Ivoriansk kosmologi og det okkulte

Kristen holistisk antropologi som alternativ fortolkningsramme

Abstract

Conceptions and accusations of sorcery and witchcraft are causing major societal problems many places in Africa, and many churches in Côte d’Ivoire are fighting against this using «power encounters» as main strategy. This implies that while the church might be fighting against the phenomenon, it also continues to substantiate these notions, in accepting the traditional cosmology on which these notions are based. I want to explore an alternative approach to the witchcraft discourse. I argue, based on the Mahou people understanding of gbaaya (witchcraft), that a key element of traditional Ivorian anthropology is dualistic. I also explain how this understanding is perpetuated in the church, underpinned by a theological dualism. Then I briefly present a Christian holistic anthropology as an alternative to the traditional anthropology and show how it can provide an alternative interpretive framework for the church. In this way, I show that there are theological resources to deconstruct and recon!gure the traditional view of the human person and thus that the church can present alternative interpretive categories to the cosmology of witchcraft, if it desires to do so. My hope is to give a contribution to the understanding of the Ivorian witchcraft discourse, and a much needed cross-cultural theological debate.