Rethinking the Great Commission: Incorporation of Akan Indigenous Symbols into Christian Worship
Symbols are communicative tools with performative functions in all cultures. Apart from their decorative functions, non-Christian symbols adopted into Christianity have had a tremendous impact on Christian life since the early times, especially in liturgical practices. Through Western missionary act...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2018]
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| In: |
International review of mission
Year: 2018, Volume: 107, Issue: 1, Pages: 261-278 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture CE Christian art KBN Sub-Saharan Africa KDB Roman Catholic Church KDD Protestant Church RJ Mission; missiology |
| Further subjects: | B
Theological
B Incorporation B Adinkra B Symbols B Religious B Mission (international law |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Symbols are communicative tools with performative functions in all cultures. Apart from their decorative functions, non-Christian symbols adopted into Christianity have had a tremendous impact on Christian life since the early times, especially in liturgical practices. Through Western missionary activities, Ghana inherited Christian biblical-liturgical art as has been developed in the home countries of the missionaries. However, since the 1960s Adinkra symbols have been incorporated into Christian worship and theology, receiving attention within secular and religious circles because of their communicative potential. On the religious level, some churches have adopted them as logos or incorporated them into architectural designs and liturgical art. This paper seeks to investigate what motivates various missions to choose particular Adinkra symbol(s) and what they hope to achieve with them. Furthermore, it attempts a theological reflection on the communicative potential of artefacts in Ghanaian Christianity as a response to the Great Commission. We approach the subject from a historical, contextual, and theological perspective, using selected Roman Catholic and Methodist churches in Ghana as case studies. The study employed unstructured in-depth interviews and photo elicitations to trace the relationship between visual arts and religion, with particular emphasis on Christian visual arts and how they have informed Christianity in Ghana. |
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| ISSN: | 1758-6631 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: International review of mission
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/irom.12221 |