This book is about African Pentecostalism and its relationship to religious beliefs about a pervading spirit world. It argues that Pentecostalism keeps both a continuous and a discontinuous relationship in tension. Based on field research in a South African township, including qualitative interviews and focus group discussions, the study explores the context of African Pentecostalism as a whole and how it interacts with the concepts of ancestors, divination, and various types of spirit. Themes discussed include the reasons for the popularity of healing, exorcism, the prosperity gospel, the experience of the Holy Spirit, Spirit manifestations and practices resembling both traditional and biblical precedents, as well as scholarly discussions on African Pentecostalism from theological and social scientific disciplines. The book suggests that the focus on a spirit-filled world affects all kinds of events and explains the rapid growth of Pentecostalism outside the western world.

Examines traditions, beliefs, and practices of African Pentecostalism Discusses the religious life in both an intra-Christian and interreligious way Brings the central debate of Pentecostal studies into dialogue with theology and religious studies

Autorentext
Allan Heaton Anderson is Professor of Mission and Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham, England. He is author of many articles and books, including An Introduction to Pentecostalism (2014), To the Ends of the Earth (2013), and Spreading Fires (2007).

Inhalt

1. The Spirit of Dis/continuity.- 2. Pentecostalism in the Sub-Sahara.-3. Pentecostalism in a South African Township.- 4. The Ambiguity of Ancestors.- 5. Witchcraft, Spirits, and Misfortune.- 6. Divination, Healing and Deliverance.- 7. Translating the Spirit World.- 8. The Power of the Spirit.