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A prophet but not for profit: ethical value and character in Ghanaian Pentecostalism
Author(s) -
Daswani Girish
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9655.12336
Subject(s) - charisma , value (mathematics) , character (mathematics) , currency , sociology , redistribution (election) , profit (economics) , environmental ethics , positive economics , economics , political science , law , philosophy , neoclassical economics , mathematics , geometry , machine learning , politics , computer science , monetary economics
The anthropological study of value has gained much currency in recent years. This article speaks to the importance of Pentecostal practices in understanding the qualitative aspects of value in Ghana. It demonstrates how practices relating to wealth accumulation and redistribution are in interaction with ethical evaluations about the character of charismatic Christian prophets. The moral evaluation of wealth of certain prophets, and the links perceived between their use of wealth and their character, tell us something about the moral climate in contemporary Ghanaian society, where wealth cannot simply be measured quantitatively (through acquiring riches), but also ought to be assessed qualitatively (discerned through the quality of one's acts).