Mookgo Solomon Kgatle – författare

This book explores recent developments in South African Pentecostalism, focusing on new prophetic churches. The chapters engage with a number of paradigm shifts in Christology, identified as complementing Christ, competing with Christ, removing Christ and replacing Christ. What are the implications of these shifts? Does it mean that believers no longer believe in Christ but in their leaders? Does it shift believers’ faith towards materiality than the person of Christ? This volume will be valuable for scholars of African Christianity and in particular those interested in the neo-prophetic movement and Christology in a South African context.

This book explores recent developments in South African Pentecostalism, focusing on new prophetic churches. The chapters engage with a number of paradigm shifts in Christology, identified as complementing Christ, competing with Christ, removing Christ and replacing Christ. What are the implications of these shifts? Does it mean that believers no longer believe in Christ but in their leaders? Does it shift believers’ faith towards materiality than the person of Christ? This volume will be valuable for scholars of African Christianity and in particular those interested in the neo-prophetic movement and Christology in a South African context.

This book signifies a distinct separation of the ritual healing process in the Zion Christian Church from traditional African medicine while also attempting to synthesize contemporary medical approaches with indigenous knowledge systems.The Zion Christian Church is recognized for its distinctive amalgamation of religious activities, which include faith healing, prophecy, and significant pilgrimages, particularly the Easter pilgrimage to Moria. Despite the church's emphasis on the Christian identity within its faith healing practices, some observers interpret various rituals and beliefs as syncretic. Consequently, these readings have led to allegations that the church integrates aspects of African traditional medicine and witchcraft into its rituals.This book utilizes the church as a case study to examine healing faith, practices, and rituals thereof within the larger framework and context of African Independent Churches. This theology is used to help place the faith of patients and the importance of God’s role as healer ahead of the healing rituals. Its unique theme-driven, interconnected chapters contain discussions around various practices, encompassing purification and protection rituals as well as therapeutic worship. Consequently, scholars in religious studies, theology, anthropology, and history will find this book an important resource in understanding the role of healing rituals among African Independent Churches.

This book highlights the key features of Pentecostal theology in a South African context. In analyzing each feature, it seeks to demonstrate the peculiarity of Pentecostal theology among New Prophetic Churches in South Africa. The book will be useful for both scholars and students as they explore new trends in Global Pentecostalism.

This book investigates the question of human flourishing in African New Pentecostalism in South Africa. In a context marked by deep economic inequality and high unemployment, many poor South Africans rely on African New Pentecostal prophets to bring spiritual meaning to their lives. Collectively, and using various theoretical frameworks and methods, the authors of this volume analyze and critique the concept of this pursuit, and ask what can be done to challenge African New Pentecostal prophets to respond effectively.The book will be of interest to academics, pastors, researchers and university students in Pentecostalism in Africa, Missiology and Science of Religion, Sociology and Psychology of Religion and the public role of religion in South Africa and beyond."This volume provides a uniquely fresh perspective on African Pentecostalism by linking three important discursive fields: human flourishing, charismatic Pentecostalism, and decoloniality. The volume provides important insights into the normative notions brought forward by prophetic Pentecostalism on what constitutes a good life. It thereby substantially advances the debate on Pentecostalism and prosperity. Even though the book zooms in on South Africa, its chapters bear relevance far beyond. The volume is therefore a must-read for anyone wanting to engage with current trends in African Christianity."—Philipp Öhlmann, Associated Senior Researcher, Center for Rural Development, Humboldt University; Research Fellow, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Botswana"This is an intellectually stimulating, original, and thought-provoking contribution to the field of African Pentecostal Studies. It has not failed to deliver and must be read to understand new creative interpretations of the movements by African Christian scholars."—Chammah Kaunda, Assistant Professor, Yonsei University, South Korea; Extraordinary Professor, University of the Western Cape, South Africa"This important book creatively explores human flourishing in the context of New Prophetic Pentecostalism in Africa. It should be read by all who are interested in the most recent developments of Southern African Pentecostalism and those concerned about genuine human flourishing in the church and wider society."—Dr. Simo Frestadius, Dean of Research, Regents Theological College; Executive Director, Institute for Pentecostal Theology; Chair, European Pentecostal Theological Association

African Pentecostal Theology: Modality, Disciplinarity, and Decoloniality explores research methodology, theological disciplines, and contextualization as important aspects in the process of studying Pentecostal theology in an African context. Mookgo Solomon Kgatle outlines different data collection and data analysis methods, including the skills of interpreting and presenting research findings in a responsible manner. This book illustrates that Pentecostal theology, given its pneumatological approach, goes beyond conventional theological disciplines in transdisciplinary research. The development of knowledge in African Pentecostal Theology should recognize African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS), African oral and traditional cultures, and African indigenous languages to be relevant to Africans. Pentecostal theologians from different theological disciplines in Africa and globally will find this book a worthwhile read.

This book first names these prophets and the churches they lead in South Africa, and then makes use of literary and media analysis to analyse the religious practices by the prophets in relation to cultism. Additionally, the book analyses the “celebrity cult” and how it helps promote the prophets in South Africa.

This book first names these prophets and the churches they lead in South Africa, and then makes use of literary and media analysis to analyse the religious practices by the prophets in relation to cultism. Additionally, the book analyses the “celebrity cult” and how it helps promote the prophets in South Africa.

This book provides an interdisciplinary exploration of the challenges faced by pastoral ministry in South African Pentecostalism as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as some interventions being made to manage these challenges.

