"Biting the hand that feeds them? The case of Ghanaian Pentecostal discourse on 'breaking from the past'". Issue 1 (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tweneboah, Seth
• Is Part Of: Journal of contemporary African studies. Volume 39:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 104
• Page End: 118
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: Ghana -- Pentecostalism -- occult -- continuity -- disjuncture; Africa -- Periodicals; Africa -- Civilization -- Periodicals; Africa -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 960
• DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2020.1839028
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0258-9001

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Ghanaian Pentecostal pastor-prophets encourage their members to break away from the ancestral past which is projected as a vessel of demonic operations responsible for mishaps in society. Yet traditional priestly actors have challenged the notion that indigenous religious imaginations and ritual spaces are a crucial platform where power and recognition are contested by some pastor-prophets. As such, these traditional priests have particularly warned pastor-prophets to desist from oppugning traditional religion or face exposure of their underground dealings with the traditionalists. In this paper, I reflect on confrontations between traditional priestly actors and neo-Pentecostal pastor-prophets in Ghana, arguing that such confrontations are a function of a power struggle as to who the 'Big Men' are in contemporary Ghanaian society. To understanding these confrontations, I contend further that there is the need to interrogate the differing points of continuity and disjuncture between these two traditions.