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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'On the 'Mountain' of the Lord': healing pilgrimages in Ghanaian Christianity
Author:Asamoah-Gyadu, J. KwabenaISNI
Year:2007
Periodical:Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context
Volume:36
Issue:1
Pages:65-86
Language:English
Geographic term:Ghana
Subjects:pilgrimages
healing rites
Methodist Church
Catholic Church
Pentecostalism
External link:https://doi.org/10.1163/157254307X159425
Abstract:In Ghana, as in other African religious and cultural contexts, religion is a survival strategy. It is a dynamic phenomenon, which at every level of appropriation has been experiencing certain innovations informed by existential and supra-mundane needs. Some of these innovative appropriations of religion in contemporary Ghana include pilgrimages to religious sites in search of God's intervention for healing. Roman Catholicism, mainline Protestantism and Pentecostalism, the three main streams of Christian expression in Ghana have all had their members develop penchants for such pilgrimages although patronage is never denomination specific. This paper examines some of the innovative ways in which healing pilgrimages have developed in the various Christian traditions and what implications these have for understanding religion in a contemporary African religiocultural context. Each of the considered sacred places/spaces is associated with one of the three main streams of Christianity: the Abasua Prayer Mountain is associated with the Methodist Church, the Buoho St. Mary's Sanctuary (SMS) with the Roman Catholics, and the Canaan Prayer Healing Camp with the Church of Pentecost (CoP).The Christian motivation for the use of these sacred places/spaces could be explained not just in terms of biblical precedents but also in the resilient nature of traditional world views in the face of a massive Christian advance in Africa. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]
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