Pentecostalism, Media, Lived Religion and Participatory Democracy in Ghana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pent.38945Keywords:
Pentecostalism, participation, democracy, religion, GhanaAbstract
This article discusses the public manifestation of religion in contemporary Ghana. It reflects on how the synergy of the mass media, and democracy precipitates new forms of religious expression. The article argues that the dominance of the Pentecostal movement in the media, fuels democratic participation that results in the amalgamation of religious ideas, beliefs and practices in the discussion of national issues that affects the everyday – politics, economics, legal and educational matters. The article argues that these forms of religious expression in the media by Pentecostal/ Charismatic churches on national issues engenders inclusiveness and generate belongingness in both the political, economic, and socialcommunal decision making process that has implications for effective democratic participation, good governance and development.
References
Acheampong, F. 2010. “Religion and Politics in Ghana’s 4th Republican Elections (1992–2008)”. MPhil thesis, Department for the Study of Religions, University of Ghana.
Acheampong, F. 2013. “Lost and Discovered Voices? Christian Leadership Leverage in Ghana’s 4th Republic”. Paper presented at Revisiting the First International Congress of Africanist in a Globalized World, International Conference on African Studies: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.
Acheampong, F. 2018. “Pentecostals and Politics in Ghana’s Fourth Republic: From Enclave to Engagement”. PhD, dissertation, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Afolayan, A. 2018. “Pentecostalism, Political Philosophy, and the Political in Africa”. In A. Afolayan, O. Yacob-Haliso and T. Falola (eds), Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa, 223–44. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_12
Agyinsare, C. 2012. “Peace Message”. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/Watch?V=Yngy3gn0hwq.
Ammerman, N. 2013. Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199896448.001.0001
Ammerman, N. 2016. “Lived Religion as an Emerging Field: An Assessment of its Contours and Frontiers”. Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 29(2): 83–99. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1890-7008-2016-02-01
Aragonès, E., and Sànchez-Pagès, S. 2008. “A Theory of Participatory Democracy Based on the Real Case of Porto Alegre”. European Economic Review. Retrieved from
www.iae.csic.es/investigatorsMaterial/a12231123057archivoPdf88451.pdf
Asamoah-Gyadu, J. K. 2004. “Pentecostal Media Images and Religious Globalization in Sub-Saharan Africa”. In P. Horsfield, M. E. Hess and A. M. Medrano (eds), Belief in Media: Cultural Perspective on Media and Christianity, 65–79. Farnham: Ashgate.
Asamoah-Gyadu, J. K. 2005. African Charismatics: Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana. Leiden: Brill.
Asamoah-Gyadu, J. K. 2017. Channels of Prayer, Prophecy and Power: Contemporary Religion, New Media and Transformation of the Public Sphere in Africa. Accra: Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Asante, E. 2014. Theology and Society in Context: A Theologist’s Reflection on Selected Topics. Accra: SonLife Press.
Atiemo, A. O. 2013. Religion and the Inculturation of Human Rights in Ghana. London: Bloomsbury.
Bompani, B. and Brown, S. T. 2015. “A ‘Religious Revolution’? Print Media, Sexuality, and Religious Discourse in Uganda”. Journal of Eastern African Studies 9(1): 110–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2014.987507
Citinews. 2019. “Ofori-Atta Attributes Cedi’s Stability after Woes in March to ‘Divine Intervention’”. Retrieved from https://citinewsroom.com/2019/05/06/ofori-atta-attributes-cedis-stability-after-woes-in-march-to-divine-intervention (accessed on 7 May 2019).
Comaroff, J. 2015. “Pentecostalism, ‘Post-Secularism,’ and the Politics of Affects: In Africa and Beyond”. In Martin Lindhart (ed.), Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies, 220–47. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004281875_010
De Witte, M. 2018. “Buy the Future: Charismatic Pentecostalism and African Liberation in a Neoliberal World”. In A. Afolayan, O. Yacob-Haliso and T. Falola (eds), Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa, 65–85. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_4
Essien, K., and Aderinto, S. 2009. “Cutting the Head of the Roaring Monster: Homosexuality and Repression in Africa”. African Study Monographs 30(3): 121–35.
Ghana Statistical Service. 2012. “2010 Population & Housing Census: Summary Report of Final Results”. Retrieved from www.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/2010phc/Census2010_Summary_report_of_final_results.pdf (accessed 10 February 2015).
Ghanaweb. 2018. “God Can Deliver Homosexuals – Foh-Amoaning”. GhanaWeb News, 25 April. Retrieved from www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/God-can-deliver-homosexuals-Foh-Amoaning-646136 (accessed 1 June 2019).
