Spickard. Religion and the Social Order Series, 18. Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Brill 2010. Pp. 280. $53.50. African Christian Presence in the West: New Immigrant Congregations and Transnational Networks in North America and Europe. Edited by Frieder Ludwig and

Religion Crossing Boundaries: Transnational Religious and Social Dynamics in Africa and the New African Diaspora. Edited by Afe Adogame and James V. Spickard. Religion and the Social Order Series, 18. Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Brill 2010. Pp. 280. $53.50. African Christian Presence in the West: New Immigrant Congregations and Transnational Networks in North America and Europe. Edited by Frieder Ludwig and

WÄHRISCH-OBLAU, Claudia, The Missionary Self-Perception of Pentecostal/ Charismatic Church Leaders from the Global South: Bringing Back the Gospel. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2009. x+428pp.Hbk. ISBN-10: 9004175083. €146/US$216.

Reviewed by: J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu PhD, Professor of Contemporary African Christianity and Pentecostal Theology, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon. Accra. Ghana. E-mail: asagyadu@hotmail.com

Editorial

Contents editorial Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu ‘Broken Calabashes and Covenants of Fruitfulness’: Cursing Barrenness in Contemporary African Christianity Sasha Newell Pentecostal Witchcraft: Neoliberal Possession and Demonic Discourse in Ivoirian Pentecostal Churches Michael Comerford The Angolan Churches from the Bicesse to the Luena Peace Agreements (1991-2002): The Building of a Peace Agenda and the Road to Ecumenical Dialogue reviews Erlich, Haggai , Saudi Arabia & Ethiopia: Islam, Christianity & Politics Entwined (by T erje Ø stebø ) Hassett, Miranda K. , Anglican Communion in Crisis: How Episcopal Dissidents and Their African Allies Are Reshaping Anglicanism (by K evin W ard ) Nyberg Oskarsson,