TY - JOUR
T1 - Examining pastor-prophet authority in neo-Pentecostal deliverance practices in Ghana
AU - Golo, Ben Willie Kwaku
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© European Pentecostal Theological Association 2023.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - A popular and growing feature of contemporary neo-Pentecostal Christianity in Ghana are regular deliverance practices in search for solutions to diverse forms of existential predicaments, known in Pentecostal diction as afflictions. Pastor-prophets have become very popular for these practices with thousands of deliverance seekers attending one deliverance service or the other in search for solutions that these pastor-prophets proffer. Using ethnographic semi-structured interviews, this article examines the phenomenon of deliverance practices within neo-Pentecostalism in Ghana, and particularly focuses on the authority of pastor-prophets around which the activities of deliverance evolve. Findings indicate that supernatural authority and attaining of breakthroughs over life’s predicaments, become the barometer and legitimacy for the authority of pastor-prophets.
AB - A popular and growing feature of contemporary neo-Pentecostal Christianity in Ghana are regular deliverance practices in search for solutions to diverse forms of existential predicaments, known in Pentecostal diction as afflictions. Pastor-prophets have become very popular for these practices with thousands of deliverance seekers attending one deliverance service or the other in search for solutions that these pastor-prophets proffer. Using ethnographic semi-structured interviews, this article examines the phenomenon of deliverance practices within neo-Pentecostalism in Ghana, and particularly focuses on the authority of pastor-prophets around which the activities of deliverance evolve. Findings indicate that supernatural authority and attaining of breakthroughs over life’s predicaments, become the barometer and legitimacy for the authority of pastor-prophets.
KW - Deliverance practices
KW - charismatic authority
KW - deliverance seekers
KW - neo-Pentecostalism
KW - pastor-prophet authority
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85176944160&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/27691616.2023.2279713
DO - 10.1080/27691616.2023.2279713
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85176944160
SN - 1812-4461
VL - 44
SP - 155
EP - 175
JO - Journal of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity
JF - Journal of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity
IS - 2
ER -