Syncretism Narrative and the Use of Material Objects within Some Neo-Pentecostal Circles in Contemporary South Africa

Abstract

African Pentecostal Christianity presents interconnectedness with African cultures, spiritualities, and religiosity in many ways. Among many other practices that demonstrate this interconnectedness is the use of material objects common within some African Pentecostal Christian spaces, African cultures, spiritualities, and religions. The advent of neo-Pentecostalism in South Africa has brought some controversies in the use of material objects within the broader African Pentecostalism. This has led to the outright demonization and to the conclusion that this practice was fundamentally syncretistic. This article investigated the syncretism narrative given the use of material objects within some neo-Pentecostal spaces in contemporary South Africa. It scrutinized the syncretism narrative and problematized it as the continuation of the missionary-colonial project that demonized African religious and cultural practices. It was argued that this constitutes coloniality that uses a “cultural bomb” that seeks to eradicate African customs, cultures, religions, and practices including the use of material objects. The study was conducted through the desktop research methodology focusing on secondary literature on African Pentecostalism, African neo-Pentecostalism, and syncretism. The findings indicated that the syncretism narrative is often applied to African Pentecostalism and seldom used with other Christian traditions, especially those of Western descent. Again, when the term is used, non-syncretistic elements are often not acknowledged. Thus, the need to transform the current narrative was highlighted.

1. Introduction

There are numerous ways in which African Pentecostal Christianity is tied to African cultures, spiritualities, and religiosity. Mbiti’s (1990, p. 1) assertion that in Africa, traditional religion permeates every aspect of life provides lenses to understand why it is not desirable to separate religious from cultural practices. The use of material objects is part of African cultural practices and one of many common practices that show how African Pentecostal Christianity is intertwined with African spiritualities and religions. According to Biri (2020, p. 16), this interconnection is what gives indigenous religions and cultures their vitality and resilience in the face of outside pressure. This is often carried out by the “re-appropriation of traditional symbols in the Christian faith” (p. 16). African Pentecostalism and later African neo-Pentecostalism have been marked by the increased use of material objects. This practice is often accompanied by the belief that these materials contain religious powers to heal the sick and release material blessings (Kgatle 2023a, p. 5). However, in South Africa, the populist use of material objects within neo-Pentecostal Christianity has brought some controversies. This has led others to outrightly demonize the practice and conclude that it is fundamentally syncretistic not only in South Africa but also in other African Christian spaces (Nnamani 2015, p. 343). Therefore, the syncretism narrative continues to find grounds for declaring every use of material objects by Africans as syncretistic without acknowledging the non-syncretistic use. This narrative constitutes coloniality that manifests in what Wa Thiong’o (1981, p. 3) calls the “cultural bomb” that seeks to eradicate African customs, cultures, languages, religions, and practices including the use of material objects.

This article investigated and problematized the syncretism narrative given the use of material objects within some neo-Pentecostal churches in South Africa. It further problematized the narrative by arguing that the missionary-colonial enterprise used a “cultural bomb” to demonize and regard as syncretistic all the African religious and cultural practices. The study was conducted through desktop research methodology focusing on secondary literature on African Pentecostalism, African neo-Pentecostalism, decoloniality, and syncretism. Therefore, relevant data were collected and analyzed from existing data sources, including journal articles, books, online data sources, and academic theses. The data search included the following terms: syncretism, material objects, African Pentecostalism, neo-Pentecostalism, and decoloniality. The following terms were excluded from the data search: idolatry, Christianity, and African traditional religions. The findings indicated that the syncretism narrative is often applied to African Pentecostal use of material objects and seldom used with other Christian traditions, especially those of Western descent. Again, there are also demonizing tendencies when the term is used concerning African Pentecostalism.

