The africanization of Catholicism in Ghana : from inculturation to pentecostalization

This article discusses the Africanization of Catholicism in Ghana as a process that embraces activities deriving from the inculturation doctrine as well as those emerging during the most recent process of pentecostalization. The complex and changing historical and current discourses on “African tradition”, “traditional religion”, and “African spirituality” are presented in relation to the creation of an independent Ghana and the state-instigated concept of “national heritage”, as well as the Catholic theological developments strongly shaped by the Second Vatican Council. The influences of Pentecostal and charismatic Churches are described and the pentecostalization of Catholicism is interpreted as a kind of subversive development of inculturation doctrine and practices. The article refers to the material and embodied aspects of religion, pointing to the importance of material culture and “embodied continuation” in shaping contemporary African Christian and African Catholic identities. The article draws on ethnographic material collected in Catholic parishes in central Ghana.