Journal of the American Academy of Religion Advance Access originally published online on February 5, 2008
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 2008 76(1):1-26; doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfm093
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Sacrifice Honors God": Ritual Struggle in a Liberian Church
Samuel I. Britt, Associate Professor, Department of Religion and Department of Asian Studies, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA
E-mail: sam.britt{at}furman.edu
 |
Abstract |
|---|
Studies on African Religions have neglected the topic of animal sacrifice in African Initiated Churches. I examine the role and meaning of sacrifice in a Liberian church called the United Church of Salvation I encountered over two decades ago. The church observed two forms of sacrifice: a Sin Sacrifice that mandated immolation of a goat; and a Life Sacrifice that mandated immolation of a ram. Animal sacrifice provided an effective ritual strategy that obviated direct accusations of witchcraft, yet reminded each member of his or her responsibility to the moral order of the church. The church's practice of sacrifice, however, would change with the emergence of Diaspora branches, new affiliations, and circuiting with global Pentecostalism. I contend that sacrifice needs to be understood in terms of ritual struggle, denoting an agonistic theme that continues whether sacrifice persists or disappears.
Material for this paper comes from fieldwork carried out in the Republic of Liberia from July 1983 through February 1985. The United Church of Salvation (UCS) was among dozens of African Initiated Churches (AICs) I worked with in the Paynesville City area, about 12 miles from downtown Monrovia. The church emphasized the practice of sacrifice, which aroused in me, at that time a Southern Baptist and latent Mahayanist, both fascination and alarm. Now, twenty-two years later, I have a more sanguine view of the practice, and I hope I have represented it fairly. For my analysis, I relied on field-notes, journal entries, church literature, taped and written interviews, photographs, letters, a minister's journal of "visions," and on recent fieldwork among Diaspora AICs in the Washington DC area. I wish to express my gratitude to my colleague Claude Stulting for his collegial support, advice, and editorial assistance on this paper.