2. The Syncretism Narrative and the Use of “Cultural Bomb”

Here, the phrase “syncretism narrative” refers to academic writings, formal and informal discussions, and discourses concerning the purported blending of Christianity with African traditional religions, spiritualities, practices, and cultures. Banda (2018, 2019, 2020), Benyah (2020), Mofokeng (2021), Thinane (2023), and Kgatle (2023a), are among many other African Pentecostal scholars who have made significant contributions to the syncretism discourses and debates within the Southern African Pentecostal settings. Notably, although most of the scholars engaged in this discourse originated from African Pentecostal scholarship, their discourses on syncretistic aspects of African Pentecostalism often associate the use of material objects within African neo-Pentecostalism with outright syncretism. Most of the time, the usage of tangible items in these settings is categorically described as syncretistic without emphasizing the non-syncretistic applications. Additionally, there are differences when discussing the same subject regarding other Christian churches originating from the West. Thus, this tendency is tantamount to coloniality that uses Wa Thiong’o’s (1981, p. 3) concept of “cultural bomb”.

The “cultural bomb” manifests in the intersectionality of the Christianization, civilization, westernization, and colonization projects. This happened when the missionaries who came to Africa combined Christianization with the colonial civilization agenda. This collegial relationship between the missionaries and the colonizers is referred to by (Shingange 2023, p. 108) as the “Missionary-colonial interconnection”. The same interconnection continues to support the legacies of colonialism by using the “cultural bomb” (Wa Thiong’o 1981, p. 3) that seeks to destroy African cultures, practices, religions, and the use of material objects in African Christianity, in particular African Pentecostal Christianity. Wa Thiongo further asserts that this “cultural bomb” makes Africans “see their past as one wasteland of non-achievement and it makes them want to distance themselves from that wasteland. It makes them want to identify with that which is furthest removed from themselves, for instance, with other peoples’ languages rather than their own. It makes them identify with that which is decadent and reactionary, all ‘those forces which would stop their springs of life”.

Therefore, the “cultural bomb” was used and continues to be used to destroy the African Pentecostal Christian belief in their cultural practices and material objects. Thus, this bomb continues the missionary-colonial project by supporting the imbalances in the use of the syncretism narrative between African Pentecostalism and other Christian traditions that originate from the West. Therefore, the current manifestation of the syncretism narrative within the South African context is problematic; therefore, it calls for the decolonization of the norm. However, it is important to first look at the use of material objects during biblical times to foreground the argument that the syncretism narrative in this context serves as the “cultural bomb”.

3. Material Objects during Biblical Times

According to Biwul (2021, p. 2), careful readers of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures meet multiple occurrences on the use of material items such as oil. Amongst many other biblical examples on the use of material objects during biblical times is that of Moses when commanded by God to stretch his rod over the Red Sea, and the water divided allowing the children of Israel to walk on the dry ground (Exodus 14:15–31). Again, Moses was commanded by God to point the same rod to the rock when the Israelites needed water in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6). Therefore, the rod of Moses was a material object that was used to perform a miracle. Also, in another instance, the people of Jericho complained that the well generated bitter water; therefore, the Prophet Elijah used salt to treat it (2 Kings:19). In the same vein, the salt that Elijah used was a material substance that cured the bitter water. Furthermore, Filipova shows how the Old Testament (OT) gives instances on the use of material objects by maintaining that since their passing roughly 4000 years ago, Jews have continuously honored the graves of the three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as King David, Joseph, Rachel, and the prophets Haggai, Malachi, and Samuel (p. 4). Filipova’s reference to Jews carries the connotation that she refers to Jews associated with the Abrahamic faith; thus, Messianic Jews are also included in the assertion.

In this regard, the graves, and the remains of those who are deemed to have pleased God carry material symbolism and can, thus, be declared material objects within the Christian faith. For instance, in the OT, a dead person was raised to life when his body encountered the sacred bones of the Prophet Elisha (2 Kings 13:20–21) (p. 4).

Similarly, there are also several examples on the use of material objects in the New Testament (NT). Jesus told the blind man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam after he spat on the ground and created mud that he put in his eyes (John 9:6–7). The blind man received his sight after the mud that Jesus used which was a material substance that was applied to his eyes (John 9:6–7). Also, in Acts 19:11–12, a description of how God endowed handkerchiefs and aprons that touched Paul’s body with healing ability is presented. Succinctly put, Filipova (n.d., p. 5) states that these handkerchiefs and aprons were material objects that God used to heal the sick. Again, James 5:14 states that those who are sick should call the elders of the church, who in turn should pray for them and anoint them with (material substance) oil.

