A Church in a Cinema Hall? Pentecostal Appropriation of Public Space in Nigeria
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Date
2012
Authors
Adeboye, O.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Religion in Africa "A Church in a Cinema Hall? Pentecostal Appropriation of Public Space in Nigeria" Journal of Religion in Africa (New Orleans, USA), 16 42:2 (2012), 1-27
Abstract
Over the past two decades Nigeria has become a hotbed of Pentecostal activity. It is the view of
this study that Pentecostal visibility in Nigeria has been enhanced not just by Pentecostals’
aggressive utilization of media technology for proselytization as claimed by previous scholars, but
also by their appropriation of public spaces for worship. This study not only focuses on the
church in the cinema hall, but also on churches in nightclubs, hotels, and other such places
previously demonized as ‘abode[s] of sin’ by classical Pentecostals. This paper argues that users’
perception of public spaces having rigid meanings and unchanging usage was responsible for
much of the tensions experienced. It would be more useful for academic analysts and various
‘publics’ to construe such spaces as dynamic sites, at once reflecting mutations in the public
sphere, responsive to local and global socio-economic processes, and amenable to periodic reinventions and negotiations.
Description
Scholarly article
Keywords
Pentecostal churches , Pentecostal activity , Pentecostal visibility , Nigeria , Media technology , Research Subject Categories::HUMANITIES and RELIGION::History and philosophy subjects
Citation
Adeboye, O.(2012). A Church in a Cinema Hall? Pentecostal Appropriation of Public Space in Nigeria