GPCC. 2019. “Pentecostal and Charismatic Council Threatens Nationwide Demo Over Vigilante Groups”. Retrieved from www.myjoyonline.com/news/2019/February-15th/pentecostal-and-charismatic-council-threatens-nationwide-demo-over-vigilante-groups.php (accessed 5 May 2019).
GPCC. 2012. Proposed Peace Campaign Towards General Election. Accra: Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council.
GPCC. 2015. Terms of Reference for Consultants to Develop a Five-Year Strategic Plan 2015–2019. Accra: Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council.
Grossman, G. 2015. “Renewalist Christianity and the Political Saliency of LGBTs: Theory and Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa”. Journal of Politics 77(2): 337–51. https://doi.org/10.1086/679596
Habermas, J. 1992. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Held, D. 2006. Models of Democracy. London: Polity.
Ihejirika, W. 2009. “Research on Media, Religion and Culture in Africa: Current Trends and Debates”. African Communication Research 2(1): 1–60.
Kalu, O. U. 2003. “‘Globecalisation’ and Religion: The Pentecostal Model in Contemporary Africa” in J. L. Cox & G. ter Haar (eds), Uniquely African? African Christian Identity from Cultural and Historical Perspectives, 215–40. Asmara, Eritrea: African World Press.
Kalu, O. 2008. African Pentecostalism: An Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340006.001.0001
Larbi, E. K. 1999. “The Development of Ghanaian Pentecostalism”. PhD dissertation, University of Edinburgh.
Macharia, K. 2015. “Archive and Method in Queer African Studies”. Agenda 29(1): 140–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2015.1010294
Marshall, R. 2009. Political Spiritualities: The Pentecostal Revolution in Nigeria. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226507149.001.0001
Martino, L. M. 2013. The Mediatization of Religion: When Faith Rocks. London: Ashgate.
McCauley, J. F. 2015. “Pentecostals and Politics: Redefining Big Man Rule in Africa”. In M. Lindhart (ed.), Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies, 322–44. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004281875_014
McGuire, M. 2007. “Embodied Practices: Negotiation and Resistance.” In N. Ammerman (ed.), Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives, 187–200. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305418.003.0011
McGuire, M. 2008. Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Meyer, B. 1998. “The Power of Money: Politics, Occult Forces and Pentecostalism in Ghana”. African Studies Review 41(3): 15–37. https://doi.org/10.2307/525352
Meyer, B. 2004. “‘Praise the Lord’: Popular Cinema and Pentecostalite Style in Ghana’s New Public Sphere”, American Ethnologist 31(1): 92–110. https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.2004.31.1.92
Meyer, B. 2010. “Pentecostalism and Globalization”. In A. Anderson, M. Bergunder, A. Droogers and C. van der Laan (eds), Study Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods, 113–30. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520266612.003.0007
Meyer, B. 2011. “Going and Making Public: Pentecostalism as Public Religion in Ghana”. In H. Englund (ed.), Christianity and Public Culture in Africa, 149–66. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
Meyer, B. and Moors, A. 2006. “Introduction”. In B. Meyer and A. Moors (eds), Religion, Media and the Public Sphere, 1–26. Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press.
Migraine-George, T. and Ashley Currier, A. 2016. “Queering Queer African Archives: Methods and Movements”. Women Studies Quarterly 44(3–4): 190–207. https://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.2016.0042
Moberg, M. and Granholm, K. 2015. “The Concept of the Post-Secular and the Contemporary Nexus of Religion, Media, Popular Culture, and Consumer Culture”. In P. Nynas, M. Lassander and T. Utriainen (eds), Post-Secular Society, 95–127. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315127095-5
Omenyo, C. 2002. Pentecost Outside Pentecostalism: A Study of the Development of Charismatic Renewal in the Mainline Churches in Ghana. Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum Publishing House.
Orsi, R. 1997. “Everyday Miracles: The Study of Lived Religion.” In D. Hall (ed.), Lived Religion in America: Toward a History of Practice, 3–21. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Robbins, J. 2010. “Anthropology of Religion”. In A. Anderson, M. Bergunder, A. Droogers and C. van der Laan (eds), Study Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods, 156–78. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Tweneboah, S. 2017. “Religion and Law in Contemporary Ghana: Traditions in Tension”. PhD dissertation, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.
Tweneboah, S. 2018. “Religion, International Human Rights Standards, and the Politicisation of Homosexuality in Ghana”. The African Journal of Gender and Religion 24(2): 25–48.
Van Klinken, A. 2015. “Christianity in Africa: Developments and Trends”. In S. Hunt (ed.), Handbook of Global Contemporary Christianity: Themes and Developments in Culture, Politics, and Society, 129–51. Leiden: Brill.