These passages of scripture show how material objects were used to demonstrate the power of God during biblical times. In most of these occurrences, literature is silent about accusations of syncretistic tendencies. Greenspahn (2004, p. 489) observed that even biblical authors were not concerned about syncretism. Therefore, the use of material objects was sometimes associated with idolatry and did not fundamentally constitute syncretism (p. 486). However, this does not suggest that syncretism did not exist during biblical times, again, it also does not suggest that the tendency cannot be found within Christian circles and African neo-Pentecostalism. However, this only demonstrates that non-syncretistic elements are traceable in the use of material objects even during biblical times. This leads us to the discussion about the use of material objects within Christian circles.

4. The Use of Material Objects within Christian Circles

The use of material objects has been part of Christian practices for ages. For instance, Kalalo and Sutjiadi (2022, p. 248) observed that the use of anointing oil is very common and has even become a commodity that is traded in Christian churches. Again, Goodgame (2023, p. 678) presents a clear picture of how religious objects were used and are still used within Christian spaces:

I noticed the stairs leading into the crypt and went down. Here everything was dark. It was a small, stone chamber with a domed ceiling illuminated by a single dim light on the far wall. Save for the tomb it was empty, the floor covered in wood shavings. In one corner, I could see a Tanaka of olive oil (16L tin) and several large plastic Coke bottles, also full of oil. In the center of the room was a marble tomb, raised in Orthodox fashion with a cross and an icon of the saint engraved in the cladding (p. 678).

It is noteworthy, given the citation above, that literature is often silent regarding the link of this practice with syncretism whenever religious objects were used within these spaces. Limor (2017, p. 3) explains how material objects form part of Christian histography and how they are still held in high regard by modern tourists to the holy land (Jerusalem). This happens through the ancient and long-standing tradition of Christian pilgrims of gathering “specimens” they stumbled across along the road and bringing them home. Most of these specimens were found in locations where certain biblical or revered historical events had taken place and left traces on the landscape (p. 3).

Furthermore, some of these objects were believed to be carrying miraculous traits (p. 3). Thus, attaching miraculous or healing powers to material objects is not distinctively an African neo-Pentecostal phenomenon. However, this suggests that the tendency was and is still a common practice within other Christian contexts. Although Christians have often been associated with detestation of material objects as “Early Christians inherited the Second Commandment: “Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them nor serve them (Exodus 20:4–5)” (Bynum 2013, p. 5); Bynum’s observation presents a different narrative when opening:

But despite their detestation of statues of the pagan gods, Christians also inherited Roman iconographic traditions such as doves, lambs, fish, and shepherds that seemed appropriate to signify the peace of the afterlife, God’s concern for humankind, and so forth. After a flare-up of attacks on images in the eastern church between the sixth and eighth centuries, images were accorded acceptance by the Christian Church because of two basic arguments: first, that Christ, because he is both God and human, can be depicted in his human form, and second (as theorized by John of Damascus and Thomas Aquinas, among others) that images point to the divine but do not instantiate it (p. 5).

Therefore, it can be concluded from the citation above that the use of material objects was and is still part of the Christian practice. However, Bynum’s view is that these images and material objects only serve as pointers to the divine and are not meant to replace divinity. Indeed, this assertion does not dispute the use of material objects by Christians; however, it explains their usage within these spaces. Thinane (2023, p. 7) presented a similar view when asserting that in most historic Christian faiths, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, and others, the baptismal water is first blessed or sanctified by a priest using the sign of the cross before the actual baptism. Thinane further maintained that holy water is used for many sacramental purposes, such as blessing people, blessing items, and occasionally even exorcism, in addition to its important function in baptism (p. 7). Thus, water and the sign of the cross used during baptism as Thinane opined become indisputably “material objects”. Thus, the practice of using religious objects within Christian spaces is indisputable. Therefore, the next section will look at this practice within the African Pentecostal spaces.

