Tapping into the Anointing: Pentecostal Pedagogy, Connectivity, and Power in

274 Pages·2013·11.28 MB·English

by  Bruno Reinhardt

UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
Tapping into the Anointing: Pentecostal Pedagogy, Connectivity, and Power in
Contemporary Ghana
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/34x4716w
Author
Reinhardt, Bruno Mafra Ney
Publication Date
2013

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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Tapping into the Anointing: Pentecostal Pedagogy, Connectivity, and Power in Contemporary
Ghana

By

Bruno Mafra Ney Reinhardt

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Anthropology
in the
Graduate Division
of the
University of California, Berkeley

Committee in charge:

Professor Charles Hirschkind, Chair
Professor Mariane Ferme
Professor Saba Mahmood
Professor Tabitha Kanogo

Fall 2013
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Abstract

Tapping into the anointing: Pentecostal pedagogy, connectivity, and power in contemporary Ghana
by
Bruno Mafra Ney Reinhardt
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley
Professor Charles Hirschkind, Chair
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Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity has grown vigorously in sub-Saharan Africa especially since the
1980s. Ghana is no exception. Pentecostal churches’ ecclesiastical, mediatic, and welfare networks
have secured a strategic public role to these organizations in the country by filling part of the
material and moral gaps left by the Ghanaian state in its post-structural adjustment moment. A new
generation of influential charismatic leaders has emerged as the local faces of this global movement.
Those are women, but mostly men who embody a Christian ethos that coordinates intense piety
with self-achievement, inviting the youth to follow their ways. But this history is not only one of
successful expansion, as observed in widespread public anxieties about the authenticity of “men of
god” in the country. Concerned with the methods of authoritative reproduction of charismatic
leadership, my research is based on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork centered on the
transmission of Pentecostalism in Ghana through both formal and informal methods of
“discipleship”, the process of ushering new converts into the Christian life. Chapter one situates the
problem of Christian conversion in history, whereas chapter two builds an ethnographic model
based on how converts move from “spiritual rebirth” to “spiritual maturation” and how their faith
grows. Chapters three to five explore the discipleship structures of Lighthouse Chapel International,
focusing especially on the Anagkazo Bible and Ministry Training Center, where the denomination’s
future full-time ministers are nurtured to recognize and attend to the call of God. Some of my
guiding questions are: What is the role of human relations in Pentecostal piety? How is charisma
transferred or transmitted? How learning unfolds in charismatic spirituality without jeopardizing the
givenness of grace and the sovereign agency of the Holy Spirit? What is the role of pedagogy in the
social reproduction of pastoral norms? How charisma finds different strategies of distribution,
according to specific ecclesiastical forms? I mobilize conceptual tools provided by the anthropology
of Christianity, linguistic anthropology, and the anthropology of ethics in order to develop a
theoretical framework that allows me to think the pedagogical dissemination of charismatic
discourse in Ghana, focusing especially on how religious empowerment becomes predicated on
specific forms of willing obedience.

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Acknowledgements

This dissertation relied on the support of a variety of institutions, mentors, interlocutors, friends,
and family members.

A CAPES/Fulbright multi-year fellowship allowed me to apply to UC Berkeley and move from
Brazil to California with my family. The fieldwork and writing stages were funded by the Andrew
and Mary Thompson Rocca fellowship (Center for African Studies, UC Berkeley), the A. Richard
Diebold Jr. Fellowship in Linguistic Anthropology, the John L. Simpson Memorial Research
Fellowship (Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley), the Dean’s Normative Time Fellowship
(UC Berkeley), and the Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship.

A key work condition for any student parent is to be assured that his child is cared for properly in
his absence. I therefore would like to thank the state (thus the people) of California for subsidizing
my son’s childcare and education, and extend this to his teachers Carmen, Pam, Tim, Cathy (Haste
Center), Bill, Becky, and Elizabeth (Thousand Oaks Elementary).

UC Berkeley is an exciting academic community supported by extremely competent staff. I would
like to thank especially Ned Garrett, Kathleen J. Van Sickle, Thomas Bottomley, and Bettina Lewis.

