Affordances of Rupture and their Enactment: A Framework for Understanding Christian Change

Freeman, Dena

doi:10.30676/jfas.v42i4.66394

Cited by 13 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 17 publications

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“…In contrast to the dualistic worldview and ascetic ideas of mainstream Protestantism, Pentecostalism incorporates a holistic ontology that fits well with the lived experience of many Africans and accords with most traditional African ontologies (Meyer 2007: 13). While the historic missionary churches brought European styles of Christianity and rejected traditional African religion, and African Independent Churches combined Christian and African religious elements in syncretic mixtures, Pentecostal and charismatic churches offer a form of Christianity which acknowledges the validity of traditional African beliefs -in witches, spirits, ancestors -while at the same time, providing a way to break free from them (Freeman 2017;Meyer 2004;Robbins 2004). It also offers a focus on personal transformation and the instillation of behaviours well-suited to surviving in the neoliberal economy (Freeman 2012(Freeman , 2015.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mission, development, and ‘reverse mission’ in Europe-Africa religious relations

Freeman¹

2020

Africa–Europe Relationships

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This chapter will review some of the religious connections between Europe and Africa, focusing on the Christian religion. It will first discuss the spread of Christianity from Europe to Africa in the colonial context; then explore the reconfiguration of Europe-Africa Christian relations in the post-colonial era and the concomitant rise in US-Africa Christian relations; and finally consider the contemporary phenomenon of 'reverse mission,' in which African missionaries seek to re-Christianize a secularized Europe. As this chapter will show, Christian interactions between Europe and Africa have played an important part in non-state external relations between these two continents for centuries and continue to do so in the present day. The European mission to AfricaReligious entanglements have been part of Europe-Africa relations from the very early days. When Portuguese traders and explorers first began to venture into West Africa in the 15th century they came with a desire to trade, particularly for slaves, and also to convert the local people to Christianity. The first Catholic diocese in Africa was established in Sao Tomé in 1534 and its often non-resident bishops came to play an important role as 'ecclesiastical entrepreneurs' between Portugal and Africa (Hastings 1994: 73). The Portuguese focused on trying to convert local rulers, particularly the kings of the various West African kingdoms. In 1491 the head of the Kongo kingdom was baptized, and in the next few years several other African kings followed suit, such that Catholic kingdoms existed in some form in Kongo, Angola, Warri, and Mwene Mutapa for several centuries (Isichei 1995: 2). By the 17th century Sao Sebastien, the Kongo capital, looked much like a Christian city with a mixed-race Christian population, a large number of Christian aristocrats, a Jesuit college, and a functioning cathedral (Hastings 1994: 94).As the 17th century progressed, Portuguese power went into decline while the Church in Rome was gaining energy. Thus Catholic missionary work in Africa transitioned away from the Portuguese and more to the hands of the Vatican. In

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mission, development, and ‘reverse mission’ in Europe-Africa religious relations

Freeman¹

2020

Africa–Europe Relationships

Self Cite

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Book forum on Joel Robbins’ Theology and the Anthropology of Christian Life

Lemons

Handman

Bialecki

et al. 2022

History and Anthropology

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Respectable conviviality: Orthodox Christianity as a solution to value conflicts in southern Ethiopia

Sommerschuh

2021

Royal Anthropological Inst

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This article explains the recent emergence of Orthodox Christianity in a majoritarian Evangelical Protestant community in southern Ethiopia. Examining conversion motives and forms of religious engagement, I show that Orthodoxy is attractive to erstwhile followers of traditional practice because it affords them the solution to a value conflict. Joining an institutionalized ‘religion’ associated with national elites, converts attain the respectability formerly denied them by Evangelicals. And since Orthodoxy is less puritan than local Evangelicalism, conversion does not come at the expense of conviviality. An ethnographic discussion of this process of value harmonization provides the basis for a conceptual contribution to anthropological value theory, while also offering new insights for the debate about different modalities of Christian change.

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Affordances of Rupture and their Enactment: A Framework for Understanding Christian Change

Cited by 13 publications

References 17 publications

Mission, development, and ‘reverse mission’ in Europe-Africa religious relations

Mission, development, and ‘reverse mission’ in Europe-Africa religious relations

Book forum on Joel Robbins’ Theology and the Anthropology of Christian Life

Respectable conviviality: Orthodox Christianity as a solution to value conflicts in southern Ethiopia

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