5. The Use of Material Objects within African Pentecostalism

Although the 1906 Azusa Street Revival is often epitomized as the foundation of contemporary Pentecostalism and African Pentecostalism, respectively, the movement developed over time in Africa to the point where the gospel was ultimately reinterpreted, indigenized, enculturated, and contextualized in terms of African worldviews marked by mystical causalities and African religions (Nel 2020, p. 2). Succinctly put, the gospel gradually developed a distinctive African expression that is based on African holistic spirituality. Anderson (2005) distinguished between three main sub-traditions of African Pentecostalism, namely, African Indigenous Churches (AICs), Classical Pentecostalism, and Charismatic Churches (p. 67). Furthermore, he admitted that African Pentecostalism includes the subset of neo-Pentecostalism (p. 76). The use of religious material is common within the IAC, Charismatic, and neo-Pentecostal spaces. Classical Pentecostalism also uses religious material; however, this practice is often carried out overtly.

Benyah (2020, p. 636) asserts that “the use and circulation of these material objects resonate with traditional religious cultures”. Thus, this practice cannot be separated from its African cultural connectivity. Nevertheless, the use of material objects within the cohort of African Pentecostal Christianity was previously solely associated with the Apostolic, Zionist, and AICs (Banda 2019, p. 1; Mofokeng 2021, p. 80–88). According to Banda (2018, p. 59) in African Independent Churches, material objects include a range of vibrant church clothing embroidered with symbols like the cross and stars, strings around the body, weapons like shepherd’s hooks and rods, holy water, and several other items. These objects are used within these spaces with a view of embracing the unique expression of the manifestation of Christianity in Africa. Thus, the use of material objects within this context carries the African nuances of the gospel and African spirituality. According to Masuku (2021, p. 4), this spirituality takes inspiration from African cosmology, which opposes a dualistic view of the world that has a propensity to separate the spiritual from the social. Given Masuku’s assertion, tendencies that regard African Pentecostal practices in a dualistic approach have no origins in African spiritualities and religions.

Chetty (2009, p. 11) noted that traditional African material practices and the use of symbolic and material objects in healing are typically frowned upon by Pentecostal congregations. This is common within some Classical Pentecostal churches which have roots in Western Pentecostal movements. However, the AICs and the newly emerging African neo-Pentecostal churches maintain a different position regarding the use of material objects. They hold a different position from Classical Pentecostalism in that they overtly use religious materials such as anointed water, anointed oil, and other material objects (Kgatle 2022a, p. 4). Regrettably, their position has often been regarded as fundamentally syncretistic, something that Nnamani (2015, p. 343) referred to as “irresponsible syncretism”. Indeed, this view is often used against the use of material objects within South African neo-Pentecostalism without the consideration of non-syncretistic elements (p. 343). In the same vein, the use of material objects within South African neo-Pentecostalism has brought unique dynamics that deserve serious attention.

6. Material Objects within the South African Neo-Pentecostalism

Kgatle (2017, p. 1) defines neo-Pentecostalism in South Africa as “Churches that have transcended denominational lines. Furthermore, these churches glorify success, deliverance, healing, and odd church shows, many of which are led by powerful and captivating spiritual figures”. According to Banda (2023, p. 1), these prominent spiritual figures include amongst others, Shepherd Bushiri from Malawi, Emmanuel Makandiwa from Zimbabwe, HQ Nala, and Paseka Motsoeneng from South Africa. These pastors have often attracted controversy through questionable ministerial practices such as the selling of anointed objects like anointed oil, waistbands, and armbands, and the demand for large sums of money to prophesy and bless people (p. 1). On the other hand, their desire for divine power has led to the covert and overt abuse in the use of material objects (Mashau and Kgatle (2019, p. 3). This is often carried out to achieve monetary success, health, and wellness under the disguise of displaying the power of God by using material objects (Banda 2019, p. 4). Thus, the so-called anointed items such as oil, water, and diverse items that are supposedly blessed by these prophets and often referred to as “Women” and “Men of God” are used to attain health and wealth within South Africa and other African neo-Pentecostal contexts (Asamoah-Gyadu 2005; Banda 2019, p. 1).

