The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in South Africa

A Church of Strangers

AvIlana van Wyk

Häftad, Engelska, 2016

Del 47 i serien The International African Library

428 kr

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Beskrivning

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), a church of Brazilian origin, has been enormously successful in establishing branches and attracting followers in post-apartheid South Africa. Unlike other Pentecostal Charismatic Churches (PCC), the UCKG insists that relationships with God be devoid of 'emotions', that socialisation between members be kept to a minimum and that charity and fellowship are 'useless' in materialising God's blessings. Instead, the UCKG urges members to sacrifice large sums of money to God for delivering wealth, health, social harmony and happiness. While outsiders condemn these rituals as empty or manipulative, this book shows that they are locally meaningful, demand sincerity to work, have limits and are informed by local ideas about human bodies, agency and ontological balance. As an ethnography of people rather than of institutions, this book offers fresh insights into the mass PCC movement that has swept across Africa since the early 1990s.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2016-04-28
Mått:153 x 230 x 20 mm
Vikt:500 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:The International African Library
Antal sidor:306
Förlag:Cambridge University Press
ISBN:9781107686250

Utforska kategorier

Afrikas historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Kristendom inom Filosofi och religion

Mer om författaren

Ilana van Wyk is a researcher at the Institute for Humanities in Africa at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Recensioner i media

'In what is by far the most profound and wide-ranging study of one of the world's most challenging and disconcerting religious phenomena, Ilana van Wyk has produced a truly engrossing work of ethnography. In its triumphant march out of Brazil and across the globe, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God attracts millions of followers, but also puzzlement, indignation and shock for its success with methods which seem at first sight to be utterly out of keeping with contemporary cultures. This book covers the controversial aspects one by one: money, demonic possession and exorcism; unbearable family tensions amidst poverty and AIDS; and the mysteries of the church's internal dynamics. Some of the case material is deeply distressing, but the analytical fruits will be with us for a long time to come.' David Lehmann, University of Cambridge

Innehållsförteckning

1. Introduction; 2. Christian warriors and the spiritual warfare; 3. On the frontlines; 4. Women of God, love and marriage; 5. The leaking nature of things; 6. Gossiping demons, strong words and lies; 7. Profit prophets and God's money; 8. Family demons and the blessed life; 9. Conclusion.