Wariboko, N. 2012. “Pentecostal Paradigms of National Economic Prosperity in Africa”. In K. Attanasi and A. Yong (eds), Pentecostalism and Prosperity: The Socioeconomic of the Global Charismatic Movement, 35–59. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137011169_3
Acheampong, F. 2013. “Lost and Discovered Voices? Christian Leadership Leverage in Ghana’s 4th Republic”. Paper presented at Revisiting the First International Congress of Africanist in a Globalized World, International Conference on African Studies: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.
Acheampong, F. 2018. “Pentecostals and Politics in Ghana’s Fourth Republic: From Enclave to Engagement”. PhD, dissertation, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Afolayan, A. 2018. “Pentecostalism, Political Philosophy, and the Political in Africa”. In A. Afolayan, O. Yacob-Haliso and T. Falola (eds), Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa, 223–44. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_12
Agyinsare, C. 2012. “Peace Message”. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/Watch?V=Yngy3gn0hwq.
Ammerman, N. 2013. Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199896448.001.0001
Ammerman, N. 2016. “Lived Religion as an Emerging Field: An Assessment of its Contours and Frontiers”. Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 29(2): 83–99. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1890-7008-2016-02-01
Aragonès, E., and Sànchez-Pagès, S. 2008. “A Theory of Participatory Democracy Based on the Real Case of Porto Alegre”. European Economic Review. Retrieved from
www.iae.csic.es/investigatorsMaterial/a12231123057archivoPdf88451.pdf
Asamoah-Gyadu, J. K. 2004. “Pentecostal Media Images and Religious Globalization in Sub-Saharan Africa”. In P. Horsfield, M. E. Hess and A. M. Medrano (eds), Belief in Media: Cultural Perspective on Media and Christianity, 65–79. Farnham: Ashgate.
Asamoah-Gyadu, J. K. 2005. African Charismatics: Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana. Leiden: Brill.
Asamoah-Gyadu, J. K. 2017. Channels of Prayer, Prophecy and Power: Contemporary Religion, New Media and Transformation of the Public Sphere in Africa. Accra: Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Asante, E. 2014. Theology and Society in Context: A Theologist’s Reflection on Selected Topics. Accra: SonLife Press.
Atiemo, A. O. 2013. Religion and the Inculturation of Human Rights in Ghana. London: Bloomsbury.
Bompani, B. and Brown, S. T. 2015. “A ‘Religious Revolution’? Print Media, Sexuality, and Religious Discourse in Uganda”. Journal of Eastern African Studies 9(1): 110–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2014.987507
Citinews. 2019. “Ofori-Atta Attributes Cedi’s Stability after Woes in March to ‘Divine Intervention’”. Retrieved from https://citinewsroom.com/2019/05/06/ofori-atta-attributes-cedis-stability-after-woes-in-march-to-divine-intervention (accessed on 7 May 2019).
Comaroff, J. 2015. “Pentecostalism, ‘Post-Secularism,’ and the Politics of Affects: In Africa and Beyond”. In Martin Lindhart (ed.), Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies, 220–47. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004281875_010
De Witte, M. 2018. “Buy the Future: Charismatic Pentecostalism and African Liberation in a Neoliberal World”. In A. Afolayan, O. Yacob-Haliso and T. Falola (eds), Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa, 65–85. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_4
Essien, K., and Aderinto, S. 2009. “Cutting the Head of the Roaring Monster: Homosexuality and Repression in Africa”. African Study Monographs 30(3): 121–35.
Ghana Statistical Service. 2012. “2010 Population & Housing Census: Summary Report of Final Results”. Retrieved from www.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/2010phc/Census2010_Summary_report_of_final_results.pdf (accessed 10 February 2015).
Ghanaweb. 2018. “God Can Deliver Homosexuals – Foh-Amoaning”. GhanaWeb News, 25 April. Retrieved from www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/God-can-deliver-homosexuals-Foh-Amoaning-646136 (accessed 1 June 2019).
GPCC. 2019. “Pentecostal and Charismatic Council Threatens Nationwide Demo Over Vigilante Groups”. Retrieved from www.myjoyonline.com/news/2019/February-15th/pentecostal-and-charismatic-council-threatens-nationwide-demo-over-vigilante-groups.php (accessed 5 May 2019).
GPCC. 2012. Proposed Peace Campaign Towards General Election. Accra: Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council.
GPCC. 2015. Terms of Reference for Consultants to Develop a Five-Year Strategic Plan 2015–2019. Accra: Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council.
