Ritual healing and deliverance creativities and innovations in African Pentecostal (AP) churches have become a phenomenon, if not a hallmark, of African Pentecostalism in sub-Saharan Africa, yet there is little contextual knowledge known that informs such innovations. Using the fire healing ritual in the Pentecostal Church Universal (PCU) in Nairobi, Kenya as a case study, the paper attempts to offer explanatory frameworks for ritual deliverance innovations and creativities. This chapter shows that healing rituals have cultural and biblical premises. Church pastors often blend the African traditional cultural symbolism with the Bible narratives to innovate ritual materials—which make meaning to an African Christian. The usage of the Bible in grounding this ritual is part of the continued processes of Africanizing the Bible/Christianity, especially in the socio-economic and technological spaces which call for creative approaches in creating meaning to life and religion.

错误:搜索内容不能为空,请输入英文关键词
错误:关键词超出字数限制,请精简
高级检索

The God Who Answers by Fire (1 Kings 18:20–39): Ritual Healing Innovations in African Pentecostalism

  • Robert Kuloba Wabyanga

摘要

Ritual healing and deliverance creativities and innovations in African Pentecostal (AP) churches have become a phenomenon, if not a hallmark, of African Pentecostalism in sub-Saharan Africa, yet there is little contextual knowledge known that informs such innovations. Using the fire healing ritual in the Pentecostal Church Universal (PCU) in Nairobi, Kenya as a case study, the paper attempts to offer explanatory frameworks for ritual deliverance innovations and creativities. This chapter shows that healing rituals have cultural and biblical premises. Church pastors often blend the African traditional cultural symbolism with the Bible narratives to innovate ritual materials—which make meaning to an African Christian. The usage of the Bible in grounding this ritual is part of the continued processes of Africanizing the Bible/Christianity, especially in the socio-economic and technological spaces which call for creative approaches in creating meaning to life and religion.