Akropong

It's been a week since I last updated my blog, and it seems that time has crept and flown, full of little adventures and minor tragedies and exaltation.

On Sunday we attended church at the Legon Interdenominational Church on the University of Ghana campus. It always strikes me that worship tends to stratify according to class and social status rather than geography or skin color. This church was made up of middle and upper class people, most of whom were somehow connected to the University. The sanctuary was like any American church that I have been to, with high ceilings, a cloth-covered alter, and a platform at the front where the officieries perform their duties. Everything about it seemed to resemble other churches that I have seen in videos and in person all over the world- in South Africa, Brazil, Mozambique, and China. Dr. McDermott would disagree with me, but I am convinced that Christianity is becoming increasingly "glocalized" in terms of income, education, class, etc. rather than geography and skin color.

After church, we ate at "Redd Lobster" restaurant (notice the two d's) and then headed to Akropong, which is a city about an hour away by bus, up in the mountains. It is a beautiful drive. As the tro-tro (mini-bus) edged up the mountain roads, we saw a full rainbow on the valley to our right. The scenery reminded me a lot of Malawi, with its green, rolling hills and forested mountains. In Akropong we stayed at the Akrofi-Christallar Institute for Christian Study. Kwame Bediako (the president of the Institute) gave a lecture about African traditional religion and philosophy, and how it interacts with Christianity and the Christian worldview. We also heard lectures about Ghanaian culture and gender roles, and about Christian-Muslim relations in Ghana.