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Power, Poverty and Prayer: The Challenges of Poverty and Pluralism in African Christianity 1960–1996 (review)

can Christian women's agency, such that today's women leaders build upon models and initiatives of their forbears. Indeed, Sackey calls for "relaxing" classificatory categories, as most churches in Ghana—mission churches included—are moving toward "a convergence in aspects of worship" (26). Chapters 3 to 6, which concentrate on religious experience and healing, are particularly illuminating. Sackey offers vivid glimpses into the lives of a variety of compelling women ministers and the diverse challenges faced by members of their congregations—including HIV/AIDS, infertility, financial difficulties, and spiritual affliction such as demonic possession. Sackey suggests that the assertiveness that many Ghanaian Christian women exhibit is rooted in the "traditional cultural foundations" of the matrilineal Akan—foundations that have become "an integral part of new systems of belief, consciously or otherwise" (179). This important thesis bears fuller elaboration because it brings into focus the question as to what extent Sackey's observations about gender in contemporary Ghanaian AICs hold true in African societies with very different cultural foundations. It is hoped that other scholars, following Sackey's lead, might take up this issue. The volume would have been enhanced by a map locating the many towns and cities mentioned in the text, as well as a few photos of the impressive women we meet within the pages of the study. Nevertheless, Sackey's book is a fine resource for scholars and students interested in Christianity in Africa, and in gender and religion more generally.