This narrative has gradually developed to the point where some neo-Pentecostal pastors seek objects from cultic movements even Sangomas (indigenous healers) to boost their ministries and increase church membership. Makhado (2017) explains how he traveled from South Africa to Nigeria to consult a cultic movement that gave him material objects to make his church membership in Soshanguve north of Tshwane in South Africa grow. Again, Alamu and Dopamu’s (2020, p. 154) observations in Nigeria mirror the South African neo-Pentecostal context where the material objects used include amongst others, blessed oil, mantles, bangles, holy water, staffs, candles, and handkerchiefs, and are believed to possess miraculous powers for healing, deliverance, security, and victory over Satan. This was also observed by Kgatle (2019, p. 4) when opining that “The churches also sell spiritual materials, such as olive oil, as well as souvenirs, such as magazines, books, stickers, pamphlets, key-holders, handkerchiefs, video and audio discs/cassettes, T-shirts and scarves”. Against this backdrop, material objects are part of African neo-Pentecostalism as they are also part of Christianity and biblical times.

Whilst the (ab) use of material objects is a serious challenge within the South African neo-Pentecostalism, the generalized syncretism narrative is another serious challenge that needs to be addressed. This narrative demonizes every use of material objects within African Pentecostalism and African neo-Pentecostalism by outrightly regarding the practice as syncretistic. In contrast to Kgatle (2023a, p. 7) who asserted that “New prophetic churches also have non-syncretistic practices”, some critics of syncretism within African neo-Pentecostalism do not acknowledge that not every use of material objects within African neo-Pentecostalism is syncretistic. Therefore, the blanket approach that denies the existence of non-syncretistic use of material objects within South African neo-Pentecostalism is problematic. Again, this denial is similar to Rodrigues’s (2021, p. 138) observation that “In the context of the European maritime expansion and the construction of colonial empires based on slavery, the practice and beliefs of African religions were demonized and then brutally criminalized”. Indeed, this is a “cultural bomb” wielded against African practices by the missionary-colonial project, as it was the case in the context of African slaves in Brazil, where Christians and colonizers worked together in the demonization of African practices (p. 138). Therefore, the missionary-colonial project needs to be uprooted.

7. The Missionary-Colonial Project

The missionary-colonial project entails the relationship between missionaries and colonialists in the subjugation agenda of Africa (Shingange 2023). The missionary-colonial project premised its views of African practices on the notion of dualism that juxtaposed spirit with matter, right with wrong, and sacred with secular, etc. Thus, the African use of material objects which was part of African cultures and religions was projected as demonic and as a symbol of darkness by the African Christianization project (Nweke 2022, p. 277). This is similar to what Comaroff and Comaroff (1988, p. 22) referred to when asserting that “As bearers of the light, therefore, the Christians had to persuade those long accustomed to darkness to ‘open their eyes’ and let ‘brightness illumine their hearts”. It is my view that if African material objects were regarded by the missionary-colonial enterprise as objects of darkness, it meant that Africans were expected to open their eyes to let the light brought by missionaries shine into their hearts. This was supposed to happen when Africans abandoned their cultural practices when they accepted the Christian faith and civilization.

Accordingly, Africans were compelled to discard their cultures, customs, rituals, and the use of material objects as they came to the light of the gospel as presented by Western missionaries. Thus, the “cultural bomb” (Wa Thiong’o 1981, p. 3) was used to destroy the African use of material objects. Kebede (2004, p. 36) opined that the more missionaries relegated African religions and customs by treating them as superstition and witchcraft, the more they thought that the place of Christianity was becoming stronger. Therefore, the use of material objects within African Christianity and later African Pentecostalism was always viewed with suspicions. In essence, it is the dualistic view of the world, the desire to bring those in darkness to light, and the use of the “cultural bomb” that became the tools used to cast suspicions about the African use of material objects. Consequently, material objects within African Pentecostalism were and continue to be viewed through the lenses that separate the good from the bad, the holy from the unholy, and the syncretistic (African neo-Pentecostal use of material objects) from the non-syncretistic (Western Christianity use of material objects).

