Discontinuity and the Discourse of Conversion

Engelke, Matthew

doi:10.1163/157006604323056732

Cited by 129 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…According to various respondents, love and partnership are characteristic of a true Christian marriage but are largely absent in the traditional arrangement of marriage where male headship results in 'a master-slave relationship'. Such a representation, whether or not it is correct, confirms the observation that the break with the past that Pentecostalism advocates also includes a break with 'African culture' or 'African tradition' (Engelke 2004;Meyer 1998). The above account shows that this break is applied, among other things, to 'traditional' ideas about gender relations and masculinity.…”

Section: The Ideal Of Born-again Manhoodsupporting

confidence: 58%

Men in the Remaking: Conversion Narratives and Born-Again Masculinity in Zambia

Klinken

2012

J Religion Afr

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The born-again discourse is a central characteristic of Pentecostal Christianity in Africa. In the study of African Christianities, this discourse and the way it (re)shapes people's moral, religious, and social identities has received much attention. However, hardly any attention has been paid to its effects on men as gendered beings. In the study of men and masculinities in Africa, on the other hand, neither religion in general nor born-again Christianity in particular are taken into account as relevant factors in the construction of masculinities. On the basis of a detailed analysis of interviews with men who are members of a Pentecostal church in Lusaka, Zambia, this article investigates how men's gender identities are reshaped by becoming and being born-again and how born-again conversion produces new forms of masculinity. The observed Pentecostal transformation of masculinity is interpreted in relation to men's social vulnerability, particularly in the context of the HIV epidemic in Zambia.

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Section: The Ideal Of Born-again Manhoodsupporting

confidence: 58%

Men in the Remaking: Conversion Narratives and Born-Again Masculinity in Zambia

Klinken

2012

J Religion Afr

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“…On the other hand, there is the potentiality of an ongoing presence of evil spirits, fueled by the affirmation of certain medical concepts and indiscriminate exorcism rites in healing meetings. This tensions of continuity and discontinuity, elaborated by Meyer (1998;1999) and Engelke (2004), is not only a way to bridge ambivalence, but also a highly politicized theological discourse, as the Ethiopian Deliverance debate has shown. Certain concepts of the person, of conversion, and of possession are mapped out in this context, and to them the self-objectification of spirit embodiment must answer.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embodying the Spirit(s): Pentecostal Demonology and Deliverance Discourse in Ethiopia

Haustein

2011

Ethnos

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The article explores Pentecostal embodiment practices and concepts with regard to Holy Spirit baptism and demon possession. The studied material is connected to a specific and highly controversial debate in Ethiopian Pentecostalism, which revolves around the possibility of demon possession in born-again and Spirit-filled Christians. This debate runs through much of Ethiopian Pentecostal history and ultimately is concerned with whether or how Christians can host conflicting spiritual forces, in light of the strong dualism between God and evil in Pentecostal cosmology. The article shows that the embodiment of spirits and/or the Holy Spirit is related to theological concepts of the self, because these concepts define what may or may not be discerned in certain bodily manifestations. Moreover, the article contends that this debate thrives on a certain ambiguity in spirit embodiment, which invites the discernment of spiritual experts and thereby becomes a resource of power.

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“…enables people to move back and forth between the way of life they (wish to) have left behind and the one to which they aspire'. We see here the ambiguities felt by Ewe believers caught between familial, social and religious ties and the demands of the modern capitalist economy, alongside the argument that Pentecostalism allows such worlds to remain in mutual contact and consciousness (compare also Engelke 2004).…”

Section: Theorising Rupturementioning

confidence: 90%

‘Right Now!’: Historiopraxy and the Embodiment of Charismatic Temporalities

Coleman

2011

Ethnos

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I focus on the experience of time and perception of history within the Word of Life charismatic ministry in Sweden, demonstrating the mutual implication of the physical and the temporal, the biographical and the historical, in members' lives. While conversion draws on a personal frame of reference in relation to the passage of time, spiritualised temporality can also be given a more ambitious frame, incorporating major events that might lead to Christ's return. Believers wrestle with at least two ways of dealing with history. One pertains to a mimetic relation to previous action: invoking history. The other involves the articulation of something discontinuous and new, an 'event' that moves towards the ultimate salvationist and transformative aims of the faith: making history. Both raise the question of how novelty can be invoked through deploying cultural resources that, seemingly paradoxically, recall actions taken in the past -a process I term 'historiopraxy'.

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Discontinuity and the Discourse of Conversion

Cited by 129 publications

References 28 publications

Men in the Remaking: Conversion Narratives and Born-Again Masculinity in Zambia

Men in the Remaking: Conversion Narratives and Born-Again Masculinity in Zambia

Embodying the Spirit(s): Pentecostal Demonology and Deliverance Discourse in Ethiopia

‘Right Now!’: Historiopraxy and the Embodiment of Charismatic Temporalities

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