▪ Abstract Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity (P/c), the form of Christianity in which believers receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, is rapidly spreading and can be counted as one of the great success stories of the current era of cultural globalization. Literature on P/c presents a paradoxical picture of the cultural dynamics accompanying its spread. Many scholars argue that P/c is markedly successful in replicating itself in canonical form everywhere it spreads, whereas others stress its ability to adapt itself to the cultures into which it is introduced. Authors thus use P/c to support both theories that construe globalization as a process of Westernizing homogenization and those that understand it as a process of indigenizing differentiation. This review argues that approaches to P/c globalization need to recognize that P/c posesses cultural features that allow it, in most cases, to work in both ways at once. After considering definitional and historical issues and explanations for P/c's spread, t...

The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity

How do religious collectivities which are predicated on the Word generate images of themselves in the highly competitive religious marketplaces of many African urban spaces today?' Focusing on the burgeoning Christian charismatic and pentecostal movements of Ghana and Nigeria,2 I explore how and why these movements are increasingly favoring electronic media as suitable sites for the transmission of their teachings and erecting of their empires. I will show how this process, no more than two decades old, both concurs with and challenges their religious ideology. I argue further that these developments result in the transformation of the religious landscape in at least two ways: one, they are facilitating transnational and homogenizing cultural flows, and two, they are taking the connections between these movements and the networks they create to new, global levels.3 Given my concern to identify African agency in these transnational developments, local forces feature more prominently in the discussion of this paper. Evangelization has always been a primary goal of these movements, not least in the endtime phase of history many of their leaders claim we have now entered. The appropriation and use of moder media technologies facilitates the dissemination of the Word to the masses. The use of the media is clearly a tool of expansion, a reflection of globalizing aspirations, but it is also part of a calculated attempt to transform and Christianize popular culture so that it is safe for consumption by 'bor-again' Christians. The 'modern' media are deemed an acceptable weapon for God's army in the battle against Satan. While there is clear boundary maintenance on the part of these religious organizations with regard to their own sanctified identity and territory and those who fall beyond the pale of God's grace, it has not resulted in

Charismatic/Pentecostal Appropriation of Media Technologies in Nigeria and Ghana

Religion and women's health in Ghana: insights into HIV/AIDs preventive and protective behavior.

Recent years have been marked by a proliferation of studies on neoliberalism. A considerable variety of topics has been investigated: health, education, labour, prisons, corporations, finance, history, cultural production and so on. But in spite of its diversity, most of this research bears in one way or another on the issue of the state in a neoliberal age. Some authors suggest that neoliberalism is characterised by the reduction of the state (Clarke and Newman 1997; Prassad 2006; Haque 2008), whereas others argue that neoliberalism is characterised by its redeployment (Hildyard 1997; Ong 1999; Peck 2003; Ong 2006; Bayart 2007; Laval 2007; Lee and McBride 2007; Cerny 2008; Dardot and Laval 2009; Wacquant 2009a; Plant 2009). The latter trend is clearly dominant today, although epistemological and theoretical approaches to transformations of the state vary. Overall, conceptions of the state in the neoliberal age are deeply shaped by the specificities of the states that they study. In an area dominated by an increasing number of Western-centred theories, Africa provides an excellent occasion to decentre the analysis. Like many global theories that have neglected Africa or considered it a ‘black hole’ (Castells 2010), and that are often articulated around a vision of ‘worldwide convergence’ (Ferguson 2006: 25–9), studies of neoliberalism seem sometimes to consider the Western neoliberal trajectory as the neoliberal trajectory per se. It is not surprising to observe that numerous global analyses of neoliberalism simply do not mention Africa at all (Campbell and Pedersen 2001; Soederberg et al. 2005 quoted in Harrison 2010). In this paper I will argue that the development of an analytical perspective that considers the production of neoliberalism ‘at a global scale’ – as suggests Wacquant in this volume – must take into account the trajectories of a variety of states. In order to identify both similarities and differences in neoliberal implementation, I will discuss three theses developed by Wacquant in this debate section of Social Anthropology, which aim to sustain a historical anthropology of neoliberalism: (i) neoliberalism is a political project that entails the reengineering of the state; (ii) neoliberalism entails a rightward tilting of the bureaucratic field and gives rise to a Centaur-state; (iii) the growth and glorification of the penal wing of the state is an integral component of the neoliberal state. To facilitate the discussion, I propose, as others have done, a distinction between theoretical and practical neoliberalism (Harvey 2007; Ferguson 2010; Harrison 2010). Of course, theory and practice often mix; nevertheless this distinction is important to clarify the debate. Indeed, could we imagine discussing socialism without reading Marx? Conversely, could we understand the socialist period in Cuba, China, Russia or

