The God Who Answers by Fire (1 Kings 18:20–39): Ritual Healing Innovations in African Pentecostalism
摘要
Ritual healing and deliverance creativities and innovations in African Pentecostal (AP) churches have become a phenomenon, if not a hallmark, of African Pentecostalism in sub-Saharan Africa, yet there is little contextual knowledge known that informs such innovations. Using the fire healing ritual in the Pentecostal Church Universal (PCU) in Nairobi, Kenya as a case study, the paper attempts to offer explanatory frameworks for ritual deliverance innovations and creativities. This chapter shows that healing rituals have cultural and biblical premises. Church pastors often blend the African traditional cultural symbolism with the Bible narratives to innovate ritual materials—which make meaning to an African Christian. The usage of the Bible in grounding this ritual is part of the continued processes of Africanizing the Bible/Christianity, especially in the socio-economic and technological spaces which call for creative approaches in creating meaning to life and religion.