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ABSTRACT
Pentecostal worship is widely studied with but little attention given to its link with a spirituality of liberation. This article uses literary analysis to demonstrate that African Pentecostal Worship (hereafter APW) is an expression of a spirituality of liberation with implications for Black theology. In order to achieve this, the article introduces Black theology within the theoretical framework of a spirituality of liberation. APW, an African style of worship, is discussed in relation to African Pentecostalism and Blackness. Three aspects of APW are discussed; a Spirit of liberation, the music of liberation and the sermons of liberation to illustrate their connection to a Spirituality of liberation. This Spirituality of liberation in APW has some implications for Black theology as it challenges Black theologians to incorporate African Pentecostalism in their studies. Therefore, Black theologians can no longer ignore the contribution of African Pentecostalism to the development of Black theology in Africa.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Black Theology refers to the theology of liberation that originated with African American scholars with the influence in other parts of the world like South Africa through Black consciousness (cf. Biko, Black Consciousness in South Africa). In this article, Black theology will be discussed in a South African context.
2 Adebo and Harold, “The Relevance of Black Theology in Post-Apartheid South Africa.”
3 Van Aarde, “Black theology in South Africa.”
4 Mosala, “Biblical Hermeneutics and Black Theology in South Africa,” 12.
5 Cone, “Black Power, Black Theology.”
6 Boesak, Farewell to Innocence, 17.
7 Adebo, “The Relevance of Black theology,” 1.
8 Vellem, “Prophetic Theology in Black Theology”; cf. Vellem, “Spirituality of Liberation.”
9 Maimela, “Black Theology and the Quest for a God of Liberation.”
10 Vondey, “The Making of a Black Liturgy.”
11 Ibid., 149.
12 Ibid., 149.
13 Fahlbusch, The Encyclopedia of Christianity.
14 Dyrness, A Primer on Christian Worship.
15 Edwards, “Race, Religion, and Worship.”
16 Nel, An African Pentecostal hermeneutics.
17 Fahlbusch, The Encyclopedia of Christianity, 801.
18 Nel, “Attempting to Develop a Pentecostal Theology of Worship”; cf. Kgatle, “Singing as a Therapeutic Agent in Pentecostal Worship.”
19 Blackness here is not only defined in terms of colour but in alignment with the suffering of the oppressed peoples in the world.
20 Odunuga is a Nigerian born education specialist and plays various music instruments. In this article, she and Udok have made insider connections between Music and Pentecostalism.
21 Udok and Odunuga, “Music and Pentecostalism.”
22 Vondey, “The Making of a Black Liturgy,” 148.
23 Idlozi refers to a spirit that is inside the person who is called and destined to become a traditional healer within African Traditional Religions. The same spirit is closely related to the spirit of a person who is dead but believed to be alive among his people as an ancestral spirit. Although African Pentecostals do not believe in both spirit of a healer and a spirit of the dead, their knowledge of these spirits has become helpful in their understanding of the Holy Spirit in my view.
24 Anderson, “An Introduction to Pentecostalism.”
25 The text is taken from 2 Corinthians 3:17. Although this text is not about African Pentecostal worship, African Pentecostal uses it to speak about the liberating Spirit of the Lord in worship. Hence, an African Pentecostal worship is not confined to any form of bondage but a liberated one. The liberty is possible because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in worship.
26 Macchia, Baptized in the Spirit, 82.
27 Freeman, “The Pentecostal Ethic and the Spirit of Development.”
28 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Signs, Tokens, and Points of Contact.”
29 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Pentecostalism and the Transformation of the African Christian Landscape.”
30 Thornton, “Popular Music and Pentecostal Worship.”
31 In South Africa, a well-known Black Pentecostal musician, Benjamin Dube sang this song. However, other artists have come up to give their own renditions, and these include artist like Ntokozo Mbambo.
32 Udok and Odunuga, “Music and Pentecostalism,” 57.
33 Abraham Ibrahim did an empirical study in South Africa on music and Pentecostalism and wrote an article “Sincere Performance in Pentecostal Megachurch Music.”
34 Nel, “Attempting to Develop a Pentecostal Theology of Worship,” 3.
35 Tshabalala and Patel, “The Role of Praise and Worship Activities in Spiritual Well-Being.”
36 Abraham, “Sincere Performance,” 192.
37 Nel, “Attempting to Develop a Pentecostal Theology of Worship,” 3.
38 Ibid., 4.
39 Ibid., 7.
40 Mashau, “Ministering Effectively in the Context of Pentecostalism in Africa.”
41 Phiri, “African Pentecostal Spirituality.”
42 Bediako, Christianity in Africa.
43 Sanneh, Whose Religion is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West.
44 Ibid., 17.
45 Ibid., 18.
46 Azusa Street Revival is a Pentecostal revival that marked the beginning of the twentieth-century American Pentecostals that happened in Los Angeles under the African American preacher, William J. Seymour.
47 Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 17.
48 Asamoah-Gyadu, “Born of Water and the Spirit.”
49 Van der Merwe, “From Christianising Africa to Africanising Christianity.”
50 Ibid., 475.
51 Mokhoathi, “From Contextual Theology to African Christianity.”
52 Although some scholars do not categorise AICs as Pentecostal, Hollenweger. The Pentecostals, 151 and Anderson and Otwang, TUMELO: The Faith of African Pentecostals, 3 do see this connection.
53 Molobi, “The AIC's as Interlocutors for Black Theology.”
54 One of the important works is by Itumeleng Mosala who wrote is “African Independent Churches.”
55 Molobi, “The AIC's as Interlocutors for Black Theology.”
56 Takatso Mofokeng is an important figure in the study of Black theology in South Africa; Mofokeng looked at various themes covering Black theology like the Bible, Black Christology and Black struggle during apartheid. It is surprising that Mofokeng never looked at African Independent Churches.
57 Allan Anderson was an important figure at that time when Black theology was an emerging discipline and subject in South Africa. Anderson was willing to study Black theology in the context of African Pentecostalism. Anderson’s scholarship on African Pentecostalism although not located in Black theology is an important work as it demonstrates the expression of Pentecostalism in an African context. Although Anderson grew to become a leading scholar in global Pentecostalism, his roots remain in African Pentecostalism particularly, South African Pentecostalism.
58 Anderson, Moya: The Holy Spirit.
59 Clarke, “Pan-Africanism and Pentecostalism in Africa.”
60 Tshaka and Makofane, “The Continued Relevance of Black Liberation Theology.”
61 Tshaka, “The Black Church as the Womb.”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle
Solomon Kgatle is associate Professor of Missiology at the department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, in the University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. He is an emerging young researcher in the focus area of African Pentecostal Christianity. Kgatle has published extensively and has presented papers in local and international conferences in the same focus area.