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The Historicity of the Neoliberal State

One of the remarkable recent trends in Nigeria has been the rise to religious and social prominence of the ‘charismatic’ or ‘Pentecostal’ Christian movement. In little more than a decade, thousands of new churches and evangelical groups have cropped up in the cities and towns of the south. Those established earlier, either by US and British missionaries or Nigerians, are experiencing an unprecedented revival. While research continues on the dizzying multitude of ‘indigenous’ new religious movements, still focused for the large part on the ‘Aladura’ churches of western Nigeria, very little has appeared in the literature on this new wave of Christian churches. Because of the strong links between these churches and their US or British brethren, as well as the marked increase of this type of Christianity throughout the continent, many scholars and religious leaders are tempted to view the rise of these churches solely from the point of view of their foreign origins and connections. Although the concern often ...

Power in the name of Jesus

Political Spiritualities: The Pentecostal Revolution in Nigeria

One of the most profound changes that have taken place in Nigerian Christianity, especially in Western Nigeria, since the Aladura Movements in the first part of the century, is the emergence of the Charismatic Movements in the 1970s. The Charismatic Movements took their origin from the entry of American and British pentecostalism into Nigeria's institutions of higher education. Although the pentecostal movement had been introduced into Nigeria in the 1920s and 1930s through The Apostolic Church, Faith Tabernacle and Assemblies of God, yet it did not have such a great impact until the seventies. This was due partly to the fact that higher education began in Nigeria in 1932, and it was only in the sixties that the number of students in the higher institutions rose beyond a thousand. Rapid developments in independent Nigeria also led to the establishment of four new universities in 1960 and 1962, in addition to the University of Ibadan which was established in 1948 as a college of the University of London.2 Secondly, many American pentecostal evangelists intensified their activities in Nigeria from the sixties, this time using literature, radio and television to reach an audience fluent in the English language. Therefore it was the entry of the pentecostal movement into the higher educational institutions in the early seventies, which drastically affected the existing evangelical Christianity, and resulted in the emergence of the Charismatic Movements. A rising tide of evangelistic activities characterized the Charismatic Movements in the 1970s. Doctrinal emphasis was inititially placed on baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues and out of this eventually grew the whole Charismatic Movement which became thoroughly trans-denominational in

Deeper Christian Life Ministry: a Case Study of the Charismatic Movements in Western Nigeria

The article considers the changing relationship between independent Pentecostal and charismatic groups and radical Islamic movements in Northern Nigeria between the 1970s and the early years of the twenty-first century. All these groups, be they Christian or Muslim, represent a new dimension in religious fundamentalism in contemporary Nigeria. In spite of being internal revivalist groups within their respective religious traditions, they reflect negative attitudes toward each other. Their relationship has been marked by continuous competition for public space. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the demonization of Islamic groups was a feature of Pentecostal discourse. Through their involvement in political activities under the umbrella of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), evangelicals and Pentecostals developed a common front in the face of Muslim fundamentalism.

Pentecostal Movements, Islam and the Contest for Public Space in Northern Nigeria

Sexuality, Marriage and Piety among Charismatics in Nigeria

Nigerian Gospel music emerged in the 1970s as a distinctive genre when choral groups moved their performance from the liturgical setting in the churches into the public domain. This transition adapted Gospel music for entertainment and commercial purposes. The texts of the sons are based on biblical and traditional Christian concepts. but their performance combines both western and traditional musical instruments.

Matthews A. Ojo

Papers

Political Spiritualities: The Pentecostal Revolution in Nigeria

Deeper Christian Life Ministry: a Case Study of the Charismatic Movements in Western Nigeria

Pentecostal Movements, Islam and the Contest for Public Space in Northern Nigeria

Sexuality, Marriage and Piety among Charismatics in Nigeria

Indigenous Gospel music and social reconstruction in modern Nigeria