Study 5: “Redundancy in the African Cosmos: Witnessing Jesus as the Only Saviour through the Power of the Holy Spirit.”
Description
Redundancy in the African cosmos: Witnessing Jesus as the only savior through the power of the Holy Spirit
Lord Elom Donkor
Abstract
Scholars maintain that in many African communities, still, there is strong belief in the incessant cosmological activities against the human realm, often, causing many misfortunes in the people’s affairs.[1] People in those contexts expect from their religions the power to deal with the evil spiritual activities such as sicknesses, demonic oppressions and poverty. So, most of African Pentecostal preaching has been targeted at defeating the activities of the evil spirits and setting people free.[2] However, it seems that the power of the evil spirits is not yet defeated, as the battle is never-ending whilst some Christians remain in fear. How should the biblical affirmation that Jesus Christ is the only Way, Truth and Life be presented among people who expect religion to give them power to overcome their spiritual adversaries in order to have good life? What understanding of this religious background is needed to help make the biblical affirmation relevant and effective to people’s socio-cultural, political and economical realities in these contexts? Using a practical theological approach, this paper would argue that the dreaded evil spirits of the African cosmos can be made redundant through the biblical affirmation of Jesus as the only Way, Truth and Life when the biblical truth is presented as a pneumatological reality with an eschatological goal. It would also show that Pentecostal emphasis on the power of the Holy Spirit for service resonates with the African view of spiritual powers. [3] Inadvertently, this engenders enthusiasm for doing witnessing without creating a constant passion for being witnesses. It would conclude that the power of the Holy Spirit in making believers witnesses of Jesus Christ makes him a unique savior – the only Way, Truth and Life.
[1] Allan Anderson, Spirit-Filled World: Dis/Continuity in African Pentecostalism (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Anderson, “The Spirit and African Spiritual world”, in Vinson Synan, Amos Yong and Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Global Renewal Christianity: Spirit Empowered Movements, past, present and future (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2016), 317; Paul Gifford, Ghana’s New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalising African Economy (Bloominghton: Indiana University Press, 2004); Opoku Onyinah, Pentecostal Exorcism: Witchcraft and Demonology in Ghana (Blandford: Deo Publishing, 2012); Onyinah, Spiritual Warfare, (Cleveland: CTP Publishing Ltd., 2012).
[2] See Anderson, Zion and Pentecost: The Spirituality and Experience of Pentecostal and Zionist Apostolic Churches in South Africa (Pretoria: UNISA, 2000); Anderson, African Reformation: African Initiated Christianity in the 20th Century (Trenton: African World Press, 2001); Anderson, “African Initiated Churches of the Spirit and Pneumatology”, Word and World 23: 2 (2003), 178 -184; Kalu, African Pentecostalism, chapters 9, 10 and 11; Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics, chapter 5, 6 and 7.
[3] Robert Menzies, Empowered for Witness: The Spirit in Luke-Acts (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001); William Menzies and Robert Menzies, Spirit and Power: Foundations of Pentecostal Experience (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000); John Penney, The Missionary Emphasis of Lukan Pneumatology (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997).
Study 5: “Redundancy in the African Cosmos: Witnessing Jesus as the Only Saviour through the Power of the Holy Spirit.”
Redundancy in the African cosmos: Witnessing Jesus as the only savior through the power of the Holy Spirit
Lord Elom Donkor
Abstract
Scholars maintain that in many African communities, still, there is strong belief in the incessant cosmological activities against the human realm, often, causing many misfortunes in the people’s affairs.[1] People in those contexts expect from their religions the power to deal with the evil spiritual activities such as sicknesses, demonic oppressions and poverty. So, most of African Pentecostal preaching has been targeted at defeating the activities of the evil spirits and setting people free.[2] However, it seems that the power of the evil spirits is not yet defeated, as the battle is never-ending whilst some Christians remain in fear. How should the biblical affirmation that Jesus Christ is the only Way, Truth and Life be presented among people who expect religion to give them power to overcome their spiritual adversaries in order to have good life? What understanding of this religious background is needed to help make the biblical affirmation relevant and effective to people’s socio-cultural, political and economical realities in these contexts? Using a practical theological approach, this paper would argue that the dreaded evil spirits of the African cosmos can be made redundant through the biblical affirmation of Jesus as the only Way, Truth and Life when the biblical truth is presented as a pneumatological reality with an eschatological goal. It would also show that Pentecostal emphasis on the power of the Holy Spirit for service resonates with the African view of spiritual powers. [3] Inadvertently, this engenders enthusiasm for doing witnessing without creating a constant passion for being witnesses. It would conclude that the power of the Holy Spirit in making believers witnesses of Jesus Christ makes him a unique savior – the only Way, Truth and Life.
[1] Allan Anderson, Spirit-Filled World: Dis/Continuity in African Pentecostalism (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Anderson, “The Spirit and African Spiritual world”, in Vinson Synan, Amos Yong and Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Global Renewal Christianity: Spirit Empowered Movements, past, present and future (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2016), 317; Paul Gifford, Ghana’s New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalising African Economy (Bloominghton: Indiana University Press, 2004); Opoku Onyinah, Pentecostal Exorcism: Witchcraft and Demonology in Ghana (Blandford: Deo Publishing, 2012); Onyinah, Spiritual Warfare, (Cleveland: CTP Publishing Ltd., 2012).
[2] See Anderson, Zion and Pentecost: The Spirituality and Experience of Pentecostal and Zionist Apostolic Churches in South Africa (Pretoria: UNISA, 2000); Anderson, African Reformation: African Initiated Christianity in the 20th Century (Trenton: African World Press, 2001); Anderson, “African Initiated Churches of the Spirit and Pneumatology”, Word and World 23: 2 (2003), 178 -184; Kalu, African Pentecostalism, chapters 9, 10 and 11; Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics, chapter 5, 6 and 7.
[3] Robert Menzies, Empowered for Witness: The Spirit in Luke-Acts (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001); William Menzies and Robert Menzies, Spirit and Power: Foundations of Pentecostal Experience (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000); John Penney, The Missionary Emphasis of Lukan Pneumatology (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997).
