Papers by Aidan ( K W A M E ) Ahaligah, PhD., AFHEA.
Undoubtedly the axis of Christianity has shifted from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern Hem... more Undoubtedly the axis of Christianity has shifted from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere, with Africa experiencing the most growth. Autochthonous Pentecostal/Charismatic churches and ministries, and the genre of Christianity popularly known as African Independent Churches-AICs (the' I' in AIC can also stand for initiated/initiatives or instituted; hereafter use AICs), and the neoPentecostal/ Charismatic churches (PCCs), are the ones who have and continue to experience the most growth. In Ghana, where the focus of this thesis lies, the growth of the PCCs has had an effect on the mainline churches - with some scholars calling this phenomenon "the Pentecostalization of Ghanaian Christianity". Analyzing the Pentecostalization of Ghanaian Christianity in the context of African Christian history, the confluence of Akan indigenous religious concepts and Pentecostal spirituality and the spiritualization of socio-political/economic issues by Ghanaian Pentecostals will form key components of this thesis. In my analysis, I posit that the AICs and PCCs have contributed to the development of a contextualized African and-Ghanaian Christianity. This is observed especially in their understanding of the holistic nature of the Akan/African concept of salvation. The holistic nature of the Akan/African concept of salvation is the basis of inspiration for the AICs, and they (AICs) in turn have influenced Ghanaian Christianity in its totality. The attraction of the masses to the AICs, and subsequently to the PCCs, is because of how they have appropriated indigenous religiosity. The confluence of the indigenous religious worldviews and that of Pentecostal spirituality has produced a distinctive yet "universal" form of Christianity, which has a strong revivalist tone. Almost all mainline denominations now take the indigenous worldview and Pentecostal/Charismatic spirituality seriously. A significant contribution of Pentecostalism to Ghanaian Christianity is that it has helped bridge the gap between the indigenous worldviews and the worldviews of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. This, in general, can describe Ghanaian Christianity as a contextualized and an indigenized Christianity that takes cognizance of spiritual causality and the Christian Bible seriously. The significance of Pentecostalism to Ghanaian Christianity notwithstanding, Pentecostals tend to spiritualize socio-political/economic issues: they believe that socio-politico-economic ills that plague the country are the doings of satanic/ancestral spirits. As a result, Pentecostals emphasize spiritually breaking the hold of these demonic/ancestral powers that plague the lives of individuals, their communities and the country. A major critic of Ghanaian Pentecostals in this thesis is that they do not approach socio-political/economic issues in concrete and pragmatic ways. By acknowledging the lack of a pragmatic approach in Ghanaian Pentecostal theology to socio-political/economic issues, I submit that the Pentecostalization of Ghanaian/African Christianity will not be complete and will not serve the ultimate good if it fails to address the mundane issues that contribute to the socio-political ills that plague the nation/continent. The holistic concept of salvation that African Pentecostals are known for should include addressing issues of 'social justice' lobbying for the elimination of political corruption, actively working towards the eradication of poverty, curbing ethnic strife, reconciliation, and sustaining a sound democratic environment. As such, the Pentecostalization of Ghanaian Christianity and elsewhere in Africa will not be of many benefits if it stagnates on just the issues of healing, deliverance, dream interpretations and the casting out of demonic powers.
As a contribution to the study of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and politics in Africa, th... more As a contribution to the study of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and politics in Africa, this study offers an ethnographic and theological analysis of the ways in which Pentecostal-Charismatic churches in Kenya engage “the political”. The thesis presents case studies of three prominent leaders and their ministries, on the basis of which three distinct but interrelated narratives of political engagement are identified and used as the basis for reconstructing Pentecostal-Charismatic political theological thought in Kenya. These narratives are: holiness prophetic, spiritual-dominionist and prosperity-dominionist. The narratives have in common an emerging political theology of altars, which references biblical prophetic concepts of sacred sacrificial space, in which the nation is dedicated anew to God and made holy. The concept of altars is reconstructed as a political theology that draws on Kenyan Pentecostal-Charismatic and indigenous religious understandings of power. The central argument of the thesis is that, since the 1980s, in the contemporary Kenyan religio-political context, Pentecostal-Charismatic churches have not only directly engaged politics, many have also devised political theologies that are couched in the language and idioms of spiritual warfare. These narratives of spiritual warfare are presented as strategies to combat what is perceived to be a battle between God and the devil for the soul of individuals and the nation of Kenya. The narratives of political engagement are reconstructed on the basis of a detailed reading of the ethnographic data collected during eight months of fieldwork in Kenya. The ethnographic approach enabled me to investigate and analyse Pentecostal-Charismatic political engagements and theology from below. I argue that in order to understand the political engagements and the underlying theologies in Kenyan Pentecostal-Charismatic political thought, attention needs to be paid to their prophecies, sermons, and prayers because these are political expressions carried out through a theological rhetoric of spiritual encounter. In contrast to the social scientific and the general African theological literature on Pentecostal-Charismatic political engagements, this study offers a more nuanced understanding of what constitutes the political but also offers an ethnographically informed theological analysis of the politics of spiritual warfare from the point of view of my Pentecostal-Charismatic interlocutors in Kenya.
