Christianity, Wealth, and Spiritual Power in Ghana by Karen Lauterbach (review)

Karen Lauterbach has made an important contribution to the literature on religious developments in West Africa by focusing specifically on high school leavers (largely men), who, living a precarious economic existence, seek to reinforce their faith and channel their ambitions for wealth, power, and social mobility by gaining a leadership role in a charismatic church. While the title of the book is Christianity, Wealth, and Spiritual Power in Ghana, its focus is actually on the Asante region, not Ghana as a whole.

Organized into seven chapters (including the introduction and the conclusion), the book has many strengths. By focusing on those who aspire to obtain fame and fortune and thus be seen as "little big men," Lauterbach is able to emphasize how the numerous individuals she interviewed have used social networking, apprenticeships, entrepreneurship, and family dynamics to achieve their goals. Particularly noteworthy is how she approaches the study of charismatic Christianity. Instead of emphasizing, as do many other authors, the larger societal changes that have generated greater individualism and prompted particular adjustments to "modernity," she draws upon the extensive literature on Asante to link the concerns and strategies of the young pastors featured in the book to long-standing Asante historical beliefs and strategies to attain specific ends. Her discussion of the ideology behind the gospel of prosperity is outstanding. In addition, she describes how the young pastors who are the focus of her study have responded to the criticisms leveled at charismatic churches (that they are exploitative, requiring inordinate commitments of time and money from their congregations, all largely for the sole economic benefit of the head pastor) by preaching about the importance of balancing a focus on individual accumulation with obligations to the larger community. Her brief but interesting analysis of how gender dynamics structure pastoral hierarchies is welcome, as is her discussion of pastor/church member expectations of one another, and the way an achieved status often transfers to other spheres of an individual's life. Lauterbach's use of biographical sketches is especially helpful in bringing to life the opportunities seized and challenges faced by these aspiring "little big men."

Readers, however, may find her historiographical discussions rather confusing. In reviewing the works of Berry and McCaskie on the history of power in Asante, for example, Lauterbach states that she agrees with Berry that Asante state power was less concentrated than early scholarship has suggested. But then the author also agrees with McCaskie that power was highly centralized and the state exercised extensive control. It is unclear what we are to make of this, given her agreement with seemingly contradictory points. Her eventual acknowledgment that Asante central control waxed and waned, which could have helped clarify how she and the reader should understand this aspect of Asante history, comes only much later in the book. Many other concepts and theories are also addressed early in the book, but again, only subsequently, in later chapters, do we get a clearer idea of how Lauterbach positions her own work with regard to these theories. The clarification does come, but not, perhaps, soon enough.

Because Lauterbach sticks so closely to her focus on Asante, it is often unclear what these particular aspiring "little big men" and their charismatic churches share in common with others. What is unique to Asante, and what do the Asante individuals she interviews share with others who are in similar precarious economic situations where charismatic Christianity has emerged so strongly? Providing more comparative information would have greatly benefited her study. If she had placed her study within the larger context of the worldwide charismatic Christian movement, she would have broadened her analysis and her audience. Still, she is to be commended for her extensive research on this particular population as they embrace forms of entrepreneurship, networking, spirituality, and apprenticeship that are rooted in their own cultural past.