The faith-healers of the Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso: Taking responsibility for diseases related to "living together"

Social Compass

Volumn 48, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 333-351

  Laurent, Pierre Joseph ^a  

^a U d'Anthropologie et de Sociologie   (Belgium)

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EID: 0035538315     PISSN: 00377686     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/003776801048003003     Document Type: Article

References (29)

1. In 1999, on the occasion of their 85th anniversary, the Assemblies of God boasted 32 million members from 158 different countries ("Where we've been" A/G online USA, 2000, p. 2). The most important faith communities are located in Brazil, which has no less than 13 million members (E.L. Nascimento, "Praise the Lord and Pass the Catsup", News from Brasil, cover story, 1995). There are 2.5 million members in the United States, 1 million converts in Nigeria, Peru and Korea (N. Luca, "Pentecôtisme en Corée", Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions 105, 1999, pp. 99-123). This is without counting the churches in Mexico and Argentina (A. Corten, Le pentecôtisme au Brésil. Emotion du pauvre et romantisme théologique, Paris, Karthala, 1995, p.75). In Burkina Faso, there are more than a half-million members.
2. In 1999, on the occasion of their 85th anniversary, the Assemblies of God boasted 32 million members from 158 different countries ("Where we've been" A/G online USA, 2000, p. 2). The most important faith communities are located in Brazil, which has no less than 13 million members (E.L. Nascimento, "Praise the Lord and Pass the Catsup", News from Brasil, cover story, 1995). There are 2.5 million members in the United States, 1 million converts in Nigeria, Peru and Korea (N. Luca, "Pentecôtisme en Corée", Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions 105, 1999, pp. 99-123). This is without counting the churches in Mexico and Argentina (A. Corten, Le pentecôtisme au Brésil. Emotion du pauvre et romantisme théologique, Paris, Karthala, 1995, p.75). In Burkina Faso, there are more than a half-million members.
3. In 1999, on the occasion of their 85th anniversary, the Assemblies of God boasted 32 million members from 158 different countries ("Where we've been" A/G online USA, 2000, p. 2). The most important faith communities are located in Brazil, which has no less than 13 million members (E.L. Nascimento, "Praise the Lord and Pass the Catsup", News from Brasil, cover story, 1995). There are 2.5 million members in the United States, 1 million converts in Nigeria, Peru and Korea (N. Luca, "Pentecôtisme en Corée", Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions 105, 1999, pp. 99-123). This is without counting the churches in Mexico and Argentina (A. Corten, Le pentecôtisme au Brésil. Emotion du pauvre et romantisme théologique, Paris, Karthala, 1995, p.75). In Burkina Faso, there are more than a half-million members.
4. The earliest missionaries landed in Burkina Faso in 1921.
5. P.-J. Laurent, "Prosélytisme religieux, intensification agricole et organisation paysanne. Le rôle des Assemblées de Dieu dans l'émergence de la Fédération Wend-Yam au Burkina Faso", in J.-P. Jacob and P. Lavigne Delville, Les associations paysannes: organisation et dynamiques, Paris, APAD-IUED-Karthala, 1994, pp. 155-179.
6. P.-J. Laurent, "L'Eglise des Assemblées de Dieu du Burkina Faso. Histoire, transitions et recompositions identitaires", Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions 105, 1999, pp. 71-97.
7. On all this, see: P.-J. Laurent, Sémantique populaire du détournement dans les associations de développement en pays mossi (Burkina Faso), Nouveaux Cahiers de l'IUED, Geneva and Paris, PUF, no. 8, January 2000; P.-J. Laurent, "Entre ville et campagne. Le big man local ou la 'gestion coup d'Etat' de l'espace public", Politique africaine 80, Dec. 2000, pp. 169-182.
8. On all this, see: P.-J. Laurent, Sémantique populaire du détournement dans les associations de développement en pays mossi (Burkina Faso), Nouveaux Cahiers de l'IUED, Geneva and Paris, PUF, no. 8, January 2000; P.-J. Laurent, "Entre ville et campagne. Le big man local ou la 'gestion coup d'Etat' de l'espace public", Politique africaine 80, Dec. 2000, pp. 169-182.
9. The logic of segmentation, in which the power stakes are always in the control of the healing business and leadership of the faithful, opposes the pastors, legitimized by the Pentecostal institutions, to initiates who have been baptized in the Spirit, afterward receiving, without intermediary or control, messages from the Divine authorizing them also to speak in public and sometimes tempting them to found their own church.
10. In the sense of a birth, or a cohabitation, employing the terms used by R. Bastide, Les religions africaines au Brésil, Paris, PUF, 1995 (2nd edition).
