‘Generational Curses’ and the ‘Four Horns’
Illustrating the Shape of the Primal Worldview in Contemporary African Pentecostal–Charismatic Spirituality*
In: Journal of Pentecostal TheologySearch for other papers by Simon Kouessan Degbe in
Current site
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African Pentecostals and Charismatics have come far with their faith in Christ and the Gospel. But it is an acknowledged fact that their primal orientations continue to influence their theologies and emphases. And this reality continues to generate a conflict between their past and present. In Ghana, Nicholas Duncan-Williams and Mensa Anamua Otabil have become examples of how African Pentecostals and Charismatics continue to respond to their primal religious heritage. Thus this paper seeks to show how Ghanaian Pentecostals and Charismatics continue to demonise their primal religious traditions, and at the same time use it to serve their purposes. This also confirms the timeless continuity and discontinuity with their primal past. Hence the sermons of Duncan-Williams on ‘Generational Curses’ and that of Otabil on ‘the Four Horns’ have been used to illustrate the point.
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4
E. Kingsley Larbi, Pentecostalism: The Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity (Accra, Ghana: Blessed Publication, 2005), p. 57; see also Larbi ‘African Pentecostalism in the Context of Global Pentecostal Ecumenical Fraternity: Challenges and Opportunities’, Pneuma 24.2 (2002), p. 138.
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9
Larbi, Pentecostalism, pp. 80–88; Cephas N. Omenyo, Pentecost Outside Pentecostalism: A Study of the Development of Charismatic Renewal in the Mainline Churches in Ghana (Netherlands, Zoetermeer: Bocken Centrum Publishing House, 2006), pp. 198–276; Abamfo Atiemo, The Rise of the Charismatic Movement in the Mainline Churches in Ghana (Accra, Ghana: Asempa Publishers, 1993).
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12
See Birgit Meyer, ‘Make a Complete Break with the Past: Memory and Post-colonial Modernity in Ghanaian Pentecostalist Discourse’, Journal of Religion in Africa 28.13, pp. 316–40.
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15
See Larbi, Pentecostalism, pp. 316–23, and 358–59, for how the Protestants and other denominations viewed the Pentecostal-Charismatics, and how Otabil attacked the Protestants and his later retractions.
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17
Andrew F. Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith (New York: Orbis Books, 2002).
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21
Gillian M. Bediako, Primal Religion and the Bible: William Robertson Smith and His Heritage (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), pp. 46–48.
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27
Paul Gifford, African Christianity: Its Public Role (London: Hurst and Company, 1998), p. 76.
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33
Larbi, Pentecostalism, pp. 298–300, 335–37; James K. Saah (ed), The Action Voice, May (2007), pp. 1–15.
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36
John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (Oxford: Richard Clay, 1989), pp. 22–23.
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42
Weiser, The Psalms, pp. 116–17; Kidner, Psalms 1-72, pp. 71–73.
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44
E.G. Parrinder, African Traditional Religions (London: Sheldon Press, 1979), pp. 31–35; see J.S. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion (Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1975), pp. 53–59, on the knowledge of God in Africa. See also Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion (Accra, Ghana: University of Ghana, 1978), pp. 14–17.
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46
John Calvin, Zechariah and Malachi (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1986), p. 53. In this commentary allusion is made to the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Grecians, and the Romans. Four of these emerged as the principal enemies of Israel according to Dan. 11.32.
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47
E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Nuer Religion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956), pp. 14–15, the enemy is the negative spirit that inspires human actions, words, and gestures intended for evil. See John S. Mbiti, Religion and Philosophy (Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1969), pp. 207–210.
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50
E. Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief (London: Longmans, 1962), p. 116.
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55
Akrong, ‘Traditional Religion and Christianity: Friends or Foes’, p. 55.
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56
Akrong, ‘Traditional Religion and Christianity: Friends or Foes’, p. 55; Abamfo Atiemo, ‘Deliverance in the Charismatic Churches in Ghana’, Trinity Journal of Church and Theology 4.2 (Dec/Jan., 1994–95), pp. 39–48.
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58
Walls, The Missionary Movement, pp. 131–32; John Pobee, Religion and Politics in Ghana (Accra, Ghana: Asempa Publishers, 1991), pp. 12, 63.
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‘Generational Curses’ and the ‘Four Horns’
Illustrating the Shape of the Primal Worldview in Contemporary African Pentecostal–Charismatic Spirituality*
In: Journal of Pentecostal TheologySearch for other papers by Simon Kouessan Degbe in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
African Pentecostals and Charismatics have come far with their faith in Christ and the Gospel. But it is an acknowledged fact that their primal orientations continue to influence their theologies and emphases. And this reality continues to generate a conflict between their past and present. In Ghana, Nicholas Duncan-Williams and Mensa Anamua Otabil have become examples of how African Pentecostals and Charismatics continue to respond to their primal religious heritage. Thus this paper seeks to show how Ghanaian Pentecostals and Charismatics continue to demonise their primal religious traditions, and at the same time use it to serve their purposes. This also confirms the timeless continuity and discontinuity with their primal past. Hence the sermons of Duncan-Williams on ‘Generational Curses’ and that of Otabil on ‘the Four Horns’ have been used to illustrate the point.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1377 | 273 | 21 |
| Full Text Views | 41 | 9 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 56 | 17 | 4 |