Pentecostal and Charismatic Reshaping of the African Religious Landscape in the 1990s

Abstract

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.

Religious Belonging, Religious Agency, and Women's Autonomy in Mozambique

“…Because women's autonomy is closely related to gender hierarchies and inequalities, our findings have implications for broader processes of women's empowerment in the context of religious change in Sub‐Saharan Africa. On the one hand, the relative decline of mainline churches and the corresponding rise of Pentecostal and similar denominations across the subcontinent (Kalu ; Meyer ) may undermine women's autonomy and thus hinder their social and economic advancement. On the other hand, however, the growing denominational diversity of the religious marketplace purports increased options for church switching and interchurch interactions, which, in our account, may be conducive to greater decision‐making autonomy.…”

“…In contrast, the latter type of religious agency crosses the boundaries of religious congregations to which women belong and involves religious switching, that is, a permanent change of religious membership, as well as interactions with other churches that do not entail a formal change of affiliation. Whereas both types of religious agency are usually seen as expressions of religious preferences and religiosity (e.g., Hadaway and Marler ; Kalu ; Loveland ; Sherkat and Wilson ), following the reviewed literature on religion and women's empowerment, we can also construe them as proxies for women's ability to use religion to pursue goals that transcend the religious domain and project on other aspects of women's experiences and relationships. In this sense, women's religious agency is not a sign of compliance with religion‐rooted patriarchal norms, but rather a channel and a tool to formulate choices and make decisions on their own, even when these decisions seemingly contradict specific religious teachings, such as, for example, religious proscriptions on birth control (see, e.g., Agadjanian ).…”

Women’s Schooling and Religious Mobility: Joining, Switching, and Quitting Church in a Christian Sub-Saharan Setting

“…In the last half-century, Mozambique, as much of the rest of the sub-Sahara and other parts the developing world (Anderson 2013; Garrard 2009; Kalu 2003), has experienced a massive growth of Pentecostal and Charismatic-type churches. Yet, as elsewhere in the sub-continent, such churches in Mozambique do not lend themselves to a straightforward classification (cf.…”

“…Whereas little is known about religious switching in sub-Saharan contexts beyond common observations of a massive growth of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches and a relative decline of historical, mission-based churches (e.g., Gifford 2004; Kalu 2003; Meyer 2004), the western, and especially the U.S.-focused scholarship on the topic is quite rich. Switching religious affiliation has been common in the U.S. (Loveland 2003; Roof 1989) but also has varied greatly across religious denominations and traditions (Sherkat 2001; Smith and Sikkink 2003).…”

Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in South Africa and Zimbabwe: A Review

“…Early African Christian prophets and evangelists took the gospel to the interior of the continent when Western missionaries still huddled at the coastal fringes. Like their forebears, contemporary African PC Christians are encountering the messages of American and other Western PC Christians, but they are not adopting them unthinkingly or without significant local adaptation (Duncan & Kalu 2007; Kalu 1998, 2000, 2003; Meyer 2004; Robbins 2004). PC Christianity thus becomes an empowering resource for building African cultures and shaping African worldviews.…”