11. Cf. G. Balandier, Sociologie actuelle de l'Afrique noire, Paris, PUF, 1955, p. 489.
12. As Andreas Zempléni was able to show, it seems less a question of a transition from persecution complexes to guilt complexes, although this can occur under certain circumstances (cf. the case of the "old man in the wagon"; P.-J. Laurent, "Conversions aux Assemblées de Dieu du Burkina Faso. Modernité et socialité", Journal des Africanistes 68[n°1-2], 1998, pp. 67-98), than a question of co-existence, which of course has to be resituated in an environment of transformation of forms of persecution and guilt. See, regarding this debate: M. Auge, Génie du paganisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1982, p. 80; M. Douglas, De la souillure. Essais sur la notions de pollution et de tabou, Paris, Maspero, 1971, p. 194; M.-C. Ortigues and E. Ortigues, Oedipe africain, Paris, L'Harmattan, 1984; C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975; P. Ricoeur, Finitude et culpabilité. II: La symbolique du mal, Paris, Aubier, 1960; A. Zempléni, "De la persécution à la culpabilité", in C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975, pp. 153-218.
13. As Andreas Zempléni was able to show, it seems less a question of a transition from persecution complexes to guilt complexes, although this can occur under certain circumstances (cf. the case of the "old man in the wagon"; P.-J. Laurent, "Conversions aux Assemblées de Dieu du Burkina Faso. Modernité et socialité", Journal des Africanistes 68[n°1-2], 1998, pp. 67-98), than a question of co-existence, which of course has to be resituated in an environment of transformation of forms of persecution and guilt. See, regarding this debate: M. Auge, Génie du paganisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1982, p. 80; M. Douglas, De la souillure. Essais sur la notions de pollution et de tabou, Paris, Maspero, 1971, p. 194; M.-C. Ortigues and E. Ortigues, Oedipe africain, Paris, L'Harmattan, 1984; C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975; P. Ricoeur, Finitude et culpabilité. II: La symbolique du mal, Paris, Aubier, 1960; A. Zempléni, "De la persécution à la culpabilité", in C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975, pp. 153-218.
14. As Andreas Zempléni was able to show, it seems less a question of a transition from persecution complexes to guilt complexes, although this can occur under certain circumstances (cf. the case of the "old man in the wagon"; P.-J. Laurent, "Conversions aux Assemblées de Dieu du Burkina Faso. Modernité et socialité", Journal des Africanistes 68[n°1-2], 1998, pp. 67-98), than a question of co-existence, which of course has to be resituated in an environment of transformation of forms of persecution and guilt. See, regarding this debate: M. Auge, Génie du paganisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1982, p. 80; M. Douglas, De la souillure. Essais sur la notions de pollution et de tabou, Paris, Maspero, 1971, p. 194; M.-C. Ortigues and E. Ortigues, Oedipe africain, Paris, L'Harmattan, 1984; C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975; P. Ricoeur, Finitude et culpabilité. II: La symbolique du mal, Paris, Aubier, 1960; A. Zempléni, "De la persécution à la culpabilité", in C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975, pp. 153-218.
15. As Andreas Zempléni was able to show, it seems less a question of a transition from persecution complexes to guilt complexes, although this can occur under certain circumstances (cf. the case of the "old man in the wagon"; P.-J. Laurent, "Conversions aux Assemblées de Dieu du Burkina Faso. Modernité et socialité", Journal des Africanistes 68[n°1-2], 1998, pp. 67-98), than a question of co-existence, which of course has to be resituated in an environment of transformation of forms of persecution and guilt. See, regarding this debate: M. Auge, Génie du paganisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1982, p. 80; M. Douglas, De la souillure. Essais sur la notions de pollution et de tabou, Paris, Maspero, 1971, p. 194; M.-C. Ortigues and E. Ortigues, Oedipe africain, Paris, L'Harmattan, 1984; C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975; P. Ricoeur, Finitude et culpabilité. II: La symbolique du mal, Paris, Aubier, 1960; A. Zempléni, "De la persécution à la culpabilité", in C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975, pp. 153-218.
16. As Andreas Zempléni was able to show, it seems less a question of a transition from persecution complexes to guilt complexes, although this can occur under certain circumstances (cf. the case of the "old man in the wagon"; P.-J. Laurent, "Conversions aux Assemblées de Dieu du Burkina Faso. Modernité et socialité", Journal des Africanistes 68[n°1-2], 1998, pp. 67-98), than a question of co-existence, which of course has to be resituated in an environment of transformation of forms of persecution and guilt. See, regarding this debate: M. Auge, Génie du paganisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1982, p. 80; M. Douglas, De la souillure. Essais sur la notions de pollution et de tabou, Paris, Maspero, 1971, p. 194; M.-C. Ortigues and E. Ortigues, Oedipe africain, Paris, L'Harmattan, 1984; C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975; P. Ricoeur, Finitude et culpabilité. II: La symbolique du mal, Paris, Aubier, 1960; A. Zempléni, "De la persécution à la culpabilité", in C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975, pp. 153-218.
