Christianity and Seventh-Day Adventism in Madagascar

The Place of Healers-Diviners (Ombiasa) in Betsileo Medical Pluralism

“…The Fifohazana movement is indeed characterized by its deep anchoring in Betsileo culture, for example by the use of Zafindraony songs (see Noiret 1995), by the healing techniques of the mpiandry that bear a strong similarity to those of Betsileo ombiasa, and by beliefs in the existence of spiritual entities that are also shared by the ombiasa. Unlike other 'new' Protestant churches that are booming in Madagascar (see Keller 2005 for an example), the Fifohazana movement does not altogether reject the most important aspects of Betsileo culture, and this leaves open the possibility of 'combining', more or less overtly, an engagement in the movement with recourse to the ombiasa's healing practices.…”

The Anthropology of Christianity

“…This emphasis has, in turn, been absorbed by anthropology, most notably for Asad in Geertz's (1973) famous definition of religion, and has resulted in a disciplinary definition of ritual in terms of subjective meaning and of religion in terms of adherence to internalized representations. This argument has been taken up by others studying the anthropology of Christianity, and has led to the claim that modern Protestant definitions of religion as primarily a matter of belief can lead anthropologists to misrepresent not only the lives of people who practice other religions, but even those of many Christians whose engagement with their faith is not matched by an equal immersion in other facets of western modern culture (Keller 2005, Robbins 2007a, Kirsch 2004.…”

“…The problem with this picture is that according to current research, it is not in accord with the experience of those 'convert cultures' who have recently adopted some form of Christianity. From the standpoint of these Christians, and the anthropologists who document them, conversion is understood as point of rupture from a pre-Christian past, and a new orientation to a brighter future in which they will participate in a modern and global religious order (Meyer 1999a, Robbins 2004, Engelke 2004, Keller 2005, Keane 2007. That the upheavals of modernity and globalization should be thought through in terms of conversion to a 'world' religion like Christianity is perhaps unsurprising.…”

“…This is so because Christianity in many of its forms is a religion centered on sharp discontinuities, displayed in such elements as the incarnation, personal conversion, and the sometimes imminent apocalypse. This trope of rupture, when utilized in local readings of the social, is rendered extremely complex by the way the transitions being indexed are usually only partial in nature; continued pre-Christian indigenous theories of society and politics (Robbins 2004), models of proper modes of exchange with and responsibility for kin (Keller 2005, Keane 2007, Schram 2007, and the continued belief in the power of pre-Christian spiritual entities (Meyer 1999a) often cause painful ethical, social, psychological, and representational conflicts for Christian populations in areas of relatively recent conversion, such as Melanesia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Indeed, the tension inherent in the dialectic between the advent of a new 'Christian' way of life and the continuation of cognitive and social forms that are thought to be inimical to Christianity has been a fertile object of research, and is likely to continue to be for some time.…”

Changing Faith: The Social Costs of Protestant Conversion in Rural Oaxaca

“…As Meyer (1998:320) also suggests in her Ghanaian study, although many people initially approach a Pentecostal church in order to solve problems related to health and wealth, often moving from one church to another to achieve the desired result, improvement of one's situation alone cannot account for a sustained affiliation with the new church. Keller (2005) similarly argues against simple utilitarianism, emphasising the intellectual pleasure gained by the Malagasy Seventh-Day Adventists from reading, studying, and conversing together. Nevertheless, totally neglecting the pragmatic incentives of conversion would be misguided, and striking a dynamic balance between utilitarian and intellectualist explanations is far more expounding.…”