Postmodernism and Faith: An Evaluation of the Auto-Positioning of Pentecostalism and its Sacred Boundaries in Ghana

Lawrence Boakye

Issue: Vol.2  No.1 January 2021  Article 1 pp. 1-10
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/pecanep.2021211   |   Published online 13th January 2021.
© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Views: 1,361
303 Downloads

DOWNLOAD PDF
The past 30-40 years have seen a growth in Pentecostalism in Ghana. It has been good news for the growth of Christianity, but it has also not eluded the postmodernist influences on faith, belief, and theology. Part of this influence which is redefining the precincts of Christianity can be attributed to the concepts of ‘narrativism’ and ‘postsecularism’, which are described as ramifications of postmodernism. This work examines the current religious atmosphere in Ghana and other influences which expound the dynamisms that are changing the basis of Chrisitian faith, religion, and socio-cultural practices. The foremost interest is to analytically use the postmodern concept to explain the new phase of religion and other influences of Pentecostalism in Ghana today. And how the determinants of postmodern tendencies have influence local and microscopic forms of religious undercurrents in society. It brings to light the new theological and philosophical grounds on which new philosophies can enhance new directives and conjectures for the understanding and growth of religion and culture in the African context.

Keywords: Pentecostalism, Narrativism, Christianity, Postmodernism, Postsecularism, Religion.

Amanor, Darkwa, J. ‘Pentecostalism in Ghana: An African Reformation’, (Accra-Ghana, International Theological Seminary. Accessed May 10, 2018, http://www.pctii.org

Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena. Current Development within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2005.

______. Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: Interpretation from an African Context. Accessed July 20, 2018. https://openlibrary.org/publishers/Regnum_Africa.

Berger, Peter L. (ed). The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics, (Washington DC,
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Ethics and Public Policy Centre; W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., (1999).

Beyers, Jaco. ‘The Church and the Secular: The effect of the post-secular on Christianity’, HTS Teologiese Studies Theological Studies 70, Vol. 1, No. 2605, (2014).

Clark, Clifton, R. ‘African Indigenous Churches in Ghana – Past, Present and Future’, Journal of African Instituted Church Theology, Vol. II, No. 1, (2006).

Cox, Harvey. Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty First Century. Cambridge MA: Da Capo Press, (1995).

Eduardo, Mendieta. ‘Spiritual politics and post-secular authenticity: Foucault and Habermas on Post-metaphysical Religion’. In The Post-Secular in Question: Religion in Contemporary Society, New York: NYU Press, 2012.

______.‘A Post Secular World Society? On the Philosophical Significance of Postsecular Consciousness and the multicultural World Society’: an interview with Jurgen Habermas, translated by Mathias Fritsch, in The Immanent Frame, Social Science Research Council, 2010. Accessed January 1, 2018. https://tif.ssrc.org/2010/02/03/a-postsecular-world-society

______. Spiritual Politics and Post-secular Authenticity: Foucault and Habermas on Postmetaphysical Religion. Exploring the Post-Secular, New Heaven, US: Yale University Press, (2009).

Fatokun, Samson, A. ‘Christianity in Africa: A Historical Appraisal’, (October 2005), Verbum et Ecclesia, Vol. 2, No. 26, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269965860_Christianity_in_Africa_a_historical_appraisal/

Foucault, Michel. History of sexuality: Volume 1. New York: Vintage Books, (1990).

Graphic Online, ‘Pentecostal Charismatic Council Declares Fasting and Prayers to Avert Dooms Day Prophecies’ – Jan 03, 2019. Accessed February 2, 2019. https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/ghana-news-pentecostal-charismatic-council-declares-fasting-and-prayers-to-avert-dooms-day-prophecies.html.

Habermas, Jürgen. ‘A Post-secular Society-What does that mean?’ (A lecture delivered at the Istanbul Seminars organized by Reset Dialogues on Civilizations in Istanbul, June 26, 2008. Accessed october 10, 2018.
https://www.resetdoc.org/story/a-post-secular-society-what-does-that-mean/.

