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Faith in African Lived Christianity
Bridging Anthropological and Theological Perspectives
Series: - Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, Volume: 35
Faith in African Lived Christianity â Bridging Anthropological and Theological Perspectives offers a comprehensive, empirically rich and interdisciplinary approach to the study of faith in African Christianity. The book brings together anthropology and theology in the study of how faith and religious experiences shape the understanding of social life in Africa. The volume is a collection of chapters by prominent Africanist theologians, anthropologists and social scientists, who take peopleâs faith as their starting point and analyze it in a contextually sensitive way. It covers discussions of positionality in the study of African Christianity, interdisciplinary methods and approaches and a number of case studies on political, social and ecological aspects of African Christian spirituality.
Karen Lauterbach, Ph.D. (2009), Roskilde University, is Associate Professor of African Studies at the University of Copenhagen, and a former postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Theology and Religious Studies at Lund University.
Mika Vähäkangas Th.D. (1998), University of Helsinki, is Professor of Mission Studies and Ecumenics at Lund University, and a former lecturer of systematic theology of Makumira University College, Tanzania (1998-2005), and president of the International Association for Mission Studies (2012-2016).
Mika Vähäkangas Th.D. (1998), University of Helsinki, is Professor of Mission Studies and Ecumenics at Lund University, and a former lecturer of systematic theology of Makumira University College, Tanzania (1998-2005), and president of the International Association for Mission Studies (2012-2016).
"This is an important book that indicates a paradigm shift in the study of religion in Africa. It is the first serious attempt to bring anthropological and theological perspectives together in a single analytical framework. The book provides new methodological approaches and offers refreshingly new insights on much-debated issues, notably on contemporary forms of charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity. This is all done with due attention for historical contexts. African Christian spirituality, the book shows, is marked by an historical openness towards the spirit world that is perpetuated in the present. This is the case in Africa as well as among African Christians outside the African continent. [..] Several of the chapters have been contributed by young and upcoming scholars, representing a generational shift in the study of Christianity in Africa. This is a welcome development that will help bring about the much needed decolonization of the academic mind in the study of religion in Africa generally. This book is an exemplary case. [..] Faith in Lived Christianity in Africa is an innovative collection of essays that takes the academic debate to a different level. It should be read by all those engaging in the academic debate on Christianity in Africa." â Gerrie ter Haar, Em. Professor, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University
"For a long time, anthropological and theological approaches to the study of Christianity in Africa have existed alongside each other but with little dialogue and exchange. This important book demonstrates how enriching and stimulating it can be when the boundaries between these disciplines are explored and transgressed. The various contributions offer inter- and transdisciplinary interpretations of diverse forms of Christian faith and practice as lived religion in contemporary Africa, and they reflect critically on the methodological questions at stake." â Adriaan van Klinken, Associate Professor of Religion and African Studies, University of Leeds
"For a long time, anthropological and theological approaches to the study of Christianity in Africa have existed alongside each other but with little dialogue and exchange. This important book demonstrates how enriching and stimulating it can be when the boundaries between these disciplines are explored and transgressed. The various contributions offer inter- and transdisciplinary interpretations of diverse forms of Christian faith and practice as lived religion in contemporary Africa, and they reflect critically on the methodological questions at stake." â Adriaan van Klinken, Associate Professor of Religion and African Studies, University of Leeds
âForewordvii
âNotes on Contributorsviii
â1âFaith in African Lived Christianity â Bridging Anthropological and Theological Perspectives: Introduction
âMika Vähäkangas and Karen Lauterbach
â2âWorld Christianity and the Reorganization of Disciplines: On the Emerging Dialogue Between Anthropology and Theology
âJoel Robbins
â3âFrom Objects to Subjects of Religious Studies in Africa: Methodological Agnosticism and Methodological Conversion
âFrans Wijsen
â4âLiberationist Conversion and Ethnography in the Decolonial Moment: A Finnish Theologian/Ethicist Reflects in South Africa
âElina Hankela
â5âRe-thinking the Study of Religion: Lessons from Field Studies of Religions in Africa and the African Diaspora
âGalia Sabar
â6âFakery and Wealth in African Charismatic Christianity: Moving Beyond the Prosperity Gospel as Script
âKaren Lauterbach
â7âHow to Respect the Religious Quasi-Other? Methodological Considerations in Studying the Kimbanguist Doctrine of Incarnation
âMika Vähäkangas
â8âPentecostal Praise and Worship as a Mode of Theology
âMartina Prosén
â9âThe Sounds of the Christians in Northern Nigeria: Notes on an Acoustic History of Bachama Christianity
âNiels Kastfelt
â10âWhat Has Kinshasa to Do with Athens? Methodological Perspectives on Theology and Social Science in Search for a Political Theology
âElias Kifon Bongmba
â11âAfrican Migrant Christianities â Delocalization or Relocalization of Identities?
