2 - Enchanted Competition for the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 1918–60s

Summary

Between 1918 and 1960 the Presbyterian Church of Ghana was disenchanted. The church denied the existence of many afflicting spiritual forces, such as witches, even while witchcraft accusations flourished in Akan society, particularly during the cocoa boom. Correspondingly, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana did not offer methods of religious healing or protection from these spiritual afflictions. The church considered Akan healers, who could treat these spiritual disorders, illegitimate; no longer were they used as an outsourced form of therapy by the Christian community as they had been before 1885. In fact, church members who consulted Akan healers were often excommunicated. The threat of excommunication, however, did not deter members of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, who frequently sought Akan healers covertly to manage their illnesses and misfortunes. After 1918 Basel Christians had more options for spiritual therapy, including within Christianity. This year marked the beginning of enchanted Christianity in Ghana, which seriously challenged the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, particularly in regions where the church was most influential.

Cocoa, Migration, and Witchcraft

The development of the cocoa industry in West Africa to a significant extent depended on noneconomic institutions and relationships as well as market mechanisms. In Ghana specifically, the Basel Mission played an important role in the early development of the cocoa industry, particularly in the Akuapem state, whose capital Akropong was the headquarters of the Basel Mission. By the mid-1860s, cocoa seeds were planted at Basel Mission stations at Aburi, Mampong, and Krobo-Odumase.