Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa

435 Pages·2018·4.62 MB·English

by  Adeshina Afolayan

AFRICAN HISTORIES AND MODERNITIES
PENTECOSTALISM
AND POLITICS
IN AFRICA
Edited by
Adeshina Afolayan,
Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso,
and Toyin Falola
African Histories and Modernities
Series Editors
Toyin Falola
University of Texas
Austin, TX, USA
Matthew M. Heaton
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, USA
This book series serves as a scholarly forum on African contributions to and
negotiations of diverse modernities over time and space, with a particular
emphasis on historical developments. Specifically, it aims to refute the
hegemonic conception of a singular modernity, Western in origin, spreading
out to encompass the globe over the last several decades. Indeed, rather than
reinforcing conceptual boundaries or parameters, the series instead looks to
receive and respond to changing perspectives on an important but inherently
nebulous idea, deliberately creating a space in which multiple modernities
can interact, overlap, and conflict. While privileging works that emphasize
historical change over time, the series will also feature scholarship that blurs
the lines between the historical and the contemporary, recognizing the ways
in which our changing understandings of modernity in the present have the
capacity to affect the way we think about African and global histories.
Editorial Board:
Akintunde Akinyemi, Literature, University of Florida, Gainesville
Malami Buba, Languages, Sokoto State University
Emmanuel Mbah, History, CUNY, College of Staten Island
Insa Nolte, History, University of Birmingham
Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o, International Studies, Rhodes College
Samuel Oloruntoba, Political Science, TMALI, University of South Africa
Bridget Teboh, History, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14758
Adeshina Afolayan • Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso
Toyin Falola
Editors
Pentecostalism
and Politics in Africa
Editors
Adeshina Afolayan Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso
University of Ibadan Babcock University
Ibadan, Nigeria Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria
Toyin Falola
University of Texas
Austin, TX, USA
African Histories and Modernities
ISBN 978-3-319-74910-5 ISBN 978-3-319-74911-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018947374
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,
whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation,
reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any
other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation,
computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in
this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor
the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Cover illustration: Jake Lyell / Alamy Stock Photo
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International
Publishing AG part of Springer Nature.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
P a
reface and cknowledgments
Pentecostalism and politics in Africa are two unique phenomena worthy of
study in their own right as conceptual and empirical subjects. Both have con-
tributed to the postcolonial unfolding and understanding of the continent. But
such an understanding would be incomplete if they are understood, as in most
of the literature, as separate incidences and phenomena. This is because since
Pentecostalism made its way to Africa it has been inextricably and complicat-
edly tied in with the complexity of the political on the continent. African politi-
cal leaders, at various levels, from president to local government chairpersons,
have recruited pastors to their political ambitions; pastors have campaigned for
political positions; politicians and pastors have been at loggerheads; pastors
have either asked their congregations to vote or not to vote, based on peculiar
interpretations of the Bible; the church has exploited loopholes in state legal
provisions that served their purposes; pastors have prophesied about the politi-
cal climate of the state; and politicians have made policies that are beneficial or
not beneficial to the churches. There are many diverse manifestations of the
complex relationship between politics and Pentecostalism in Africa.
The contributors to this volume are distinguished by their attempts to map
the intricate conceptual and empirical contours of this relationship in a way
that will enable our understanding of a dimension of postcolonial life in Africa
that, in significant ways, contributes to how Africans define who they are and
how they perceive their present and future in a political context that is so cir-
cumscribed. This volume is equally significant because it opens up further dis-
course and research into the Pentecostal literature in Africa and the already
fulsome debates on politics and the political.
* * *
We would like to thank all the contributors for their enthusiasm and patience
throughout the time it took for this volume to achieve publication. Each
brought their expertise in various aspects of Pentecostalism and the political
v
vi PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
understanding of Africa to bear on their analyses of the complex relationship
between the Pentecostal and the political in Africa. Our appreciation also goes
to the editorial assistants at Palgrave Macmillan who painstakingly guided the
volume to its successful end.
Ibadan, Nigeria Adeshina Afolayan
Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso
Austin, TX Toyin Falola
2017
c
ontents
Part I I ntroduction 1
1 Introduction: The Pentecostal and the Political in Africa 3
Adeshina Afolayan, Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, and Toyin Falola
2 Explaining the Growth and Legitimation of the Pentecostal
Movement in Africa 25
Olufunke Adeboye
Part II Pentecostalism and Society in Africa 41
3 Pentecostalism, Islam, and Religious Fundamentalism in Africa 43
Marinus Chijioke Iwuchukwu
4 Buy the Future: Charismatic Pentecostalism and African
Liberation in a Neoliberal World 65
Marleen de Witte
5 When Pentecostalism Meets African Indigenous Religions:
Conflict, Compromise, or Incorporation? 87
Naar M’fundisi-Holloway
6 Pentecostal Panopticism and the Phantasm of “The Ultimate
Power” 101
Abimbola Adelakun
vii
viii CONTENTS
7 T he Pentecostal and Ecumenical Movements in the African
Context 119
Ernst M. Conradie
8 P entecostalism, the Prosperity Gospel, and Poverty in Africa 137
Samson O. Ijaola
9 S oft Tongue, Powerful Voice, Huge Influence: The Dynamics
of Gender, Soft Power, and Political Influence in Faith
Evangelistic Ministries in Kenya 159
Damaris Seleina Parsitau
10 T he Role of Women, Theology, and Ecumenical Organizations
in the Rise of Pentecostal Churches in Botswana 181
Fidelis Nkomazana
11 N either Jew nor Greek? Class, Ethnicity, and Race in the
Pentecostal Movement in Africa 203
Asonzeh Ukah
Part III Pentecostalism and/as Politics in Africa 221
12 Pentecostalism, Political Philosophy, and the Political
in Africa 223
Adeshina Afolayan
13 P olitical Ramifications of Some Shifts in Nigeria’s Pentecostal
Movement 245
Femi James Kolapo
14 Pentecostalism as an Alternative Social Order in Africa 277
Samuel Zalanga
15 Pentecostals, Conflict, and Peace in Africa 303
Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso and Rachael O. Iyanda
16 L eadership and Power in the Pentecostal Movement: Selected
Case Studies 321
Afolarin Olutunde Ojewole and Efe Monday Ehioghae
CONTENT S ix
17 African Pentecostalism and Modernity: Critical Reflections
on Tensions and Social Concerns 343
Samuel Zalanga
18 Pentecostalism, Power, and Politics in Nigeria 371
Kelvin Onongha
Part IV Conclusion 383
19 A frican Pentecostal Political Philosophy: New Directions in the
Study of Pentecostalism and Politics 385
Nimi Wariboko
Index 419