The importance of the mother tongue in the planting and growth of African Christianity has been s... more The importance of the mother tongue in the planting and growth of African Christianity has been stressed by scholars such as Lamin Sanneh and Kwame Bediako. Bediako, for instance, states that “the ability to hear in one’s language and to express in one’s language one’s response to the message which one receives, must lie at the heart of all authentic religious encounters with the divine realm.” The paper discusses how the translation of the Bible and the use of the mother-tongue—has facilitated the production of new theological idioms by Akan Pentecostals/Charismatics in particular and Christians in general. Particularly, the paper discusses how the use of the mother-tongue has contributed to the re-interpretation of classical theological concepts such as Christology. Christ as an Ancestor and Christ as Healer-Duyefo is among the topics to be discussed in this paper. Keywords: Mother-Tongue Hermeneutics, Akan, African Christology, Pentecostal-Charismatic, Translation, Gospel.
E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies (ERATS), 2020
This article is devoted to a thematic analysis of early or ancient African Christianity and its i... more This article is devoted to a thematic analysis of early or ancient African Christianity and its influence on ecclesial practices and thinking in contemporary Africa. Drawing on literature in the history of the church in antiquity this paper re-tells the story of how Africa and Africans in the first millennium developed and shaped World Christianity. Specifically, it discusses the contributions made to the early Church by the African Fathers of the faith, Origen and Augustine. The paper contest sentiments and perceptions that Christianity is a "white mans" religion and to reclaim African Christianity's identity as a global religious culture which has existed since antiquity. Moreover, it argues that a lot is lost, with its attendant misinterpretations, when Christianity in Africa is only viewed as a result of the fruits of the nineteenth-century missionary activities. The paper contributes to the study of African Church history, the contextualisation/inculturation of the gospel, and African theology.
MA Thesis: Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, IA USA, 2009
Reading Religion, 2019
In Aspects of Pentecostal Christianity in Zimbabwe, editor Lovemore Togarasei brings together a c... more In Aspects of Pentecostal Christianity in Zimbabwe, editor Lovemore Togarasei brings together a cohort of astute Zimbabwean scholars of religion to analyze the growth and impact of Pentecostalism. Contributing scholars, some Pentecostal academics themselves, are agreed that “[i]n Zimbabwe today, there is no doubt that Pentecostalism is the most dynamic form of Christianity” (40), making it possible to not only “talk about the Pentecostalisation [sp] of Zimbabwean Christianity” (46), and “the Pentecostalisation [sp] of society” (8), but also Pentecostalism’s own culture brought into conversation with existing religio-cultural traditions. While many of the essays in this volume analyze the contemporary force of Pentecostal Christianity in Zimbabwe, this text also fills a lacuna in the literature on Pentecostalism in Southern Africa, long after David Maxwell’s influential study of Ezekiel Guti’s Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa (ZAOGA) in African Gifts of the Spirit: Pentecostalism & the Rise of Zimbabwean Transnational Religious Movement (Ohio University Press, 2007).
Pentecostalism, Charismaticism and Neo-Prophetic Movements Journal (PECANEP) , 2020
The importance of the mother tongue in the planting and growth of African Christianity has been s... more The importance of the mother tongue in the planting and growth of African Christianity has been stressed by scholars such as Lamin Sanneh and Kwame Bediako. Bediako, for instance, states that "the ability to hear in one's language and to express in one's language one's response to the message which one receives, must lie at the heart of all authentic religious encounters with the divine realm." The paper discusses how the translation of the Bible and the use of the mother-tongue-has facilitated the production of new theological idioms by Akan Pentecostals/Charismatics in particular and Christians in general. Particularly, the paper discusses how the use of the mother-tongue has contributed to the re-interpretation of classical theological concepts such as Christology. Christ as an Ancestor and Christ as Healer-Duyefo is among the topics to be discussed in this paper.
Thesis Chapters by Aidan ( K W A M E ) Ahaligah, PhD., AFHEA.
Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN)S.T.M Thesis. Yale Divinity School, 2012
Undoubtedly the axis of Christianity has shifted from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern Hem... more Undoubtedly the axis of Christianity has shifted from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere, with Africa experiencing the most growth. Autochthonous Pentecostal/Charismatic churches and ministries, and the genre of Christianity popularly known as African Independent Churches-AICs (the' I' in AIC can also stand for initiated/initiatives or instituted; hereafter use AICs), and the neoPentecostal/ Charismatic churches (PCCs), are the ones who have and continue to experience the most growth. In Ghana, where the focus of this thesis lies, the growth of the PCCs has had an effect on the mainline churches - with some scholars calling this phenomenon "the Pentecostalization of Ghanaian Christianity". Analyzing the Pentecostalization of Ghanaian Christianity in the context of African Christian history, the confluence of Akan indigenous religious concepts and Pentecostal spirituality and the spiritualization of socio-political/economic issues by Ghanaian Pentecostals will form key components of this thesis. In my analysis, I posit that the AICs and PCCs have contributed to the development of a contextualized African and-Ghanaian Christianity. This is observed especially in their understanding of the holistic nature of the Akan/African concept of salvation. The holistic nature of the Akan/African concept of salvation is the basis of inspiration for the AICs, and they (AICs) in turn have influenced Ghanaian Christianity in its totality. The attraction of the masses to the AICs, and subsequently to the PCCs, is because of how they have appropriated indigenous religiosity. The confluence of the indigenous religious worldviews and that of Pentecostal spirituality has produced a distinctive yet "universal" form of Christianity, which has a strong revivalist tone. Almost all mainline denominations now take the indigenous worldview and Pentecostal/Charismatic spirituality seriously. A significant contribution of Pentecostalism to Ghanaian Christianity is that it has helped bridge the gap between the indigenous worldviews and the worldviews of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. This, in general, can describe Ghanaian Christianity as a contextualized and an indigenized Christianity that takes cognizance of spiritual causality and the Christian Bible seriously. The significance of Pentecostalism to Ghanaian Christianity notwithstanding, Pentecostals tend to spiritualize socio-political/economic issues: they believe that socio-politico-economic ills that plague the country are the doings of satanic/ancestral spirits. As a result, Pentecostals emphasize spiritually breaking the hold of these demonic/ancestral powers that plague the lives of individuals, their communities and the country. A major critic of Ghanaian Pentecostals in this thesis is that they do not approach socio-political/economic issues in concrete and pragmatic ways. By acknowledging the lack of a pragmatic approach in Ghanaian Pentecostal theology to socio-political/economic issues, I submit that the Pentecostalization of Ghanaian/African Christianity will not be complete and will not serve the ultimate good if it fails to address the mundane issues that contribute to the socio-political ills that plague the nation/continent. The holistic concept of salvation that African Pentecostals are known for should include addressing issues of 'social justice' lobbying for the elimination of political corruption, actively working towards the eradication of poverty, curbing ethnic strife, reconciliation, and sustaining a sound democratic environment. As such, the Pentecostalization of Ghanaian Christianity and elsewhere in Africa will not be of many benefits if it stagnates on just the issues of healing, deliverance, dream interpretations and the casting out of demonic powers.
Aidan (Kwame ) Ahaligah
Abstract
As a contribution to the study of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and politics in A... more Abstract
As a contribution to the study of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and politics in Africa, this study offers an ethnographic and theological analysis of the ways in which Pentecostal-Charismatic churches in Kenya engage “the political”. The thesis presents case studies of three prominent leaders and their ministries, on the basis of which three distinct but interrelated narratives of political engagement are identified and used as the basis for
reconstructing Pentecostal-Charismatic political theological thought in Kenya. These narratives are: holiness prophetic, spiritual-dominionist and prosperity-dominionist. The narratives have in common an emerging political theology of altars, which references biblical prophetic concepts of sacred sacrificial space, in which the nation is dedicated anew to God
and made holy. The concept of altars is reconstructed as a political theology that draws on Kenyan Pentecostal-Charismatic and indigenous religious understandings of power.
The central argument of the thesis is that, since the 1980s, in the contemporary Kenyan religio-political context, Pentecostal-Charismatic churches have not only directly engaged politics, many have also devised political theologies that are couched in the language and idioms of spiritual warfare. These narratives of spiritual warfare are presented as strategies to combat what is perceived to be a battle between God and the devil for the soul of individuals and the nation of Kenya. The narratives of political engagement are reconstructed on the basis of a detailed reading of the ethnographic data collected during eight months of fieldwork in Kenya. The ethnographic approach enabled me to investigate and analyse Pentecostal-Charismatic political engagements and theology from below. I argue that in order to understand the political engagements and the underlying theologies in Kenyan Pentecostal-Charismatic political thought, attention needs to be paid to their prophecies, sermons, and prayers because these
are political expressions carried out through a theological rhetoric of spiritual encounter.