Thus, Kgatle (2023a, p. 7) asserts that “non-syncretistic practices within Pentecostalism should be considered so that syncretism is not discussed in isolation from inconsistent practices”. Succinctly put, it should be taken into cognizance when addressing syncretism within South African neo-Pentecostalism that the use of material objects within these spaces is not inherently syncretistic. The reality is that there are also some non-syncretistic elements in the use of material objects within this context. Although the attempt to separate syncretistic and non-syncretistic is sometimes helpful, it becomes problematic when it only deems every African Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal use of material objects as syncretistic and places them on the darker end of the continuum. This happens without being cognizant that it is in the process of contextualization, assimilation, indigenization, and Africanization of the gospel that African neo-Pentecostal Christianity presents its uniqueness. Therefore, the challenge in the use of material objects within African neo-Pentecostalism needs to be identified and addressed accordingly.

8. Identifying the Challenge

It is crucial in the attempt to identify the challenge in the use of material objects within South African neo-Pentecostalism to first bring the notion of syncretism into the correct perspective. Hunter (2020, p. 1) defined syncretism as the “blending of material-cultural belief systems or other cultural systems into a single practice”. Hunter’s definition is important because it presents a general understanding of the term that can also help in contextualizing the use of the term “syncretism” in the use of material objects within neo-Pentecostalism in South Africa. Again, Mwiti et al. (2015) also present a working definition that can also help in understanding the misuse of the syncretism narrative within South African neo-Pentecostalism. According to Mwiti et al. (2015, p. 42), “Syncretism in Christianity occurs when basic elements of the gospel are replaced by religious elements from the host culture. Therefore, it is imperative in the discussion about the use of material objects within South African neo-Pentecostalism to determine whether this act aims at replacing the basic elements of Christianity or not. Again, it should also be asked if this use of material objects constitutes the belief in more than one view to create a new doctrine or new worldview.

Wariboko (2017) provides lenses through which the questions raised above could be approached. Wariboko argues that it is imperative to seek an understanding of how African Pentecostalism constitutes itself about its sensibilities (p. 1), and how it bears witness to its form of religiosity as a spirituality that is continually affected by African traditional religions, economic exigencies, and political developments in Africa, and by traditions, doctrines, and the gospel message of Christianity (p. 1). Wariboko’s argument serves as a barometer guiding against overgeneralization and the outsider’s attempt to define African Pentecostalism as though African Pentecostals were tabula rasa, meaning that Africans were devoid of abilities to define their practices, experiences, and existence. It is imperative from the onset to scrutinize the notion of the inculturation of the gospel in the light of the syncretization. Therefore, the demonization and the outright regard for the use of material objects within the South African neo-Pentecostal spaces as syncretistic are double lenses used to destroy the inculturation of the gospel in Africa.

Again, these two lenses have perpetually avoided Wariboko’s barometers by failing to ask how African Pentecostalism bears witness to its form of religiosity and spirituality. The outright syncretization of every use of material objects within African Pentecostalism is often based on generalizations. However, there are certain practices in the use of material objects within this context that need scrutiny as they have brought ambiguity in the presentation of the gospel.

8.1. Practices Complicating the Gospel

There are several uses of material objects within the contemporary South African neo-Pentecostalism that complicate the gospel. These practices present a challenge because they make it difficult to discern between cultish activities and the legitimate usage of African sacred items. This is similar to Sande’s (2017, p. 50) generalized assertion that African Traditional Religions (ATRs) and Pentecostalism have a dialectical and confusing relationship. It is this alleged confusing relationship that happens in some neo-Pentecostal circles that complicates the gospel; thus, calling for the distinction to be made between non-syncretistic and syncretistic elements in the use of material objects within South African Pentecostalism. This confusion further raises the question of whether the narrative represents the assimilation of African spiritualities into Christianity or the merging of African material belief systems into African Pentecostalism.

