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Book Reviews
293
Adeshina Afolayan, Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, and Toyin Falola (eds.),Pen-
tecostalism and Politics in Africa(Cham,CH: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). 345 pp.
$99.00 softcover.
Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa is an interdisciplinary collection of essays from a diverse group of African scholars, both on the continent and in the dias- pora. It represents an important entry in a continuing conversation uniquely situating Pentecostalism in Africa, recognizing its relation to (or its standing as a function of) African politics. Indeed, the volume has a stated purpose “to explore the relationship between politics and the Pentecostal in Africa” (3). In so doing, it seeks to categorize African Pentecostalism which it adroitly differ- entiates from Pentecostalism in Africa, showing not only that the difference is more than semantic, but demonstrating that they are two distinct entities. The influx of Pentecostalism into Africa and its role as an instrument of African colonialization could be said to have been one of the contributing factors to a distinctly African variant of Pentecostalism. The editors argue that “the polit- ical essence of Pentecostalism is context-bound” and because of this, African political and spiritual contours make the political essence of Pentecostalism in Africa different than in other places (4). There is a difference in how Pen- tecostalism is interpreted in Africa and that difference has its genesis in the history of colonialization in Africa. The volume focuses on developments in postcolonial African society and the Pentecostal movement.
The volume is divided into four parts. Two introductory chapters make up the first part and lay out a framework for what follows. These two chapters seek to define “Pentecostal” and “Political” in the postcolonial African context, and explain the growth of the Pentecostal movement in Africa.
The second part, “Pentecostalism and Society in Africa,” attempts to situate Pentecostalism in Africa today. It addresses topics ranging from the similari- ties of fundamentalist religions (Pentecostalism, Islam, and other indigenous African religions) to the multiplicity of Pentecostal variants found on the Con- tinent. These variants are loosely categorized according to theological and/or doctrinal rigor, propensity towards ecumenism, and teachings or tolerance on issues such as financial prosperity, gender inclusivity, and racial/ethnic diver- sity. While it ultimately comes together to accomplish its purpose, the topical movement in this chapter can at first seem a bit discontinuous; the threads seem to meander between religious fundamentalism, materialism, neoliberal- ism, indigenous religions, ecumenism, gender relations, power dynamics, and so on. A closer reading reveals that this may actually be the point: to attempt to speak coherently on Pentecostalism and society in Africa is to weave all these seemingly incongruous threads and more into a recognizable tapestry.
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Book Reviews
That tapestry then provides a foundation for the third part, aptly titled “Pen- tecostalism and/as Politics in Africa,” which attempts to situate Pentecostalism within the African political landscape.This section stands on the philosophical foundation of Congolese philosopher Valentin Mudimbe who suggests, among other things, that Christian revelation be read as political performance and that the missionization of Africa need be viewed in that light (6). Olufemi Taiwo also provides a dialogical foundation. Taiwo argues that “one cannot, without contradiction, disaggregate the arrival of the colonial missionaries from the emergence of modernity” (5). Building on and in dialogue with those philo- sophical underpinnings, the work explores the political contours of African Pentecostalism as an entity which “constitutes a significant intervention in the failure of the African state to make sense of the neoliberal paradigm as a post- colonial development direction” (7).
Even (or perhaps especially) for those without a strong background in African political philosophy, the volume is engaging and delivers a wealth of information which, if not completely new, has a conceptually fresh delivery. For instance, Naar M’fundisi-Holloway, exploring Pentecostalism and Traditional African Religions, notes that the tension which has always existed between Pentecostalism and African Traditional Religions had perhaps been a barrier to the ability of Pentecostal missionaries to see that “charismatic gifts were from God and not evil spirits” (97). Holloway cites an example of how some Pentecostal missionaries, insufficiently engaged with African Traditional Reli- gions, were subsequently unable to acknowledge similarities such as a Divine interest in human well-being, or a focus on healing, or “the use of water, salt, olive oil, palm leaves, uncolored candles, and wine,” native to both faith tradi- tions (96). Holloway notes that one unanticipated and likely unintended result of this “historical tragedy of European exploits over Africa” was the growth and proliferation of African Independent Churches (96). It should be noted here that while the volume takes an honest look at some of the lingering nega- tive effects of social, political, and theological colonization of a continent, this honest appraisal is by no means a negative nor an accusatory one. Rather, it is steeped in a desire to parse out the many intersecting forces characteris- tic of the Pentecostal movement in Africa, seeks to analyze them, and then seeks to chart out a trajectory for the future.This of necessity includes recogniz- ing the interplay of the myriad political and religious forces on the continent. As the editors initially stated, Pentecostalism in Africa is molded by its “spe- cific postcolonial context” and the work attempts to find “areas of symmetry and asymmetry by interrogating the relationship between the religious and political through multidisciplinary frameworks, case studies, and ethnographic research” (4).
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The Fourth part of the book is a sole essay in which Nimi Wariboko attempts to identify and generate “new conceptual tools, insights, and sensibilities that constructapoliticalphilosophyof AfricanPentecostalism”(386).Writingof the earlier chapters, Wariboko notes that they not only frame Pentecostalism and politics in Africa as a function of postcolonialism, but that they politically theo- rize Pentecostalism. Regarding both the scope and organization of the volume, Wariboko elects to frame them in his own construction, interestingly modelled on a “Rozenzweigian schema of life, way, and truth,” with the first six chap- ters speaking to the “life” of politics of African Pentecostals and “life” of the politics and history of Africa (413). The next six chapters he frames as being about the “way” of African Pentecostals and Pentecostalism as opposed to “orthodox” notions of democracy, modernity, pluralism, and diversity (414).The “truth,” Wariboko concludes, is symbolized by the last three chapters, which point to a more stable, more tangible political philosophy to undergird and engage African Pentecostals, African Pentecostalism, and African Political sys- tems. Wariboko’s argument and analysis are notable, both in their ability to transverse cultures and in their intellectual dexterity. Additionally, this analy- sis provides an important union of the many topics covered in this volume and points to a way forward.
In addition to exploring relationships between politics and Pentecostalism in Africa, the volume pointedly and continually exhibits indigenous agency, refuting the notion that the worldwide Pentecostal movement originated at Azusa. Indeed, drawing upon the work of the late Ogbu Kalu, it affirms that the rise of Pentecostalism in Africa was one response to mission Christianity. Overall, the contributors to this volume have taken a long, new, non-Western gaze at Pentecostalism in Africa. What they have seen and presented is this volume, which not only achieves its stated goal of exploring the relationship between the Pentecostal and the political in Africa, but which also provides both a comprehensive background and a series of interlocutory points to a crit- ical and continuing conversation.
Cassandra G. Perry
Regent University School of Divinity, Virginia Beach, Virginia,USA casspe1@mail.regent.edu
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