In contrast to the social scientific and the general African theological literature on Pentecostal-Charismatic political engagements, this study offers a more nuanced understanding of what constitutes the political but also offers an ethnographically informed theological analysis of the politics of spiritual warfare from the point of view of my Pentecostal-Charismatic interlocutors in Kenya.
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Papers by Aidan ( K W A M E ) Ahaligah, PhD., AFHEA.
Thesis Chapters by Aidan ( K W A M E ) Ahaligah, PhD., AFHEA.
As a contribution to the study of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and politics in Africa, this study offers an ethnographic and theological analysis of the ways in which Pentecostal-Charismatic churches in Kenya engage “the political”. The thesis presents case studies of three prominent leaders and their ministries, on the basis of which three distinct but interrelated narratives of political engagement are identified and used as the basis for
reconstructing Pentecostal-Charismatic political theological thought in Kenya. These narratives are: holiness prophetic, spiritual-dominionist and prosperity-dominionist. The narratives have in common an emerging political theology of altars, which references biblical prophetic concepts of sacred sacrificial space, in which the nation is dedicated anew to God
and made holy. The concept of altars is reconstructed as a political theology that draws on Kenyan Pentecostal-Charismatic and indigenous religious understandings of power.
The central argument of the thesis is that, since the 1980s, in the contemporary Kenyan religio-political context, Pentecostal-Charismatic churches have not only directly engaged politics, many have also devised political theologies that are couched in the language and idioms of spiritual warfare. These narratives of spiritual warfare are presented as strategies to combat what is perceived to be a battle between God and the devil for the soul of individuals and the nation of Kenya. The narratives of political engagement are reconstructed on the basis of a detailed reading of the ethnographic data collected during eight months of fieldwork in Kenya. The ethnographic approach enabled me to investigate and analyse Pentecostal-Charismatic political engagements and theology from below. I argue that in order to understand the political engagements and the underlying theologies in Kenyan Pentecostal-Charismatic political thought, attention needs to be paid to their prophecies, sermons, and prayers because these
are political expressions carried out through a theological rhetoric of spiritual encounter.
In contrast to the social scientific and the general African theological literature on Pentecostal-Charismatic political engagements, this study offers a more nuanced understanding of what constitutes the political but also offers an ethnographically informed theological analysis of the politics of spiritual warfare from the point of view of my Pentecostal-Charismatic interlocutors in Kenya.
As a contribution to the study of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and politics in Africa, this study offers an ethnographic and theological analysis of the ways in which Pentecostal-Charismatic churches in Kenya engage “the political”. The thesis presents case studies of three prominent leaders and their ministries, on the basis of which three distinct but interrelated narratives of political engagement are identified and used as the basis for
reconstructing Pentecostal-Charismatic political theological thought in Kenya. These narratives are: holiness prophetic, spiritual-dominionist and prosperity-dominionist. The narratives have in common an emerging political theology of altars, which references biblical prophetic concepts of sacred sacrificial space, in which the nation is dedicated anew to God
and made holy. The concept of altars is reconstructed as a political theology that draws on Kenyan Pentecostal-Charismatic and indigenous religious understandings of power.
The central argument of the thesis is that, since the 1980s, in the contemporary Kenyan religio-political context, Pentecostal-Charismatic churches have not only directly engaged politics, many have also devised political theologies that are couched in the language and idioms of spiritual warfare. These narratives of spiritual warfare are presented as strategies to combat what is perceived to be a battle between God and the devil for the soul of individuals and the nation of Kenya. The narratives of political engagement are reconstructed on the basis of a detailed reading of the ethnographic data collected during eight months of fieldwork in Kenya. The ethnographic approach enabled me to investigate and analyse Pentecostal-Charismatic political engagements and theology from below. I argue that in order to understand the political engagements and the underlying theologies in Kenyan Pentecostal-Charismatic political thought, attention needs to be paid to their prophecies, sermons, and prayers because these
are political expressions carried out through a theological rhetoric of spiritual encounter.
In contrast to the social scientific and the general African theological literature on Pentecostal-Charismatic political engagements, this study offers a more nuanced understanding of what constitutes the political but also offers an ethnographically informed theological analysis of the politics of spiritual warfare from the point of view of my Pentecostal-Charismatic interlocutors in Kenya.