17. As Andreas Zempléni was able to show, it seems less a question of a transition from persecution complexes to guilt complexes, although this can occur under certain circumstances (cf. the case of the "old man in the wagon"; P.-J. Laurent, "Conversions aux Assemblées de Dieu du Burkina Faso. Modernité et socialité", Journal des Africanistes 68[n°1-2], 1998, pp. 67-98), than a question of co-existence, which of course has to be resituated in an environment of transformation of forms of persecution and guilt. See, regarding this debate: M. Auge, Génie du paganisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1982, p. 80; M. Douglas, De la souillure. Essais sur la notions de pollution et de tabou, Paris, Maspero, 1971, p. 194; M.-C. Ortigues and E. Ortigues, Oedipe africain, Paris, L'Harmattan, 1984; C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975; P. Ricoeur, Finitude et culpabilité. II: La symbolique du mal, Paris, Aubier, 1960; A. Zempléni, "De la persécution à la culpabilité", in C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975, pp. 153-218.
18. As Andreas Zempléni was able to show, it seems less a question of a transition from persecution complexes to guilt complexes, although this can occur under certain circumstances (cf. the case of the "old man in the wagon"; P.-J. Laurent, "Conversions aux Assemblées de Dieu du Burkina Faso. Modernité et socialité", Journal des Africanistes 68[n°1-2], 1998, pp. 67-98), than a question of co-existence, which of course has to be resituated in an environment of transformation of forms of persecution and guilt. See, regarding this debate: M. Auge, Génie du paganisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1982, p. 80; M. Douglas, De la souillure. Essais sur la notions de pollution et de tabou, Paris, Maspero, 1971, p. 194; M.-C. Ortigues and E. Ortigues, Oedipe africain, Paris, L'Harmattan, 1984; C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975; P. Ricoeur, Finitude et culpabilité. II: La symbolique du mal, Paris, Aubier, 1960; A. Zempléni, "De la persécution à la culpabilité", in C. Piault (ed.), Prophétisme et thérapeutique. Albert Atcho et la communauté de Bregbo, Paris, Hermann, 1975, pp. 153-218.
19. In the Book of Revelation (ch. 20) the Apostle announces that God will put Satan in chains for 1000 years.
20. On this topic, see M. Douglas: "L'idée du 'moi' multiple permet des disculpations douces comme des fictions polies", in Douglas, "La connaissance de soi", in Comment pense les institutions, Paris, La Découverte/MAUSS, 1999, p. 160.
21. On this topic, see M. Douglas: "L'idée du 'moi' multiple permet des disculpations douces comme des fictions polies", in Douglas, "La connaissance de soi", in Comment pense les institutions, Paris, La Découverte/MAUSS, 1999, p. 160.
22. For fuller details see: P.-J. Laurent, La guérison divine. Ethnographie d'une Eglise Pentecôtiste (les Assemblées du Dieu du Burkina Faso), Paris, forthcoming.
23. This is related to the auto-da-fé. In some cases the faith-healer can go on to destroy in the fire the old protections, proving thereby their ineffectiveness.
24. The notion of an understanding (wum taaba) is related to the idea of a custom-based understanding which should be sharply distinguished from civil peace (in the sense of a common foundation for the "common good"). On this topic, see: P.-J. Laurent, Une association de développement en pays mossi. Le don comme ruse, Paris, Karthala, chapter 8, pp. 243-260.
25. A return in the sense of a metempsychosis, in which the spirit of a single ancestor can live in more than one body.
26. Regarding conversion experiences: A. Mary and H. Piault, "Parcours de conversion", Journal des africanistes 68(1-2), 1999, p. 335.
27. Which in certain ways recall the excesses of the Inquisition in the history of Western Christianity.
28. Ultimately, none other than the old world displaced.
29. In another context, it is quite interesting to note that in his work devoted to the Bwiti of the Fang of Gabon, a "syncretic cult par excellence", André Mary shows that their "system of the world is not opposed to the system of ancestry and lineal descent because the Bwiti do not attempt to tear the individual away from his belonging to a family, and do not demand that he seek his salvation or personal destiny outside the community and its development", A. Mary, Le défi du syncrétisme. Le travail symbolique de la religion d'Eboga (Gabon), Paris, EHESS, 1999, p. 180.