Habermas, Jürgen. Religion in the Public Sphere, European Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 14, No.1, (March 2006). Accessed April 22, 2018. https://www.sandiego.edu/pdf/pdf_library/habermaslecture031105

Hastings, Adrian. The Church in Africa, Oxford: Clarendon Press, (1996).

Hick John, Philosophy of Religion. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, (1990).

_______. Faith and Knowledge. London: Palgrave Macmillan, (1988).

Jenkins, Peter. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, The Future of Christianity Trilogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2007).

Jenkins, Philip. ‘Believing in the Global South’, (December 2006), https://www.firstthings.com/article/2006/12/believing-in-the-global-south.

Jenkins, Philip. ‘The Future of World Christianity Is African’, (2020), www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/future-christianity-african.
Larbi, Kingsley, E. Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity, Studies in African Pentecostal Christianity, Vol 1, Accra: CPCS, (2001).

Lyotard, Jean-François. ‘Postmodernism, and Religion’, Philosophia Christi, Vol. 7, No. 1, (2005).

_______. The Postmodernism Condition, Manchester: Machester University Press, (1984).

Maclean Ruth and Egbejule Eromo, “Gospel Glamour How Nigerians Pastors Wield Political Power”, Accessed February 2, 2019. www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/13/

Obadare, Ebenezer. Pentecostal Republic: Religion and the Struggle for State Power in Nigeria, London: Zed Books, (2018).
Pew Research Centre, ‘Overview: Pentecostalism in Africa’, Religion and Public Life, October, 2006,
https://www.pewforum.org/2006/10/05/overview-pentecostalism-in-africa/.

Rosati, Massimo. “Longing for a Postsecular Condition: Italy and the Postsecular”. Politics, Culture and Religion in the Postsecular Society, Bologna, University of Bologna, 2011. Accessed February 20, 2019. http://users.auth.gr/kourebe/Religion%20and%20Politics, date accessed 20/02/2019.

Reinhardt, Bruno M.N. Tapping into the Anointing: Pentecostal Pedagogy, Connectivity, and Power in Contemporary Ghana, Berkeley, University of California Press, (2013).

Sandel, Michael. Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (1982).

Smith, James K.A. ‘A Little Story about Metanarrative: Lyotard, Religion and Postmodernism Revisited’, Faith and Philosophy, 18, No. 3, 2001.

Stoeckl, Kristina. Defining The Postsecular, (This is a paper presented at the seminar at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow in February, 2011. Accessed October 2, 2019. http://synergia-isa.ru/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/stoeckl_en.pdf.

Soren Kierkegaard, On the Dedication to “That Single Individual” (1846) translated by Charles K. Bellinger, p.2-3, Accessed November 15, 2018. https://www.sorenkierkegaard.nl/artikelen/Engels.

Taylor, Charles. Source of The self: The Making of the Modern Identity, Boston: Harvard University Press, (1989).

Walzer, Michael. Spheres of Justice: A defense of Pluralism and Equality, United States: Basic Books Publishers, (1983).

Wyllie, Robert W. Spiritism in Ghana, Ann Arbor, M.I: Edwards Brothers, (1980).

Yandell, Keith E. Philosophy of Religion: A Contemporary Introduction, New York: Routledge, (2006).

Lawrence Boakye, PhD., is a Lecturer at the University of Ghana – Department for the Study of Religions, Legon, Accra Ghana.

Boakye, L., “Postmodernism and Faith: An Evaluation of the Auto-Positioning of Pentecostalism and its Sacred Boundaries in Ghana” Pentecostalism, Charismaticism and Neo-Prophetic Movements Journal 2, no 1 (2021): 1-10. https://doi.org/10.38159/pecanep.2021211

© 2021 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Articles in this Issue

About Journal