Pentecostalism and Witchcraft: Spiritual Warfare in Africa and Melanesia - Hardcover

by Knut Rio (Editor), Michelle MacCarthy (Editor), Ruy Blanes (Editor)

Juxtaposes case studies from Melanesia and Africa in order to better compare, contrast, and illuminate the effects of and engagements with PentecostalismFocuses on chief themes of Pentecostalism and witchcraft while also bringing in discussions of globalization, visibility, movements of capital, and embodiment
Presents rich and detailed case studies while also offering up wide-ranging theoretical analyses and critiques of established thinking/concepts
Open Access

Back Jacket

This open access book presents fresh ethnographic work from the regions of Africa and Melanesia--where the popularity of charismatic Christianity can be linked to a revival and transformation of witchcraft. The volume demonstrates how the Holy Spirit has become an adversary to the reconfirmed presence of witches, demons, and sorcerers as manifestations of evil. We learn how this is articulated in spiritual warfare, in crusades, and in healing or witch-killing raids. The contributors highlight what happens to phenomena that people address as locally specific witchcraft or sorcery when re-molded within the universalist Pentecostal demonology, vocabulary, and confrontational methodology.

Author Biography

Knut Rio is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, Norway
Michelle MacCarthy is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bergen, Norway
Ruy Blanes is a Ramon y Cajal fellow at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Spain