Aristotle argued that friendship (philia) may assume many forms, the highest of them being
friendship based on goodness, where friends admire the goodness of others and help one another
strive for personal growth. This includes reciprocity, inspiration, criticism, and difference.
Friendship is a special type of relation, as it allows one to receive from others without depriving
them from what they have. During my research project, I was blessed to find this mysterious bond
in diverse contexts, ranging from Brazil to California and Ghana.

I would like to thank Charles Hirschkind for being an incredible adviser, encouraging and inspiring
my work during all its stages as it flourished into written form. I found similar support in other
members of my committee: Mariane Ferme, Saba Mahmood and Tabitha Kanogo. I must add a note
of thanks to Mariane Ferme, for guiding me through a language that I was never able to make my
own. Other professors had a major formative impact on me during my time in Berkeley: Stefania
Pandolfo, Cori Hayden, Lawrence Cohen, Alexei Yurchak, Helene Miallet, and William Hanks. I
found similar support and inspiration outside of Berkeley in Joel Robbins and Jon Bialecki.
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A vibrant academic community such as Berkeley is made not only of inspiring mentors, but also of
an engaged and critical student body, which grows together in friendship. I would like to thank
especially Maiko Morimoto, Laurence Tessier, Krystal Strong, Patricia Kubala, Lyle Fearnley, Ruth
Goldstein, Mareike Winchell, Bharath Venkat, Sultan Doughan, Milad Odabaei, Ugo Edu, Himali
Dixit, Xochitl Vargas, Anthony Stavrianakis, Raphaelle Rabanes, Joshua Craze, Timo Rodriguez, and
Jason Price. To those I add the academic “outsiders” Joshua Brahisky, Yazan Doughan, and James
Redfield, as well as the non-academic friends in Berkeley-Albany, Sarah and Yudong Li, Scott
Byram, Beth Piatote, Luciano Santana, Soledad and Ernesto Martinez.

Ghanaians are widely known for their hospitality, an attribute I could only corroborate after
spending over one year in their company. Their kindness, concern with the minutia of social
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interactions, and openness to talk lends much-needed lightness to the hustle of the everyday in
Accra. These qualities often soothed the anxieties caused by a long separation from my family, and
allowed me to retain the best possible memories of Ghana, where I spent a period of incredible
learning and personal transformation. It is hard to put a few faces on my gratitude, but I have to do
so. Among the Pentecostal community, I would like to thank prophet Patrick Sam, apostle Atiemo,
evangelist Agyeman, bishop Nterful, reverend Hamish Oddoye, reverend Kindsley Tetteh, Seth
Mensah, reverend Kwasi Sampong, pastor Priscilla Nketia, pastor Mensah Otabil, pastor Simon
Peter, Prophetess Priscilla, and pastor Yaw Techi. Among the academic community, I found great
support and learning from professors Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and Elom Dovlo. I send my love
to the Darkuman community through the Quaynor family and my brothers Nana Sarfo and
Billeyocion Ballam.

Last but definitely not least, I am grateful to my family, who kept me sane and full of life as this
project unfolded. This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of my parents
and brother, Mario, Katia, and Pablo Reinhardt, and my in-laws Vera and Guilherme Cesarino.
Mathias Reinhardt is a loving son, a caring big brother, and a great source of fun, and I thank him
for allowing me to see life through his insightful lenses and for introducing me to a wonderful group
of buddies, among whom Diego, Alex, Tito, Zachary, and Jack. I thank little Iara for being such a
lovely gift, which renewed the joy and the nurturing bond that keep our family together. Above all, I
thank Leticia Cesarino for being my loving partner in this ethnographic adventure among the most
peculiar “natives”: Americans. It is amazing how much we grew by going together through the good
and the bad times. Without Leticia’s wisdom and serenity, I could not have accomplished this work,
and her influence suffuses the text that follows. I dedicate this dissertation to her, which is just a
formality, since it has always been hers, as anything good I have done in the past seven years.

