4 - The School of Deliverance and the Enchantment of the Ghanaian Presbyterian Churches in North America

Summary

This chapter marks a transition in space from Ghana to North America. In chapter 4, as well as chapters 5 and 6, I will explain the rise of religious enchantment among Ghanaian Presbyterians in North America. This chapter focuses specifically on the primary institution that led to the training of deliverance practitioners in North America: the New York deliverance workshop or school of deliverance. Through this deliverance workshop, primarily, the Ghanaian Presbyterian Churches in North America became enchanted: training charismatic healers to combat the multitude of afflicting spirits that cause great suffering in this Ghanaian Presbyterian community.

The narrative of transnational African religion with familiar themes like witchcraft, afflicting spirits, and spirit possession is much more commonly told through the lens of African-derived religion in the New World such as Brazilian Candomble, Haitian Vodou, or Cuban Santeria. Similarly, several ethnographies have focused on the transnational nature of African religions brought to the United States by practitioners from the Caribbean and Latin America to serve adherents in the United States.

Related African religious traditions still do exist and thrive on the African continent. However, as of 2010, 63 percent of sub-Saharan Africa was Christian and a great majority of the 1.5 million African-born immigrants and their families living in the United States today are Christian. Recent West African Christian immigrants have transplanted their religious communities with all the same creativity and innovation as their Candomble, Santeria, and Vodou counterparts.