Philip Jenkins
Real witchcraft: Potent solutions
Just when it seemed that the interminable presidential campaign had plumbed every depth of the absurd, witchcraft entered the picture....
Nollywood: The Nigerian film industry
As part of the astonishing cinema boom known as Nollywood, some 300 Nigerian producers churn out around 2,000 films each year. Their market of almost 150 million people makes this the world’s third-largest film industry, after Hollywood and the Indian Bollywood. The films go straight to DVD or VCD and sell hundreds of thousands of copies in Nigeria alone, not to mention circulation among the Nigerian disapora in North America and Western Europe. Because videos are passed on from hand to hand, actual viewership is impossible to determine. Explicitly Christian videos make up a large part of the output, which is not surprising when we realize that perhaps 45 percent of Nigerians follow this faith.
Before Azusa Street: Brazilian Pentecostalism
Any account of the modern expansion of Christianity worldwide must pay respectful attention to Pentecostal and charismatic forms of worship....
The Aladura churches of Nigeria: Stunning geographical reach
Not long ago I was taking a cab from O’Hare Airport to downtown Chicago, and my friendly driver proved to be a Nigerian from the Yoruba people....
Liberating word: The power of the Bible in the global South
Today, as the center of gravity of the Christian world moves ever southward, the conservative traditions prevailing in the global South matter more and more. To adapt a phrase from missions scholar Lamin Sanneh: Whose reading—whose Christianity—is normal now?
The antimuseum: Indian history without a guide
The new National Museum of the American Indian has become one of Washington, D.C.’s major tourist attractions. According to its own statements, the museum is “breathtaking . . ....