Religious Remediations

Pentacostal Views in Ghanaian Video-Movies

Authors

  • Birgit Meyer University of Amsterdam and Free University of Amsterdam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v1i2_3.155

Keywords:

Pentacostal-Charismatic Christianity, African Christianity, religion and film

Abstract

This article addresses the interface of video-films and Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity in Ghana. This interface, it is argued, needs to be examined from a position that transcends the confines of film studies and religious studies and leaves behind a secularist perspective on the relationship between religion and film. On the basis of detailed ethnographic research, it is shown that, far from standing apart from the realm of religious beliefs, video-films call upon audio-visual technologies so as to remediate Pentecostal views of the invisible world around which Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity evolves. Video-films invoke a “techno-religious realism” that addresses spectators in such a way that they authorize video representations as authentic. Transcending facile oppositions of technology and belief, media and authenticity, and entertainment and religion, video-films are shown to achieve immediacy and authenticity not at the expense of, but thanks to, media technologies and practices of remediation.

Author Biography

  • Birgit Meyer, University of Amsterdam and Free University of Amsterdam

    Birgit Meyer is Professor of Relgion and Society at the University of Amsterdam and Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the Free University of Amsterdam. Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology De Boelelaan 1081 1081 HV Amsterdam The Netherlands

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Published

2005-12-03

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Meyer, B. (2005). Religious Remediations: Pentacostal Views in Ghanaian Video-Movies. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 1(2-3), 155-181. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v1i2_3.155