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Table of contents

Introduction
Uncertainty, pedagogy, and the dissemination of Pentecostalism in Ghana | 1

1 Signs of the charismatic revival
2 Ungovernable religion: the erratic publicity of the revival
3 What pedagogy has to offer: thinking the labor of discernment in uncertain conditions
4 Three levels of contingency: or situating religious pedagogy in the “city of man”
5 Summary of the chapters

Chapter 1
The problem in history: conversion, discontinuity, and the changing countenances of Christianity in
Ghana |23

1.1 Missionary pioneers
1.2 The missionary and colonial epoch: the “civilizatory mission” and its double binds
1.3 The nationalist epoch and the varieties of “Africanization”
1.4 The Pentecostal explosion and the epoch of globalization and structural adjustment

Chapter 2
Of grace and growth: spiritual maturation and the realignments of Pentecostal rupture in Ghana |
61

2.1 Christianity, discontinuity, relationality: some introductory remarks
2.2 From event to process: spiritual maturation and the trivialization of Christian discontinuity in
Ghana
2.3 Seeking maturity through discipleship programs: the denomination as a place of nurturance
2.4 Spiritual kinship: seeking maturity through personal relations
2.5 Pastor Gideon’s growth into the ministerial vocation: three iterations of the father
2.6 Engaging with a “family covenant”: evil and piety in evangelist Daniel’s conversion and
maturation
2.7 Rethinking Pentecostal natality through spiritual maturation

Chapter 3
A zeal machine: pedagogy, charisma, and authority in Lighthouse Chapel International | 97

3.1 Lighthouse Chapel International: an apostolic mission and ethos
3.2 Anagkazo Bible and Ministry Training Center: mission and facilities
3.3 A broad picture of Anagkazo’s student body
3.4 Many paths lead to Anagkazo: a typology of conversion careers
3.5 Desirous pupils: the varieties of the call of God in Anagkazo
3.6 An apostolic power: charismatic authority and pastoral power in LCI

Chapter 4
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The pedagogy of Anagkazo Bible School: unpacking the disciplines of the ministerial way of life |
131
4.1 Institutional disciplines: excellence, loyalty, and humbleness
4.2 Academic disciplines: manuals, citations, glosses, and testimonies
4.3 The disciplines of apprenticeship: training “practically oriented ministers of the gospel”

Chapter 5
Spiritual exercises in Anagkazo: a charismatic askesis | 166
5.1 Charismatic askesis: modes of presence and yielding
5.2 Yielding to the Spirit within: quiet time and Bible memorization
5.3 Yielding to the Spirit upon: corporate prayer in Anagkazo
5.4 Yielding to the Spirit across: impartation, the anointing, and soaking in tapes

Conclusion
Tapping into the anointing: order, disorder, and the varieties of Pentecostalism in Ghana |
199
1 Unveiling a problem-space: What is a Christian?
2 Reassembling the ecclesia: retracing the path of spiritual maturation
3 Rethinking the politics of the end-times church: apostolic power
4 Apostolic power in Lighthouse Chapel International: a “passion for souls”
5 The prophet and the disciple: finding oneself in a movement

Bibliography | 238

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Introduction - Uncertainty, pedagogy, and the dissemination of Pentecostalism in Ghana