Consequently, the same narrative has drawn criticism, sparking debates among theologians, researchers, and the Christian communities (Banda 2020, p. 1). Therefore, a balance should be sought by separating the non-syncretistic use of material objects within African neo-Pentecostalism and the syncretism narrative that uses “cultural bomb” (Wa Thiong’o 1981, p. 3) to destroy everything African. The syncretistic use of material objects can be easily detected as Thinane (2023, p. 3) opined that overt syncretism entails processes in which “Syncretistic practices, or the intermingling of material beliefs as it were, occurs in an explicit or blatantly recognizable fashion”. Thus, some neo-Pentecostal pastors in South Africa display overt syncretism when they blend Christian doctrine with African practices and rituals that stand in opposition to Christianity, abuse the use of material objects, or cause harm to society. As a result, a few examples can shed some light as an illustration on the syncretistic usage of material items within South African neo-Pentecostalism.

8.2. The Consultation with Sangomas

Galvin et al. (2023) describe a phenomenon wherein sangomas (Indigenous healers) perform faith healing by fusing Christian prophetic practice and African indigenous healing. This is an example of combining more than one material practice in a particular act. Again, syncretistic elements can be traced in a similar environment in which South African neo-Pentecostal pastors blend Christianity with sangomas’ consultation.

The sangomas base their practices on African spiritualities and religiosities, something that according to Grillo (2012, p. 113) is marked by the movement of objects and persons in space during ritual actions and the use of specific material forms (such as art and iconography). These material forms have a significant impact on the transmission of complex concepts within ATRs. This suggests that African spiritualities and religiosity maintain that material objects have the potential to reveal secret information and alter undesirable circumstances. Considering this, Grillo further asserted that art and material objects are the main channels for the dissemination of African material ideas. Sculpture, masks, iconography, equipment used in divination, priestly regalia, as well as charms and amulets that provide protection, all serve to symbolize, channel, or transform spiritual energy or creatures (p. 118). Therefore, it is the elements of power and protection that make material objects a critical aspect of African spiritualities and religiosity. As a result, these practices become syncretistic when neo-Pentecostal pastors integrate these elements into the Christian faith.

8.3. The Sacralizing of Material Objects

According to Banda (2020, p. 2), a major issue is that neo-Pentecostal apostles and prophets sacralize their anointed objects. They perform this without acknowledging the theological inconsistency of linking God’s omnipotence and desire to freely heal and restore all troubled people to things like water and oil contained in tiny bottles bearing the names of the apostles and prophets. Thus, the challenge in this regard is not syncretism, but it is the tendency to sacralize material objects. This poses a serious challenge to the gospel because it moves people’s faith away from Christ and leads to the objectification of religion.

Kgatle (2022b, p. 6) defines the objectification of religion as “the reduction of material faith to the use of objects to access healing, deliverance, and so forth”. In particular, when religion is objectified, it is reduced to the material, concrete, and palpable aspects of what has traditionally been regarded as spiritual and abstract. To cure and deliver people, material object users use various items that they believe to be imbued with the anointing rather than relying solely on God. As a result, rather than placing their trust in God, the consumers and followers of these material leaders wind up establishing a demand for these material products (p. 6).

8.4. The Commercialization of Material Objects

According to Kgatle and Mofokeng (2019, p. 5), the enduring challenge that even the South African government has recognized through the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Cultural, Material, and Linguistic Communities (CRL Commission) is that the gospel in South Africa is being commercialized through the selling of holy water, anointing oil, church uniforms, and appointments with clergy. Considering this, Banda (2020, p. 2) criticized the concept of paying for anointed objects by arguing that it conflicts with the actions of biblical prophets like Elisha, who turned down Naaman’s offer of gifts after curing him, and Jesus the savior, who freely cured anyone he met.

