Religious Tourism in the Context of Pentecostalism: Developing a Pentecostal Pneumatological Theology of Tourism
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle 
Issue: Vol.5 No.11 Issue Article 22 pp. 1906-1914
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202451122 | Published online 11th September, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Religious tourism is commonly known for the visits by believers to religious sites and pilgrimages for religious purposes. In African Pentecostalism, religious tourism is known for the movement of believers from one country to another in search of greater power and blessings. This also includes powerful politicians who would visit a prophet in another African country in search of prayers. This kind of movement has been perceived negatively, particularly considering the disaster that happened in Nigeria when many South Africans lost their lives when the Synagogue Church of All Nations building in Nigeria collapsed. In addition, there are challenges such as the financial exploitation of religious tourists who pay exorbitant prices to visit men or women of God. Another challenge is the hostility of host countries to religious tourists, particularly pastors. The argument in this article is that religious tourism should not only be studied by its challenges but also various opportunities. Opportunities such as transportation opportunities, food trade opportunities, and hospitality opportunities are explored. These opportunities are important in the development of a Pentecostal pneumatological theology of tourism. This is a literature review on religious tourism in the context of Pentecostalism. This theology is developed using the theoretical framework of pneumatological imagination which argues that being filled with the Spirit includes opening up to people of different languages, different nationalities, and so forth. Similarly, pneumatological imagination argues that being filled with the Spirit allows the movement of people from one country to another which enhances tourism opportunities. This theory is important for the balance between the challenges and opportunities of religious tourism.
Keywords: Religious Tourism, Pentecostalism, Pentecostal Theology, Pneumatological Imagination, Pneumatology
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Mookgo Solomon Kgatle is a Professor of Missiology at the Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, University of South Africa (UNISA). He has published several peer-reviewed articles in the Pentecostal tradition, particularly New Prophetic Churches in South Africa. He is an NRF rated scholar in the area of African Pentecostalism. He won the Vision Keeper Award at the University of South Africa (2020-2022).
Kgatle, Mookgo Solomon. “Religious Tourism in the Context of Pentecostalism: Developing a Pentecostal Pneumatological Theology of Tourism,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.11 (2024): 1906-1914. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202451122
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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