Translating the Spirit World

Abstract

This chapter makes a theoretical excursion into the social scientific literature on how African popular religion reappears in Pentecostalism, transforming old views in discontinuity while remaining in continuity with the spirit world in which it is immersed. Birgit Meyer’s phrase “translating the devil” examines whether biblical concepts have simply been transferred without change into already existing traditional beliefs. A comparative discussion of literature from other parts of southern Africa is made, and how ethnographic research and literature can assist a theological analysis. Studies on the spirit world, exorcism and “witchdemonology,” and other literature on African Pentecostalism are analysed. This chapter discusses “responsible syncretism” and intercultural theology.