Charismatic Renewal In Africa

Through an ethnographic study of a Charismatic movement in Cameroon and Paris, the book explores the dialectics between ‘Pentecostalization’ and ‘Africanization’ within contemporary African Catholicism. It appears that both processes pursue, although for different purposes, the missionary policy of dismantling local cultures.

The growth of Spirit-empowered Christianity has been nothing short of phenomenal. From a handful of believers in the early twentieth century to over six hundred million people in almost every culture and denomination today, those who embrace the Holy Spirit and His gifts are now the fastest-growing religious group in the world. But if any generation ceases to emphasize the Holy Spirit’s power, the movement likely will lose its distinction. This third of four volumes is an authoritative collection from more than two dozen leaders and scholars of the Spirit-empowered movement in Africa. Focusing on the history and future of the movement, these world-renowned scholars address the theological and cultural challenges facing Pentecostals in Africa, and offer insights on how to meet them.

This book provides significant insights into current historical and theological developments affecting independent indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana. The information used originates from a specific African context, but serves as a window for understanding modern African Christianity.

"A disciplinary map for understanding African Catholicism today by engaging some of the most pressing and pertinent issues, topics, and conversations in diverse fields of studies in African Catholicism"--

The Holy Spirit is a sine qua non in the life of the church and in all Christian life and experience. The importance of the experiential and praxis-oriented theology of the Charismatic Renewal and Pentecostalism cannot be overemphasized in the realization of the potentials of a Spirit-animated church. In fact, Charismatic Renewal in the Nigerian Catholic Church is an essential part of the changing face of the Catholic Church in Nigeria. This work is, therefore, using Charismatic and Pentecostal theology and praxes to argue for the renewal of the Nigerian Catholic Church. It avers that the praxis-oriented and experiential theology of the Charismatics and Pentecostals, which characterize them as Spirit-filled groups and churches, are enabling the Nigerian Catholic Church to realize the potentials of a Spirit-driven church. It upholds that the Nigeria Catholic Church through the Nigerian Catholic Charismatic Renewal, which is an indispensable part of the changing face of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, has wittingly or unwittingly begun the renewal of her pneumatological, ecclesiological, and liturgical doctrines and practices in accord with those of a truly Spirit-animated church.