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One hundred and fifty years of Christianity in a Ghanaian town

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

John Middleton
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Extract

This paper deals with certain aspects of a Christian congregation in a kingdom of southern Ghana, in particular its growth over the past 150 years and the part it plays in the lives of the people of the capital town of the state. Most studies of the development of Christianity in Africa deal with questions of religious ideology (especially that of the conflict between different systems of belief), of conversion, and of the growth of syncretist and separatist movements. Here I am concerned with the development of a Christian congregation that is neither syncretist nor separatist and with its place as one element of a total local religious system which includes other faiths. It is the local congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in the town of Akuropon, the capital of the eastern Akan kingdom of Akuapem, in the Akuapem Hills that lie some twenty-five miles north of Accra, the national capital. The state has a resident population of about 70,000 and the town one of some 6000. However, the number of people who, wherever they live, regard themselves as Akuroponfo, ‘people of Akuropon’, probably amounts to some 20,000. Those who live elsewhere return to the town when they can at weekends, Christmas, Easter, and the great annual purificatory festival of Odwira, held in September or October; and most hope finally to return to their ‘home-town’ (as it is known in Ghana) to be buried. Although not a large town, it is known widely as the seat of the main educational facilities of the Presbyterian Church since the arrival of the Basel Mission in the then Gold Coast in 1828. Due largely to this fact it has provided more than its share of political, educational and other leaders of Gold Coast and Ghanian society.

Résumé

Cent cinquante ans de Christianisme dans une ville ghanéenne

La ville de Akuropon, capitale de l'état Akan d'Akuapem au Ghana, a connu la présence chrétienne au cours des derniers cent cinquante ans, centrée au début sur la Mission de Bâle, puis sur l'Eglise libre d'Ecosse, et maintenant sur l'Eglise presbytérienne du Ghana. De nos jours presque toute la population est presbytérienne, bien que le culte royal ancestral et beaucoup de cultes des esprits fleurissent encore.

De 1835 au milieu du dix neuvième siècle l'Eglise était en opposition avec la religion traditionnelle. Mais avec l'abolition de l'esclavage, l'introduction du cacao, et le système scolaire efficace de l'Eglise, elle est devenue peu à peu l'Eglise de l'élite sociale. Elle joue aussi un rôle important dans l'organisation des héritages à l'intérieur des “maisons” matrilinéaires et de ce fait exerce une influence du point de vue juridique.

Bien que la plupart des gens soient presbytériens ils peuvent également consulter les cultes des esprits et autres, pour la plupart mouvements Chrétiens et de Pentecôte, pour trouver des remèdes aux maladies et au manque de succès en ce monde. Un plus grand nombre de femmes que d'hommes se rendent à l'église, et les pratiquants les plus strictes tendent à être plus riches et d'un statut social plus élevé que les moins pratiquants ou les non presbytériens. Il arrive que certaines personnes se convertissent à la fin de leur vie afin d'être enterrées dans le prestigieux cimetière presbytérien. L'Eglise presbytérienne a depuis longtemps accepté des compromis avec les pratiquants des cultes royaux et son rôle innovatif et prophétique des premières années est devenu plus conservateur.

Type
Christianity and the local community
Information
Africa , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , July 1983 , pp. 2 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1983

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