Reconstructing Sacred Space: The Place And Relevance Of Abasua Prayer Mountain In Contemporary Ghanaian Christianity

ABSTRACT Sacred spaces and their attendant pilgrimage attractions are prevalent in almost all religious traditions in the world. People‘s belief in the presence of the luminous or transcendent reality at places and the possibility of their interaction with the luminous through prayer rituals, do not only define those places as sacred, but are also some of the major reasons for pilgrimage to such places. Thus, the traditional notion of sacred places as spaces for prayer, worship and divine revelation is virtually ubiquitous in all discourses on sacred spaces. In addition to the spiritual significance of sacred places is their potential in bringing about human development. This however has not attracted much scholarly attention. In this work, therefore, the researcher uses the Abasua Prayer Mountain in Ghana as a contextual example to argue that the relevance of sacred spaces should not be limited only to their traditional functions as places for pilgrims‘ encounter with a transcendent reality. Rather, owing largely to the massive pilgrimage attractions to those places, they are also relevant in promoting development in four thematic areas: spiritual, mental, physical and social. An eclectic methodology including historical, phenomenological and theological models were used to guide the data collected. On the research field, the researcher employed interviews and participant observation to gather the needed field data. The researcher has used Clifford Geertz‘s social-anthropological approach to ground the discussion. It was found out, among others, that even though the Prayer Mountain promotes human development in the above - mentioned four thematic areas, it directly and sometimes indirectly stifles development. In this sense, the Abasua Prayer Mountain phenomenon in contemporary Ghanaian Christianity has been described as a paradox in this study.