African Witchcraft and Pentecostalism

This paper focuses upon African witchcraft and the impact of Christianity on this. After discussing the notion of mystical mentality, it examines the role of Pentecostalism with its emphasis on evil spirits and deliverance on the perpetuation of witchcraft convictions in Africa using Ghana as an illustrative example. There are clear parallels between the spiritual cosmology in African traditional religion and the Pentecostal demonic world. It moves on to examine the inequality, capitalism and the Prosperity Gospel in the process of maintaining witchcraft beliefs. Overall, evidence supports the assertion that Pentecostalism in Africa maintains or even intensifies the phenomenon of witchcraft.