Take & Read: Global Christianity

The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta Petros: A Seventeenth-Century African Biography of an Ethiopian Woman, by Galawdewos, edited and translated by Wendy Laura Belcher and Michael Kleiner (Princeton University Press, 544 pp., $39.95). This richly in­formative book is unexpected in many ways. In the 17th century, Cath­olic missionaries were trying to reshape the ancient church of Ethiopia into more European forms. That attempt provoked fierce resistance and bloodshed, and one doughty figure in the defense of tradition was the nun Walatta Petros. This book translates a contemporary life of this heroic African woman who struggled (successfully) to defend her culture and faith against proto-colonialist invasion. In following the dramatic main narrative, we learn about the customs and faith of the great Ethiopian church, all of which is profoundly important for understanding that tradition as it exists today. The editors present the life in accessible terms, and they are highly responsible in dealing with matters of sexuality that could otherwise have proved controversial.

Looking Back, Moving Forward: Trans­formation and Ethical Practice in the Ghanaian Church of Pentecost, by Girish Daswani (University of Toronto Press, 280 pp., $27.95 paperback). So much writing about evangelicals and Pentecostals focuses on the born-again moment and the experience of conversion. But what then? How does that change affect one’s life? Exactly what is “transformed” by the spiritual rebirth? Anthropologist Girish Daswani addresses these questions by looking at members of a thriving Ghanaian church, the Church of Pentecost, based mainly in London. Besides explaining the issue of lifestyle change, the book offers a fascinating range of life stories and experiences, which combine to tell us much about the appeal of charismatic Christianity to contemporary Africans. An excellent contribution to the study of migrant faith, this book also has much to say about spirituality and religious practice more broadly defined.