Presents a multidisciplinary study of how Nigerian pentecostals conceive of and engage with a spirit-filled world, arguing that the character of the movement is defined through an underlying "spell of the invisible." This book presents a multidisciplinary study of how Nigerian Pentecostals conceive of and engage with a spirit-filled world. It seeks to discern the spirituality of the charismatic religious movement in Nigeria in relation to issues of politics, national sovereignty, economic development, culture, racial identity, gender, social ethics, and epistemology. Nimi Wariboko describes the faith's core beliefs and practices, revealing a "spell of the invisible" that defines not only the character of the movement but also believers' ways of seeing, being, and doing. Written by an insider to the tradition, Nigerian Pentecostalism will also engage outsiders with an interest in criticalsocial theory, political theory, and philosophy. Nimi Wariboko is the Katherine B. Stuart Professor of Christian Ethics at Andover Newton Theological School, Newton, Massachusetts.

In 1972, Reinhard Bonnke heard a message from God:

"Africa shall be saved." Obediently, Bonnke moved to

Africa, where his ministry grew from humble roots to

crusades drawing more than one million people per night.

His ministry spawned incredible healing miracles of God,

saw the conversion of Muslims at a rate that warranted a

letter of warning from Osama bin Laden, and registered

more than 74 million decisions for Christ. In 2001,

Bonnke debated whether or not to move his ministry to

America.

Before he could think of leaving decades of missionary

work in Africa, Bonnke did something he had never done

before: he prayed for a sign that would confirm such a

move. God was about to answer that prayer.

A few days later, a woman brought the body of her

deceased husband to the Nigerian church where Bonnke

was preaching, in hopes that he would be raised from

the dead. Bonnke was unaware of this, and he never even

prayed for this man; but as he concluded his message,

he heard a chorus of shouts: "He's breathing He's

breathing " In front of thousands of witnesses, a man

dead three days had been raised back to life.

Now detailed for the first time, this incredible miracle is

part of a movement of God that was birthed in a small

African church and is now stretching around the world to

America. It is the beginning of a work of God, confirming

a new word: "America shall be saved."

"Nine Days in Heaven" relates the vision of twenty-five-year-old Marietta Davis more than 150 years ago, where she was shown the beauties of heaven and the horrors of hell. Told in modern language, the book contains poignant quotes from the original vision, as well as biblical teaching points and testimonials from individuals whose lives have been impacted with this vision during the past 150 years. Pull-out quotes from the original vision are included, as are short testimonials from readers whose lives have been impacted by this vision. Teaching points and biblical comments appear throughout the chapters.

Transcripts of the Sacred in Nigeria explores how the sacred plays itself out in contemporary Africa. It offers a creative analysis of the logics and dynamics of the sacred (understood as the constellation of im/possibility available to a given community) in religion, politics, epistemology, economic development, and reactionary violence. Using the tools of philosophy, postcolonial criticism, political theory, African studies, religious studies, and cultural studies, Wariboko reveals the intricate connections between the sacred and the existential conditions that characterize disorder, terror, trauma, despair, and hope in the postcolonial Africa. The sacred, Wariboko argues, is not about religion or divinity but the set of possibilities opened to a people or denied them, the sum total of possibilities conceivable given their level of social, technological, and economic development. These possibilities profoundly speak to the present political moment in sub-Saharan Africa.