Ghana's New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy.

• Author: Kircher-Allen, Eamon
• Position: Book review

GHANA'S NEW CHRISTIANITY: PENTECOSTALISM IN A GLOBALIZING AFRICAN ECONOMY Paul Gifford (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2004), 216 pages.

Africa's booming Pentecostal churches have nourished a solid body of anthropological studies in recent years. Most have focused on the meanings of the movement's hallmarks--the emphasis on wealth, the transnational ministries and the acknowledgement of witchcraft and other supernatural forces. In his book Ghana's New Christianity, Paul Gifford takes a different approach, asking just how the charismatic movement affects political and economic development in a practical sense.

Development practitioners will appreciate Gifford's straightforwardness. There is no talk of Foucauldian power dynamics here. His analyses are meticulous and literal. For example, Gifford finds that churches' emphasis on miraculous, work-free wealth may discourage initiative and entrepreneurship. On the political side, Gifford argues that a focus on morality rather than institution-building may hinder governance reform.

Gifford lends credence to his insights with an account of Ghana's economy and recent history. In so doing, he introduces the reader to...