spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

work of the Spirit, who is the key for “abundant life in a precarious socio-economic and political
environment” (Kalu 2002:129). Asamoah-Gyadu (2007:307) confirms the inextricable link
between Holy Spirit and power when he says that “Pentecostalism is about the experience of the
power of the Holy Spirit” (see also Gräbe 2002:236f; Anderson 2002:525).
The Pentecostal approach to power can generally be identified as a thaumaturgical theology of
power. This means that this theology presupposes and insists that it is possible for humans to
experience the extraordinary effect of the supernatural in creaturely life (Wilson 1969:368). The
Holy Spirit is capable of breaking into the lives of people in order to address their human needs
and thus to reveal the victory of God’s righteousness (cf. Asamoah-Gyadu 2007:306). The focus
on the power of the Holy Spirit is, therefore, rooted in the perception of reality as an open reality
where divine power intervenes on behalf of believers. One aspect of such a pneumatology of
power is the hope for personal benefits in the present. Prosperity and deliverance from evil
forces are perceived as signs of the Spirit’s power. The effectiveness of the genuine power of the
Spirit transpires in the ability of the Spirit to address existential, this-worldly needs and to turn
them into situations of abundance. According to Anderson (1990:73), this pneumatology of
power distinguishes Pentecostalism from other traditions.
The manifestation of the power of the Spirit also refers to victory over evil, allowing believers to
live victoriously. As Anderson (1991:72) has pointed out, Pentecostal theologies have often
justifiably been criticized with regard to an overemphasis on power and success at the expense of
a theology of the cross (see also Gräbe 2002:242; Fudge 2003). The power of the Spirit is linked
to a particular understanding of salvation, a holistic theology of salvation: salvation is not seen
“exclusively in terms of salvation from sinful acts and from eternal condemnation in the
hereafter (…), but also in terms of salvation from sickness (healing), from evil spiritis
(exorcism), and from other forms of misfortunes” (Anderson 2001:233; see also Anderson
2002:527; Matthey 2004:407). In general, it can be said that in the Pentecostal understanding,
divine power is seen as experiential, intervening and soteriological. In response to criticism on
Pentecostalism’s heavy emphasis on pneumatological soteriology, Amos Yong (2005:111f, with
reference to Dabney 2000:511-524) proposes a constructive approach to a pneumatology of the
cross, whereby the Spirit is not only seen as the One who has resurrection power, but also as the
One who leads followers of the Son to their crosses.
imagination, and eventually undermines the well-being of the whole African continent. Even though one could
question Ngong’s implicit redefinition of salvation for Africa (namely as a prominent position for Africa in the
global political economy, p. 147), his proposal to reflect further and deeper on African pneumatological soteriology
is innovative.
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