âStian Sørlie Eriksen, Tomas Sundnes Drønen and Ingrid Løland
â12âGoing to War: Spiritual Encounters and Pentecostalsâ Drive for Exposure in Contemporary Zanzibar
âHans Olsson
â13âThe Dramatization and Embodiment of God of the Wilderness
âIsabel Mukonyora
â14âBreathing Pneumatology: Spirit, Wind, and Atmosphere in a Zulu Zionist Congregation
âRune Flikke
â15âGendered Narratives of Illness and Healing: Experiences of Spirit Possession in a Charismatic Church Community in Tanzania
âLotta Gammelin
â16âRevealed Medicine â As an Expression of an African Christian Lived-Out Spirituality
âCarl Sundberg
âIndex
âNotes on Contributors
â1âFaith in African Lived Christianity â Bridging Anthropological and Theological Perspectives: Introduction
âMika Vähäkangas and Karen Lauterbach
Part 1: Normativity and Positionality in Anthropology and Theology
â2âWorld Christianity and the Reorganization of Disciplines: On the Emerging Dialogue Between Anthropology and Theology
âJoel Robbins
â3âFrom Objects to Subjects of Religious Studies in Africa: Methodological Agnosticism and Methodological Conversion
âFrans Wijsen
â4âLiberationist Conversion and Ethnography in the Decolonial Moment: A Finnish Theologian/Ethicist Reflects in South Africa
âElina Hankela
â5âRe-thinking the Study of Religion: Lessons from Field Studies of Religions in Africa and the African Diaspora
âGalia Sabar
Part 2: Methods and Approaches: From Anthropology to Theology and Back
â6âFakery and Wealth in African Charismatic Christianity: Moving Beyond the Prosperity Gospel as Script
âKaren Lauterbach
â7âHow to Respect the Religious Quasi-Other? Methodological Considerations in Studying the Kimbanguist Doctrine of Incarnation
âMika Vähäkangas
â8âPentecostal Praise and Worship as a Mode of Theology
âMartina Prosén
â9âThe Sounds of the Christians in Northern Nigeria: Notes on an Acoustic History of Bachama Christianity
âNiels Kastfelt
â10âWhat Has Kinshasa to Do with Athens? Methodological Perspectives on Theology and Social Science in Search for a Political Theology
âElias Kifon Bongmba
Part 3: Theology in Lived Religion: Case Studies
â11âAfrican Migrant Christianities â Delocalization or Relocalization of Identities?
âStian Sørlie Eriksen, Tomas Sundnes Drønen and Ingrid Løland
â12âGoing to War: Spiritual Encounters and Pentecostalsâ Drive for Exposure in Contemporary Zanzibar
âHans Olsson
â13âThe Dramatization and Embodiment of God of the Wilderness
âIsabel Mukonyora
â14âBreathing Pneumatology: Spirit, Wind, and Atmosphere in a Zulu Zionist Congregation
âRune Flikke
â15âGendered Narratives of Illness and Healing: Experiences of Spirit Possession in a Charismatic Church Community in Tanzania
âLotta Gammelin
â16âRevealed Medicine â As an Expression of an African Christian Lived-Out Spirituality
âCarl Sundberg
âIndex
The readership of this book consists of graduate and postgraduate students in African studies, social/cultural anthropology, ethnography, World Christianity, mission studies, theology and religion as well as researchers and teachers in these fields.