An anthropological study of healing practices in African Initiated Churches with specific reference to a Zionist Christian Church in Marabastad

Abstract

This study encompasses an anthropological investigation of healing practices in the Zion Christian Church with reference to the Marabastad congregation in Pretoria (Tshwane), South Africa. The Zion Christian Church functions as an extremely successful healing ministry, and can thus be characterised as a spirit-type African Initiated Church, a type known to attract members through healing activities. The concepts of ill-health, health, healing and curing are crucial to understanding the church’s role, as all activities at the Zion Christian Church revolve around the attainment of absolute health. The embedded nature of healing in the church is explored through an analysis of the spatial and material aspects of the church’s healing practices, including codes of conduct, roles of participants, religious services, and intangible and tangible instruments of healing. The study is further contextualised against the broader history of the emergence and growth of African Initiated Churches from the late 19th century onwards