1. Signs of the charismatic revival

Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity has expanded in sub-Saharan Africa vigorously
especially since the 1980s (Meyer 2004a). Its influence has been recognized by scholars on fields as
diverse as attitudes towards local cultures and traditional religions (Meyer 1999), public spheres,
public cultures, and politics (Ranger 2008, Englund 2012), gender (Soothill 2007) and health (Prince,
Denis and Van Dijk 2009) ideologies, and the development apparatus (Freeman 2012). Ghana is no
exception (Gifford 2004), and almost 30% of the population declared themselves Pentecostal
Christians in the 2010 census. These numbers can rise to almost 50% in Southern Ghana, where
Christianity has had a longer and deeper historical presence.
Following this charismatic dissemination during my fieldwork, mostly in Accra, I was led to
conventional religious settings such as church buildings, but also to locations that only from afar
reminded me of the circumscribed sacredness I intuitively attributed to the notion of a “temple”:
private compound houses, primary and secondary school classrooms, construction sites, and even
places defined explicitly as "enemy" territories, such as bars and nightclubs, in their off hours. Here
religious gatherings of different shapes and sizes were hosted. Generally, participants embraced the
promises of an immanent expression of the Holy Spirit in their lives in terms of empowerment
through spiritual gifts (speaking in tongues, healing, deliverances from demons, prophecy) and
miraculous interventions. Small churches and informal Christian associations are supported by a
flexible and informal ecclesiology, in consonance with Jesus’ widely quoted claim in Matthew 18:20,
that “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (NIV). Some become
exclusively centered on the patriarchal or matriarchal figure of the charismatic leader, similar to Old
Testament model of prophetic leadership that can bestow intercessory powers on followers, whereas
others assume a form similar to the church-houses (kat’ oikon ekklesia) the apostle Paul established
among the Ephesians (see Moxnes 1997)--a Christian family balancing the centrality of the
charismatic leader with a democratized distribution of functions among disciples. In the latter case,
everyone has some degree of access to the Spirit, and enjoys a peripheral place in church life.
Members might help in the logistics, perform mutual counseling and prayer, or lead Bible reading
groups and evangelistic outreaches. It is hard to pin down a single orienting model for doctrine and
liturgy, but most converts can easily legitimize their rules of engagement by referring to a web of
citations from the Bible.
One of the most remarkable and unconventional charismatic sites I visited while in Accra
was Achimota forest. The forest lies in a park right next to the famous Achimota School, once the
jewel of late British colonialism, where several of Ghana’s leaders and public figures were educated,
including a number of presidents. Since the 1980s, Achimota forest has become a “prayer ground”,
where born-again Christians “wait for the Lord” through fasting and lengthy prayers in tongues. In
its relative seclusion, converts can perform their activities at dawn without disturbing neighbors, and
some have built huts in the area, where they might dwell for weeks or months. One of its long
habitués, pastor Moses, was particularly concerned to clarify that Achimota forest was just a place of
retreat:
Jesus, John the Baptist, Elijah, Elisha, they never mingled themselves too much with the people. They
only went to the cities with clear assignments. Go there and do that, then they came back and
continued in their spiritual ways. We here, and me personally for almost eighteen years, have been
praying spiritually, or doing spiritual exercises, not only in the city, but also in other prayer places. I
have a hut like this elsewhere. I have a house in Atwia [another prayer retreat, in the Ashanti region].
Last time I spent 8 months there. This change of environment is vital for a Christian. It makes you
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revive. You come here and I tell you: Bruno, let’s pray. This brings revival. It’s also another way of
renewing my mind and my experiences, you understand? These things brought us to this settlement.
It’s not because we don’t have houses or homes. We have good places to sleep.

Pastor Moses complemented his comments by reminding me that the forest was an informal
breeding ground of Pentecostalism in Ghana, where famous ministers like Mensah Otabil and Steve
Mensah cultivated their spirituality and learned how to be led by the Holy Spirit as they built their
popular and well-established churches. His description was accurate although highly official, and I
could not avoid noticing that Achimota had also become the site of an ambiguous form of holy
squatting from more humble pastors, since housing in Accra is scarce and expensive. Once thick,
the vegetation has now receded, and dwellers started farming the land with cassava, corn and yams.
A number of clearings appeared, and a Christian settlement has been established. During my visits, I
met among its inhabitants converts, neophytes, and experienced pastors coming from diverse
regions of Ghana and even Nigeria. I found out that frictions with other land users were common,
especially thieves, marijuana users, and the school administration, which periodically sent the police
to harass the forest dwellers, demolish their huts, and evict them. But they resisted, persisted, and
returned. “It’s our place now”, told me one of the pastor-squatters. They cook, clean, read the Bible
and share devotional literature, pray together, talk about the revelations they received from the Holy
Spirit, and learn from each other. Achimota forest has become a mystical polis, a place of piety and
hope within a city suffused by the revival.

Many of the born-again Christians I met in Achimota were evangelists, meaning that one of
the tasks they perform in the deterritorialized body of Christ that today stretches across Ghana is to
interpellate others about the Christian truth. Evangelists further erode any attempt to encapsulate
Pentecostalism spatially or temporally. Energetic soul-winners, they take over cities and towns early
in the morning, announcing through “dawn broadcasting” the imminence of Christ’s return,
exhorting all to repent and accept salvation. They might approach you face-to-face and ask if you
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