A COMPERATIVE STUDY OF EXORCISM BETWEEN THE AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION AND PENTECOSTALISM

The belief in the existence of the evil spirits throughout the human history of religious beliefs and adherence has led to the belief that these evil spirits possess people and things and influence them to act weirdly and unholy hence the need to cast them away of the human life. Exorcism has been a prominent practice among the African traditional religions and Christian churches such as Pentecostals. They have been using exorcism to treat suspected victims of demonic possession. The practice of exorcism by ATRs and Pentecostal churches show some resemblance and dissimilarities. The similarities and dissimilarities between the two cover two major areas; diagnostic methods and exorcism practice. Each of the two religions has its distinctive and elaborate diagnostic and exorcism features, yet there are areas of semblance. Exorcism is an integral part of religion. Every religion practices this religious activity some more often than the others. Therefore, having a detailed glance at exorcism from the African traditional religion and Pentecostal churches from a comparative analytical perspective is imperative. An attempt to discuss the meaning of exorcism, healing, spirits, and spirit possession from both ATR and Pentecostalism is imperiously unavoidable.