In this arcticle, Nigerian Ogbu Kalu utilizes two broad models that emphasize how religion reinvents daily life and culture, and how it does so by utilizing signals of transcendence in the sphere of human existence. Kalu argues that religion needs to be examined as a central category of cultural practice in which lived lives embody an evolving religious understanding of the ultimate meaning of life. Sociologists of religion may miss the driving force of religious power in religious movements by paying too much attention to functions of such movements in social structures. In all these, culture is the contested space. Kalu develops his argument by highlighting seven areas to illustrate the salience of the Penteocstal movement in reshaping cultures and religious landscapes: re-invention of self and life journey, daily life in the domestic domain, arts and aesthetics, communication, the individual and community at the social domain, religious life and public space.
In post-colonial Africa, Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity has slowly emerged as an infl uential shaper of culture and identity through its use of music, media, and dance. Th is article gives an overview of the transitions that have occurred in African politics, identity awareness, and culture, especially as it relates to the indigenous village public and it's interface with the external Western public, and how the emergent cultural public has become the most infl uential player in shaping the African moral universe. Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity has navigated the shift from a missionary-driven avoidance of indigenous music and dance to the incorporation of indigenous elements, leading in turn to the popularization of Pentecostal music and dance that blends indigenous forms and concepts, Christian symbolism, and popular cultural expressions. Th e resulting forms have not only shaped Christianity, but also the surrounding culture and its political environment.
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