Bonding in Worship: A Ritual Lens on Social Capital in African Independent Churches in South Africa

In Sub-Saharan Africa Christianity is experiencing unprecedented growth

and many people worship on a regular basis. Simultaneously, many parts

of Sub-Saharan Africa experience challenges such as poverty and

inequality. Given this reality and these challenges, a group of

international scholars investigated the ritual practices of one of the

fastest growing traditions, namely African Independent Churches, over a

period of more than four years. The research team set out to explore the

role of religious rituals in social capital formation and social

development at community level in an African Independent Church in South

Africa. This book is the final, comprehensive and synthesising product

in which the international and interdisciplinary team of scholars from

theology, religion and development present their findings.

The book is structured into three parts that reflects its theoretical,

empirical and evaluative dimensions. In part I, theoretical perspectives

are offered on the main conceptual apparatus of the book and the

authors’ own understanding of the nexus between the different concepts.

In part II, the theoretical arguments of the book are further worked out

by means of eight explorations comprising of qualitative field work

research in the religious milieus of African Independent worshippers in

KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, South Africa. In part III, a final

set of chapters, by reflecting on the case studies in part II, offer

wider appreciations and applications of the role religious ritual in

social capital formation. This includes reflections on the African

notion of ubuntu and the challenges that the ritual lens offers

to policy makers in South African society, but also African society and

the global South more generally speaking when seeking answers to the

problem of development.