This book provides an interdisciplinary exploration of the challenges faced by pastoral ministry in South African Pentecostalism as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as some interventions being made to manage these challenges. Contributors present descriptive approaches to churches’ reactions to lockdown measures, and especially the adaptations generated within Pentecostalism in South Africa. Through a variety of approaches—including pastoral care, virtual ecclesiology, social media, and missiology—contributors offer intervention techniques which can help readers to understand the unique role of Christian ministry during the pandemic, in South Africa and beyond.

Aspects of the 2017 Final Report of the South African Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) have drawn strong criticism, particularly from South African scholars, politicians and the public. The criticism is largely regarding the constitutionality of its recommendation, which calls for regulation of the Religion to combat its abuse and commercialization. Scholars have criticized the CRL Rights Commission for hastening its investigation and releasing the final report without having a substantive understanding of what is meant by the commercialization of religion, and consequently the unconstitutional implications of the recommendation, to regulate religion. A close reading of this critique has pointed to the urgent need to assemble a cumulative body of research that examines and advances understanding of what is meant by the commercialization of religion. Accordingly, this book gathers scholarly contributionswhich offer valuable insights into the basics of what is meant by the commercialization of religion. Contributors examine this phenomenon from the historical roots to the manifestation in the contemporary world, particularly in South Africa.

Aspects of the 2017 Final Report of the South African Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) have drawn strong criticism, particularly from South African scholars, politicians and the public.

This book is an interdisciplinary study of the relationship between prophecy and politics in South African Pentecostalism. The role and the power of prophecy in enhancing the presence of politicians in the church square are unpacked through historical examples, as well as case studies of contemporary prophets. Solomon Kgatle argues that the influence of prophecy in politics has the potential to weaken the prophetic voice of the church in general and the Pentecostal movement in particular. He proposes a Pentecostal political theology of prophecy. This theology is developed by taking into cognizance the theoretical and theological frameworks of prophetic imagination and pneumatological imagination. In addition, this theology seeks a balance between prophecy and power and prophecy and sovereignty.

This book is an interdisciplinary study of the relationship between prophecy and politics in South African Pentecostalism. The role and the power of prophecy in enhancing the presence of politicians in the church square are unpacked through historical examples, as well as case studies of contemporary prophets.

This groundbreaking volume offers a pioneering Pentecostal theology of materiality, rooted in an African theological perspective that affirms the cultural, religious, and biblical dimensions of material experience. Bridging theology and the lived realities of African Pentecostalism, the book examines how material practices—ritual objects, spaces, and embodied expressions—are not peripheral but central to Pentecostal faith and worship. Through a historical and theological analysis, the book highlights how the materiality of religion, often overlooked in theological discourse, is vital to understanding both classical Pentecostalism and the emergence of new prophetic churches across Africa. It argues that sacred texts, particularly the Bible, must be taken seriously in any theological account of religious materiality. At the same time, it asserts that Pentecostal spirituality is shaped as much by the visible and tangible as by the spiritual and unseen. With its interdisciplinary scope, this book is essential reading not only for Pentecostal scholars and theologians, but also for researchers in religious studies, anthropology, and sociology. It invites readers to rethink materiality as a theological category, offering fresh insights into how African Pentecostalism redefines the relationship between the sacred and the material world.

African Pentecostals in the Diaspora explores the theology of mission in the context of African Pentecostals in the diaspora, using the Apostolic Faith Mission in the United Kingdom as a case study. Author Solomon Kgatle develops a Pentecostal theology of diaspora mission using a pneumatological missional imagination as a theoretical framework. This framework is developed using the theories of pneumatological imagination, missiological spirit and missional imagination. The pneumatological missional approach is proposed for missionpraxis such as praise and worship to accommodate believers beyond African migrants. The book makes a conceptual contribution to the theology of mission through analysis of the African Pentecostal diaspora mission. The book also makes a theoretical contribution by bringing pneumatological missional imagination to existing theories of pneumatological imagination, missiological spirit and missional imagination. The book will be vital reading for both practitioners of mission in African Pentecostal churches and missiologists in Africa and the diaspora.“The pneumatological imagination concept inspired by the Day of Pentecost narrative and growing in prominence among Pentecostal theologians is here developed in a missiological direction. If the Lukan horizons extended from Jerusalem to the ends of the Earth, the trajectory in these pages is from the farthermost regions of the southern hemisphere to the highest extents of the global north. Solomon Kgatle’s latest in a series of wide-ranging books hereby not only enriches the global Pentecostal theological conversation but expands his multidisciplinary repertoire as a missiologist. “ — Amos Yong, Professor of Theology and Mission, Fuller Seminary. “Solomon Kgatle has done the world church a huge favour by placing Pentecostal pneumatological theology in dialogue with the missional church movement and contextual theology. His approach, which includes an important fieldwork case study, is fresh and illuminating. Overall the book has serious implications for Pentecostals and others undertaking missions in the diaspora.”—Dr. Nigel Rooms, Co-Editor of Ecclesial Futures Journal“An enlightening exploration of African Pentecostals in the diaspora, with the Apostolic Faith Mission in the UK serving as a case study, this book masterfully intertwines contextual, conceptual, and theoretical frameworks. By integrating the pneumatological imagination, missiological spirit and missional imagination, it offers a ground-breaking pneumatological Pentecostal theology of diaspora mission. Essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary theological studies, missiology, and church growth.” — Josh Chigorimbo, Vice President of the Apostolic Faith Mission International Ministries, United Kingdom.