Reviewed by Emma Wild-Wood (University of Edinburgh). Since its beginnings in the 1930s the East African Revival has had a lasting influence on the religious culture of the region. It began in Uganda and Rwanda as a lively, internal critique to the orderly and hierarchical Anglican Church of Uganda
Book reviews
Lauterbach, Karen. 2017. Christianity, Wealth, and Spiritual Power in Ghana
Reviewed by Girish Daswani (University of Toronto). In an important thesis published in 1998, Birgit Meyer showed how making a âcomplete break with the pastâ had become a central concern for Ghanaian Pentecostals. Five years later, Joel Robbinsâ (2003) piece on the
Heuser, Andreas, ed. 2015. Pastures of Plenty: Tracing Religio-Scapes of Prosperity Gospel in Africa and Beyond
Reviewed by Hans Olsson (Lund University). This multidisciplinary volume adds to a growing body of scholarly work focusing on the highly debated topic of Pentecostal-Charismatic prosperity teachings (a.k.a., the faith gospel or health and wealth gospel).
Halemba, Agnieszka. 2015. Negotiating Marian Apparitions: The Politics of Religion in Transcarpathian Ukraine
Reviewed by Sonja Luehrmann (Simon Fraser University). Catholic believers have been seeing the Virgin Mary appear for centuries, especially at times of crisis and social and ecclesiastical upheaval. In her book, Agnieszka Halemba argues that what is remarkable about these visions is not that they occur
Tarango, Angela. 2015. Choosing the Jesus Way: American Indian Pentecostals and the Fight for the Indigenous Principle.
Reviewed by Aminta Arrington (John Brown University). In the 1880s, two missions administrators, one on each side of the Atlantic Ocean, simultaneously, yet independently, developed the indigenous principle (also called the three-self principle): that the goal of missions should be to create self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating churches
Vilaça, Aparecida. 2016. Praying and Preying: Christianity in Indigenous Amazonia, translated by David Rodgers
Reviewed by G.E.R. Lloyd (Needham Research Institute, Cambridge UK). This is a truly remarkable book. In most anthropological monographs the reader is given a detailed analysis of one particular collectivity, the circumstances of their lives, their kinship relations, social structures, myths, rituals, ways of making sense of the world and of their place in it.Â
Meyer, Birgit. 2015. Sensational Movies: Video, Vision, and Christianity in Ghana
Reviewed by John Durham Peters and Gavin Feller (University of Iowa). One of the most exciting things about the anthropology of Christianity is the way it uses the minutiae of practices in out of the way cultures to cast light on ancient and deep philosophical and religious questions
Boyd, Lydia. 2015. Preaching prevention: born-again Christianity and the moral politics of AIDS in Uganda
Reviewed by Anna Eisenstein (University of Virginia). Lydia Boydâs Preaching Prevention charts two moments in Ugandaâs recent history: the roll-out of the US Presidentâs Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and Ugandaâs Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
Becker, Adam. 2015. Revival and Awakening: American Evangelical Missionaries in Iran and the Origins of Assyrian Nationalism
Reviewed by Secil Dagtas (University of Waterloo). What is the relationship between the modern categories of âreligionâ and ânationâ? The general tendency in popular and academic works has been to approach this relationship as one of tension, contradiction, or replacement.
Bowler, Kate. 2013. Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel.
Reviewed by Martin Lindhardt (University of Southern Denmark). Kate Bowlerâs book is an important and highly readable contribution to our understanding of the history and significance of the so-called prosperity gospel