Syncretism Narrative and the Use of Material Objects within Some Neo-Pentecostal Circles in Contemporary South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3424765 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Themba Shingange (0000-0001-5744-4268, University of South Africa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 52 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel15010052 |
| OpenAlex | W4390412444 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 33 |
African Pentecostal Christianity presents interconnectedness with African cultures, spiritualities, and religiosity in many ways. Among many other practices that demonstrate this interconnectedness is the use of material objects common within some African Pentecostal Christian spaces, African cultures, spiritualities, and religions. The advent of neo-Pentecostalism in South Africa has brought some controversies in the use of material objects within the broader African Pentecostalism. This has led to the outright demonization and to the conclusion that this practice was fundamentally syncretistic. This article investigated the syncretism narrative given the use of material objects within some neo-Pentecostal spaces in contemporary South Africa. It scrutinized the syncretism narrative and problematized it as the continuation of the missionary-colonial project that demonized African religious and cultural practices. It was argued that this constitutes coloniality that uses a "cultural bomb" that seeks to eradicate African customs, cultures, religions, and practices including the use of material objects. The study was conducted through the desktop research methodology focusing on secondary literature on African Pentecostalism, African neo-Pentecostalism, and syncretism. The findings indicated that the syncretism narrative is often applied to African Pentecostalism and seldom used with other Christian traditions, especially those of Western descent. Again, when the term is used, non-syncretistic elements are often not acknowledged. Thus, the need to transform the current narrative was highlighted
Aesthetics · Art · Literature · Narrative · Sociology · Spiritualities · Spirituality · African cultural and philosophical studies · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies · Philosophy · Religious studies · South African History and Culture
Responding to new Imageries in African indigenous Spiritualties
The Place of Rituals in African Religious Motif and Nigerian Pentecostal Churches
Appraisal of Syncretism in the Practice of Religion in Nigeria
Biblical discourses and the subjugation of Africa
The African Church’s application of anointing oil
African Initiated Churches as interlocutors of African spirituality of liberation against colonial spirituality of the empire
Mediating God’s relationality? A trinitarian perichoretic critique of the reliance on anointed objects in African neo-Pentecostalism
Allan Anderson’s African Pentecostalism theology and the ‘othering’
Religious and Medical Pluralism Among Traditional Healers in Johannesburg, South Africa
Uncovering Covert Syncretic Holy Water among ANPCs in South Africa
Towards Ecumenical Dialogue between African Pentecostalism and Roman Catholic
The use of anointed products during Covid-19 lockdown
The Militarization of the Persecution of African Religions and the Demonization of Vodun Cults in Eighteenth-Century Minas Gerais, Brazil
Managing an elusive force? The Holy Spirit and the anointed articles of Pentecostal prophets in traditional religious Africa
Prosperity gospel and the culture of greed in post-colonial Africa
Is Africa Godforsaken? Neo-Pentecostal prophetism on African human agency and transcendence
Go deeper papa, prophesy, do something’
The Flow of African Spirituality into World Christianity
Syncretism and indigenous cultural tourism in Taiwan
African Pentecostal spirituality as a mystical tradition
New African Initiated Pentecostalism and Charismatics in South Africa
Apparatus of Belief
Through the Looking-glass
Consultations in New Prophetic Churches and African Traditional Religions
A lineage in land
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |