The Pentecostal Ethic and the Spirit of Development

Freeman, Dena

doi:10.1057/9781137017253_1

Cited by 57 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Regarding the happy few living in affluence, the question is whether their wealth truly signifies divine blessing (Meyer 2007). The beliefs, morals and values on which church ethics is supposed to be built are ignored (Freeman 2012). Pentecostalism is considered one of the faith communities of the poor; and the poor pay their tithe freely with the belief that their condition will change.…”

Section: Tithes and The Members-negative Relationshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tithing in Deuteronomy 14:22-29 and Its Implications to Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria

Uroko

2021

SCRIP

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Although Deuteronomy 14:22-29 is understood traditionally in Pentecostal churches in Nigeria to be a call for members of the church to bring their tithes for the pastor's sustenance, this article argues that the theology of Deuteronomy 14:22-29 also includes care and support for widows, orphans, and strangers. It demonstrates that tithing in Deuteronomy 14:22-29 was to be used to improve the life of the poor and needy in ancient Israel. Literature has focused on the reality of paying tithes in Pentecostal churches in Nigeria, but research is scanty on why the number of poor people in Pentecostal churches continue to increase despite that they pay their tithes. It is assumed that understanding tithing in Deuteronomy 14:22-29 will speak anew to the challenge of the neglect of the poor and needy in Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. The pericope reveals that God has a special concern for the poor and that all are called to provide for the poor and the needy.

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Section: Tithes and The Members-negative Relationshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tithing in Deuteronomy 14:22-29 and Its Implications to Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria

Uroko

2021

SCRIP

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“…While among large populations across the world therapeutic practices draw on multiple sources that are often located in the therapeutic triangle of biomedicine, religious healing and traditional medicine, notions of diseases caused by evil spirits do not square easily with official health-related development goals. More generally, our point is that Christian notions of health can surely be viewed as 'alternative visions of development', as Freeman (2012) has argued. However, to assume that the pursuit of such visions furthers development as defined in the SDGs is to obscure the epistemological differences between the two approaches.…”

Section: Healthcarementioning

confidence: 99%

Religion and Development: Alternative Visions, Credibility, and Networks as Religious Assets for Sustainable Development?

Koehrsen,

Burchardt

2023

Progress in Development Studies

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Religious organizations have become crucial actors in international development. However, scholarly discussions have largely ignored the dynamics that shape their impact on the ground. This article examines these dynamics by assessing three claims about the specific developmental assets of religious organizations: (a) their credibility in the eyes of their beneficiaries; (b) their control over far-flung social networks; and (c) the idea that religious organizations pursue alternative visions of development. Drawing on existing research, we study these claims in two development sectors: healthcare and environmental sustainability. The results complicate linear narratives of the positive impact of religions on development. Dynamics internal to the religious field sometimes lead to practices that run counter to the Sustainable Development Goals, while institutional pressures in the field of international development push religious organizations to become more similar to their secular counterparts. We suggest the need for alternative frameworks that go beyond prevailing secularization and de-secularization narratives to pay attention to the institutional field dynamics that shape religious development initiatives.

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“…The church as a vector of modern colonialism has been effectively used to perpetuate meta-colonial narratives of civilisation, salvation and progress, which have altered the meaning of marriage and love among its followers in Ghana/Africa. For example, results of ample studies in West Africa have shown that Pentecostal Charismatic Churches encourage modern/colonial individualist selfways such as investment in one's nuclear family at the expense of the extended family (Freeman, 2012;Van Dijk, 2013). Similarly, psychological studies in Ghana have revealed that people who attend Pentecostal Charismatic Churches tend to have a Western and individualistic view of love as a feeling or means to personal fulfilment rather than the African understanding of love as an act (a doing) shown by material care for the other (Osei-Tutu et al, 2021).…”

Section: The Inferiorisation Of Ghanaian Traditional Marriage As Colo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Decolonising Mind and Being Associated with Marriage: Perspectives from Ghana

Adjei

Mpiani

2023

Psychology and Developing Societies

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Colonialism was not only a political imposition but also a cultural one that both affected and infected institutions and ways of knowing and being of colonised societies. The vestiges of colonial power that originated during the colonial period of European global domination persistently influence minds and behaviour associated with the institution of marriage through the axes of meta-colonialism, and represent forms of epistemic violence against indigenous people. The depiction of modern/colonial mentalities about marriage (e.g., the so-called White wedding) as an optimal expression of human nature and love—and thus a key to personal happiness—have become part of the Ghanaian/African cultural experience. For example, Eurocentric practice of White wedding has been systematically naturalised and pushed down on Ghanaian/African people as the most enlightened, valid and standard form of marriage, supplanting the indigenous and ancestral forms of knowledge and being associated with marriage. Drawing insights from cultural psychology, we discuss the coloniality of mind and being associated with marriage, particularly the popular practice of White wedding, and examine how marriage practices in Ghana have become associated with Western social, cultural and economic interests propagated by colonial discourses of modernity, social change and development. We argue that the valorisation of European White wedding and the inferiorisation of African traditional marriage practices are corollary of colonial and meta-colonial narratives that promote(d) White normativity. We posit that psychological knowledge and practice, informed by Western ontologies and epistemologies, provided ideological support for colonisation and the perpetration and perpetuation of scientific racism. We thus contend that, given its complicity, the present discipline of scientific psychology cannot be an effective tool to dismantle the ill-effects of past and present unequal power relationships that result(ed) from colonisation. A decolonial psychological science that enables critical consciousness and serves as a necessary catalyst for liberating minds and being is thus required.

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The Pentecostal Ethic and the Spirit of Development

Cited by 57 publications

References 74 publications

Tithing in Deuteronomy 14:22-29 and Its Implications to Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria

Tithing in Deuteronomy 14:22-29 and Its Implications to Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria

Religion and Development: Alternative Visions, Credibility, and Networks as Religious Assets for Sustainable Development?

Decolonising Mind and Being Associated with Marriage: Perspectives from Ghana

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