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CONTEMPORARY “WITCHDEMONOLOGY” IN AFRICA
Author(s) -
Onyinah Opoku
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
international review of mission
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.118
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1758-6631
pISSN - 0020-8582
DOI - 10.1111/j.1758-6631.2004.tb00463.x
Subject(s) - exorcism , christianity , christian ministry , context (archaeology) , gospel , power (physics) , sociology , meaning (existential) , political science , gender studies , law , theology , history , anthropology , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology , physics , quantum mechanics
The paper is a study of the current deliverance ministry in Africa, with reference to Ghana. The general opinion gathered from current anthropological studies on witchcraft is that the ultimate outcome of exorcism is for it to become modernized. However, the paper departs from this and contends that it is divinatory‐consultation, or an inquiry into the sacred and the search for meaning that underlies the contemporary “deliverance” ministry, where the focus is to identify and break down the so‐called demonic forced by the power of God in order to “deliver” people from their torment. This paper represents a further attempt to contextualise the gospel to African people. However, its preoccupation with demonisation and its exorcistic practices are found to bring Christianity into tension with family ties and other religions. Therefore, the paper suggests that there is the need to develop a properly safeguarded ministry of exorcism in an African context.