According to Kgatle and Thinane (2023, p. 8), in the New Prophetic Churches, access to the healing process is contingent upon the purchase of a specific product by the churches’ adherents. Instead of placing one’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as is the case in traditional Pentecostal churches, this links faith healing to a particular product. Thus, the use of material products in this regard shifts one’s faith from Jesus Christ to total dependence on the products (p. 8). Additionally, Kgatle and Thinane maintain that the use of healing products fosters a relationship between believers and their pastors or prophets in which the faith of believers is placed in the person who distributes the products (p. 8). It is again the shift from trusting the Lord Jesus Christ to dependence on the pastor or prophet that is problematic. Thus, rather than outrightly demonizing and regarding this as inherently syncretistic, these elements amongst others need to be clarified, defined, and presented as wrong ways of using material objects within African neo-Pentecostalism.

9. Charting the Way Forward

There is a need to dismantle the “cultural bomb”. This can happen through decolonizing the use of material objects within African Pentecostalism and African neo-Pentecostalism. The starting point would be to problematize the missionary-colonial idea that converting to Christianity entails abandoning African traditional customs, symbols, and the use of material objects without determining whether they are syncretistic or not. The narrative needs to be challenged because it is the same idea that keeps (mis) representing African cultures and practices by unduly regarding them as syncretistic. Therefore, it is critical to be objective when addressing the use of material objects either within African Pentecostalism or in particular within African neo-Pentecostalism, because without this objectivity, there is a danger of repeating with neo-Pentecostalism what Kgatla (2023) calls the “othering” of the AICs by the colonial-missionary enterprise who uncritically viewed the AICs as “sects”, “nativists”, “messianic”, and “syncretic” (p. 5). Thus, the haste to simplistically label every use of material objects within African neo-Pentecostalism as syncretistic should be challenged to its core.

It is also critical to ask the following question when addressing syncretism in the use of material objects within African Pentecostalism: Why are syncretistic lenses also not applied in the use of material objects within other Christian spaces that have roots in Western forms of Christianity? This refers to the use of material objects like water, oil, wine, and bread for holy communion and other substances as discussed in this article. Nwosu (2021, p. 4) attempted to respond to this question when asserting that “the shock of external influence on the ways of life of the people contributed significantly to the present-day problem of syncretism in Africa, if at all, syncretism is a problem”. It becomes apparent that the Western missionaries hastily labeled as syncretistic any African practice they did not understand or approve of. In the same vein, even some of the African Pentecostal scholars have adopted the same narrative. This happened without an attempt to separate the syncretistic from the non-syncretistic elements in the use of material objects within African Pentecostal contexts.

Thus, the use of material objects within African neo-Pentecostalism should not be outrightly dismissed as syncretistic. In the same vein, Kgatle (2023b) opined that despite their challenges, such as commercialization and other abuses anointed products become a point of contact in Pentecostal spirituality of experience. Therefore, biblical passages of scripture such as James 5:14–16 that promote the use of oil when elders pray for the sick should be used as the basis to justify this move. Indeed, such scriptural references should serve as examples on the non-syncretistic use of material objects within Christian circles. However, negative abuses of material objects should also be exposed and discouraged.

10. Conclusions

This article made the case that there are several interconnections between African Pentecostal Christianity, African spiritualities, and religions. The use of material objects, which is prevalent in several African Pentecostal Christian spaces as well as African cultures, spiritualities, and religions, is just one of many such activities that highlight this interconnectedness. The article further argued that within the larger African Pentecostalism, the emergence of neo-Pentecostalism in South Africa has raised certain debates about the use of material objects. As a result, the practice was categorically demonized, and it was determined that it was essentially syncretistic. Therefore, the article investigated and problematized the syncretism narrative given the use of material objects within some neo-Pentecostal churches in South Africa. Thus, it scrutinized the outright syncretism narrative. It then problematized the narrative and argued that it continues the missionary-colonial project that demonized African cultural and material practices. It further argued that the narrative constitutes a “cultural bomb” that seeks to eradicate African customs, cultures, religions, and practices including the use of material objects. Therefore, the use of material objects within African neo-Pentecostalism should not be outrightly dismissed as syncretistic; however, biblical passages of scripture such as James 5:14–16 that promote the use of oil when elders pray for the sick should be used as the basis to justify this move and serve as examples on the non-syncretistic use of material objects within Christian circles.