The Spread of Born-Againism
Interesting report here from the Pew Forum on Latino religion in the US. "About a third of all Catholics in the U.S. are now Latinos, and... more than half... identify themselves as charismatics, compared with only an eighth of non-Hispanic Catholics." About 23% of all US Hispanics are some kind of Protestant, usually evangelical, and "Latinos who are evangelicals are twice as likely as those who are Catholics to identify with the Republican Party."
None of it, here in Africa, or elsewhere, is about doctrine. People are hungry for an experience: "many of those who are joining evangelical churches are Catholic converts. The desire for a more direct, personal experience of God emerges as by far the most potent motive for these conversions. Although these converts express some dissatisfaction with the lack of excitement in a typical Catholic Mass, negative views of Catholicism do not appear to be a major reason for their conversion."
Born-againism is emerging as the face of Christendom in the 21st century, throughout the world. It certainly and completely defines Christianity in Africa, no matter what church you belong to.
posted by john at
2:18 AM
2 Comments:
I think there are some threads that need to be teased apart here.
Strictly speaking 'born-again' Evangelicism and the Pentecostal-Charismatic Renewal are separate, albeit related, movements.
Even though many Pentecostals would accept the Evangelical tag, there are many, many, Evangelical Christians who are not Charismatic in the slightest and would even be offended by such a direct equation.
In fact a truly nuanced approach would recognize differentiation between the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements as well.
I would suggest that what you are referring to is best more narrowly defined as Pentecostalism and Charismatic Catholicism.
I suspect that it may be somewhat different in East Africa when compared with other parts of the continent. The East African revival of the 1930s, which started in Rwanda, gave rise to the balokole, who changed the nature of Christian discourse in East Africa.
There is something similar in Southern Africa, but it is more Pentecostal ub flafour than the balokole, and gave rise to the term "bazalwane" -- "Brethren!", though that has its root in the verb "zala" -- to be born.
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