A Biblical and Cultural Vision of God in Contemporary African Pentecostal/Charismatic Homiletics

Abstract

This paper analyses the biblical and contextual relevance of two sermons preached by one of Ghana’s leading contemporary Pentecostal/Charismatic preachers by name Mensa Anamua Otabil. The titles of these sermons are: “Our God is an Awesome God: The Great Provider”, and “Our God is an Awesome God: The Lord of Hosts”. Otabil, is the founder and overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), and the founding Chancellor of Central University College. In Ghana and beyond, he is described by many as a statesman, an entrepreneur, a scholar, a leader, an author, and even a ‘politician’. Otabil in particular, is one of the contemporary African Pentecostal/ Charismatic preachers who has contributed to a radically new understanding and appropriation of the Bible in relation to African Christianity, traditional religiosity and identity, and the African social, economic, political, and cultural challenges. These new understandings represent a decolonization of biblical theology and interpretation, and the making of authentically contextual contributions to contemporary African Christian theology. He actually belongs to a new generation of African preachers who are pioneering a new synthesis arising from engagement of Scripture with the total African experience.

Keywords

• theology of provision
• the isaac view of life
• living by facts; faith-life principles
• attitude of faith
• mount moriah
• living by faith; the mount of the lord