Responding Rationally to Situational Problems: An Analytical Account of the Waves of Pentecostal Movements in Ghana

Type Journal Article - American Journal of Sociological Research
Title Responding Rationally to Situational Problems: An Analytical Account of the Waves of Pentecostal Movements in Ghana
Author(s)
Volume 4
Issue 5
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2014
Page numbers 132-142
URL http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.sociology.20140405.02.html
Abstract
In many parts of the world especially in Africa, the choices people make regarding which religious organisation to affiliate with is informed by the cost and benefits the person or group of individuals involved in it stand to gain. Using cost and benefit in deciding which religion to affiliate with put religion in a problem solving position in recent times. Using a purposive sampling technique, a total of 60 research participants were engaged in an interview to elicit their views on the development of Pentecostal churches (divine industries). The findings revealed three different waves of Pentecostalism in Ghana over the last one century. Each wave was in response to a peculiar type of problem at the time. The paper thus concludes that Pentecostalism as a religious faith remains the same, but its forms and strategies continue to change in response to social and spiritual problems at any given period, thus sustaining its life span and influence in society.

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