Forests, Rivers, and Mountains: African Pentecostalism, Traditional Cosmologies, and Experience with Nature in Sierra Leone
Although Pentecostalism is a major stream within Christianity in Sierra Leone, the first field where Protestant missionaries were active in tropical Africa, this ecclesial development remains marginally represented in research. The Pentecostalisation of Sierra Leone points to the nation's conti...
| Published in: | Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture |
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| Subtitles: | "Special Issue - Religion and the Experience of Nature" |
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox Publ.
2024
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| In: |
Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
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| Further subjects: | B
African Pentecostalism
B Mountains B Pentecostal eco-theology B Deliverance B Freetown B Healing B traditional cosmologies B Rivers B Pentecostalism in Sierra Leone B forests B Spiritual Power |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Although Pentecostalism is a major stream within Christianity in Sierra Leone, the first field where Protestant missionaries were active in tropical Africa, this ecclesial development remains marginally represented in research. The Pentecostalisation of Sierra Leone points to the nation's continuous recontextualization of Christianity from its inherited missionary vestiges to meet local cultural needs. In this paper, I discuss the retreat by Pentecostal clerics to nature (forests, rivers, and mountains) from where they expect to connect with the transcendent God and receive spiritual power. To do so, I first discuss Sierra Leone's traditional conceptualization of forests, rivers, and mountains as sites for the acquisition of spiritual power. Second, I briefly survey the emergence of Pentecostalism in Sierra Leone, probing the specific uses by Pentecostals of natural spaces. Finally, I conclude with an intercultural theological assessment of Sierra Leone's emerging Pentecostal uses and interpretations of natural spaces. |
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| ISSN: | 1749-4915 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/jsrnc.23395 |