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This book centers around mid-level charismatic pastors in Ghana. Karen Lauterbach analyzes pastorship as a pathway to becoming small "big men" and achieving status, wealth, and power in the country. The volume investigates both the social processes of becoming a pastor and the spiritual dimensions of how power and wealth are conceptualized, achieved, and legitimized in the particular context of Asante in Ghana. Lauterbach integrates her analysis of charismatic Christianity with a historically informed examination of social mobility-how people in subordinate positions seek to join up with power. She explores how the ideas and experiences surrounding the achievement of wealth and performance of power are shaped and re-shaped. In this way, the book historicizes current expressions of charismatic Christianity in Ghana while also bringing the role of religion and belief to bear on our understanding of wealth and power as they function more broadly in African societies.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. A History of Wealth, Power, and Religion in Asante.- 3. Wealth and Worth - The Idea of a Truthful Pastor.- 4. The Craft of Pastorship.- 5. Performing Spiritual Power and Knowledge.- 6. The Politics of Becoming a Small 'Big Man'.- 7. Conclusion.
About the author
Karen Lauterbach is Associate Professor at the Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Summary
This book centers around mid-level charismatic pastors in Ghana. Karen Lauterbach analyzes pastorship as a pathway to becoming small “big men” and achieving status, wealth, and power in the country. The volume investigates both the social processes of becoming a pastor and the spiritual dimensions of how power and wealth are conceptualized, achieved, and legitimized in the particular context of Asante in Ghana. Lauterbach integrates her analysis of charismatic Christianity with a historically informed examination of social mobility—how people in subordinate positions seek to join up with power. She explores how the ideas and experiences surrounding the achievement of wealth and performance of power are shaped and re-shaped. In this way, the book historicizes current expressions of charismatic Christianity in Ghana while also bringing the role of religion and belief to bear on our understanding of wealth and power as they function more broadly in African societies.
Additional text
“By contributing this significant case study to a wider literature on Christian practice across Africa – and, indeed, the anthropology of Christianity – Lauterbach also illuminates an important dynamic in the spread of charismatic Christianity beyond Africa. … Lauterbach’s book will appeal not only to scholars and students of Africa and African Christianity but also to those interested in global or extra-European Christianity. … this book is required reading for scholars interested in the day-to-day lives, ambitions and experiences of African Christians.” (Insa Nolte, Africa, Vol. 88 (4), 2018)
“Lauterbach’s Christianity, Wealth, and Spiritual Power in Ghana, provides us with a refreshing look at what has been described as Ghana’s ‘new Christianity.’ … it certainly does not shy away from foregrounding why Kumasi and Asante notions of wealth, power and status are essential to our understanding of charismatic Christianity in Ghana. … Karen Lauterbach’s book carefully considers how both historical and cultural continuity as well as Christian discontinuity matter.” (Girish Daswani, anthrocybib, blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk, July, 2017)
Report
"By contributing this significant case study to a wider literature on Christian practice across Africa - and, indeed, the anthropology of Christianity - Lauterbach also illuminates an important dynamic in the spread of charismatic Christianity beyond Africa. ... Lauterbach's book will appeal not only to scholars and students of Africa and African Christianity but also to those interested in global or extra-European Christianity. ... this book is required reading for scholars interested in the day-to-day lives, ambitions and experiences of African Christians." (Insa Nolte, Africa, Vol. 88 (4), 2018)
"Lauterbach's Christianity, Wealth, and Spiritual Power in Ghana, provides us with a refreshing look at what has been described as Ghana's 'new Christianity.' ... it certainly does not shy away from foregrounding why Kumasi and Asante notions of wealth, power and status are essential to our understanding of charismatic Christianity in Ghana. ... Karen Lauterbach's book carefully considers how both historical and cultural continuity as well as Christian discontinuity matter." (Girish Daswani, anthrocybib, blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk, July, 2017)
