Karen Lauterbach contributes new chapter on charismatic Christianity in Ghana
CAS Director Karen Lauterbach has contributed a new chapter examining the experiences of young charismatic pastors in Ghana to a new scholarly volume on Pentecostalism in postcolonial Africa.
Titled “Moving with the Flow: Reflections on Movement and Flow among Young Pastors in Charismatic Christianity in Ghana,” the chapter explores how young religious actors navigate the changing boundaries between religious and secular life, institutional and non-institutional spaces, and different phases of personal transformation.
Drawing on phenomenological anthropology and the concept of existential mobility, Lauterbach examines movement, flow and rhythm as central features of religious life. Through the life story of a young pastor-musician, the chapter shows how charismatic Christianity can function as a dynamic and improvisational space in which individuals negotiate identity, spirituality and the structural challenges of everyday life.
The chapter appears in a volume that brings together scholarly perspectives on Pentecostalism across Africa, with contributions addressing contexts including Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana. The collection examines Pentecostalism through questions of dialectics, postcoloniality and social transformation, considering how churches and believers respond to issues such as poverty, gender inequality, democratic governance and health crises.
Across its contributions, the volume presents African Pentecostalism as a complex and continually evolving phenomenon; one shaped both by the historical legacies of missionary Christianity and colonialism and by contemporary African cultural, social and spiritual realities.
Read more about the book here: Pentecostalism in the Postcolony