Grossman, G. 2015. “Renewalist Christianity and the Political Saliency of LGBTs: Theory and Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa”. Journal of Politics 77(2): 337–51. https://doi.org/10.1086/679596
Habermas, J. 1992. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Held, D. 2006. Models of Democracy. London: Polity.
Ihejirika, W. 2009. “Research on Media, Religion and Culture in Africa: Current Trends and Debates”. African Communication Research 2(1): 1–60.
Kalu, O. U. 2003. “‘Globecalisation’ and Religion: The Pentecostal Model in Contemporary Africa” in J. L. Cox & G. ter Haar (eds), Uniquely African? African Christian Identity from Cultural and Historical Perspectives, 215–40. Asmara, Eritrea: African World Press.
Kalu, O. 2008. African Pentecostalism: An Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340006.001.0001
Larbi, E. K. 1999. “The Development of Ghanaian Pentecostalism”. PhD dissertation, University of Edinburgh.
Macharia, K. 2015. “Archive and Method in Queer African Studies”. Agenda 29(1): 140–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2015.1010294
Marshall, R. 2009. Political Spiritualities: The Pentecostal Revolution in Nigeria. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226507149.001.0001
Martino, L. M. 2013. The Mediatization of Religion: When Faith Rocks. London: Ashgate.
McCauley, J. F. 2015. “Pentecostals and Politics: Redefining Big Man Rule in Africa”. In M. Lindhart (ed.), Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies, 322–44. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004281875_014
McGuire, M. 2007. “Embodied Practices: Negotiation and Resistance.” In N. Ammerman (ed.), Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives, 187–200. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305418.003.0011
McGuire, M. 2008. Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Meyer, B. 1998. “The Power of Money: Politics, Occult Forces and Pentecostalism in Ghana”. African Studies Review 41(3): 15–37. https://doi.org/10.2307/525352
Meyer, B. 2004. “‘Praise the Lord’: Popular Cinema and Pentecostalite Style in Ghana’s New Public Sphere”, American Ethnologist 31(1): 92–110. https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.2004.31.1.92
Meyer, B. 2010. “Pentecostalism and Globalization”. In A. Anderson, M. Bergunder, A. Droogers and C. van der Laan (eds), Study Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods, 113–30. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520266612.003.0007
Meyer, B. 2011. “Going and Making Public: Pentecostalism as Public Religion in Ghana”. In H. Englund (ed.), Christianity and Public Culture in Africa, 149–66. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
Meyer, B. and Moors, A. 2006. “Introduction”. In B. Meyer and A. Moors (eds), Religion, Media and the Public Sphere, 1–26. Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press.
Migraine-George, T. and Ashley Currier, A. 2016. “Queering Queer African Archives: Methods and Movements”. Women Studies Quarterly 44(3–4): 190–207. https://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.2016.0042
Moberg, M. and Granholm, K. 2015. “The Concept of the Post-Secular and the Contemporary Nexus of Religion, Media, Popular Culture, and Consumer Culture”. In P. Nynas, M. Lassander and T. Utriainen (eds), Post-Secular Society, 95–127. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315127095-5
Omenyo, C. 2002. Pentecost Outside Pentecostalism: A Study of the Development of Charismatic Renewal in the Mainline Churches in Ghana. Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum Publishing House.
Orsi, R. 1997. “Everyday Miracles: The Study of Lived Religion.” In D. Hall (ed.), Lived Religion in America: Toward a History of Practice, 3–21. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Robbins, J. 2010. “Anthropology of Religion”. In A. Anderson, M. Bergunder, A. Droogers and C. van der Laan (eds), Study Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods, 156–78. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Tweneboah, S. 2017. “Religion and Law in Contemporary Ghana: Traditions in Tension”. PhD dissertation, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.
Tweneboah, S. 2018. “Religion, International Human Rights Standards, and the Politicisation of Homosexuality in Ghana”. The African Journal of Gender and Religion 24(2): 25–48.
Van Klinken, A. 2015. “Christianity in Africa: Developments and Trends”. In S. Hunt (ed.), Handbook of Global Contemporary Christianity: Themes and Developments in Culture, Politics, and Society, 129–51. Leiden: Brill.
Wariboko, N. 2012. “Pentecostal Paradigms of National Economic Prosperity in Africa”. In K. Attanasi and A. Yong (eds), Pentecostalism and Prosperity: The Socioeconomic of the Global Charismatic Movement, 35–59. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137011169_3
Published
2019-11-20
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Benyah, F. (2019). Pentecostalism, Media, Lived Religion and Participatory Democracy in Ghana. PentecoStudies, 18(2), 155-177. https://doi.org/10.1558/pent.38945
