The Crisis of Presence in Italian Pentecostal Conversion Author(s): George R. Saunders Reviewed work(s): Source: American Ethnologist, Vol.

22, No. 2 (May, 1995), pp. 324-340 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/646705 . Accessed: 16/01/2013 05:27
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the crisis of presence in ItalianPentecostal

conversion

GEORGE R. SAUNDERS-Lawrence

University

Ineffect, I was committing suicide. Inthe sense thatI rejectedthe world, I rejectedpeople, and-I don't know-that they didn'thave anything sayto me, theydidn'thaveanything give me.... I said, if the to to worldis likethis,and if Iam likethis,thenI'mnot interested living.... Andthen I hadreached point in the where I couldn'tsleep any more,and I continued drinkfromnine in the eveninguntilfiveor six ... an to isolatedatmosphere... a littlelikea motherly I womb,an amnioticsituation. isolatedmyself,and livedin thisspace anesthetized, withoutpain..... Perhaps helpedme a lot,thatIdidn'thaveanyfaithin myself this at thatpoint.Thatis to say, I really didn'teven exist. While doing field research in two Pentecostal Protestant churches in Italy in 1991-92, I occasionally heard accounts, like the one above, of preconversion crises that seemed to involve a disturbed sense of self. Sometimes the distress was expressed bodily, as illness, sometimes emotionally, and at times as something Iwould call "alienation."These were moral and spiritual crises, at least as presented retrospectively, and clearly had existential dimensions. In many of the accounts, the subsequent conversion seemed to allow the person to fashion not only a new self and identity but also a new relationshipto time and history, and particularlya newly affirmed feeling of efficacy as an actor in the historical moment. The majorgoal of this article is to interpretsome of these crises and the subsequent conversion experiences. A subsidiary goal, however, is of only slightly less salience. The kind of crisis I focus on here was a central concern of Italiananthropologist, folklorist, and historianof religions Ernesto De Martino (1908-1965), and I want to bring his insights to the attention of a wider scholarly community. Though little known outside Italy (and essentially untranslated), De Martino is recognized there as a scholar of extraordinary significance, a brilliant and eclectic theoretician, and a sensitive ethnographer of the popular culture of his own society. In several seminal works, De Martino discussed a dilemma that he referredto as "the crisis of presence" (la crisi della presenza), which he defined as "the existential drama of being exposed to the risk of not being here" (1973[1948]:141). Though at times De Martino seems simply to mean anxiety about the possibility of one's own death, he usually intends "the crisis of presence" to mean a deeper and subtler problem: a breakdown in the sense of self, eventuating in passivity and ineffectual engagement with the world outside. "The risk of not being here" is a fundamental existential dilemma, with moral, psychological, and cultural Italiananthropologist ErnestDe Martino (1908-1965) devoted much of his writing to the analysis of "the crisis of presence," an existential dilemma evidenced in a disturbed sense of self and often expressed as illness, emotional distress, or "alienation." This article describes De Martino's conceptualization of the crisis of presence as a problem of consciousness with moral and emotional dimensions and applies it in interpreting the conversion narratives of three Italian Pentecostal Christians. The resolution of the crisis, for these Christians,entails the construction of a new sense of self, and particularlya new relationship to time and history. [De Martino, Pentecostalism, religion, existential crisis, Italy]
American Ethnologist22(2):324-340. Copyright? 1995, American Anthropological Association.

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dimensions.Thoughby no meansevident in all, or even most,of the conversionnarratives I in "thecrisisof presence" for recorded Italy, seems a thoroughly analyticconstruct the cases apt I will presenthere. Protestant Pentecostalism in Italy

is Pentecostalism a small but dynamic movement in contemporaryItaly, with perhaps the formof Christianity, adherents 350,000 throughout country.Inoriginan Anglo-American Pentecostalism derivesfromthe HolinessMovementand the "campmeetings" contemporary of 18th- and 19th-century AmericanMethodism(Lawless1988; Martin1990; Synan 1971; have carriedPentecostal Womackand Toppi 1989). In recent years,Americanmissionaries the is ideasthrough entireworld,andtodayPentecostalism anextraordinarily current significant in international Itshistoryin Italyis unique,however:Pentecostalism brought was Christianity. but fromthe UnitedStates, to Italy, byAmerican not missionaries, by Italian emigrants returning where manyhad been convertedin the greatrevivalsof 1906 to 1908. Italian Pentecostalism itsconnections the international to Pentecostal networks. hasremained Italian, distinctly despite Italianconvertswere drawn to this religiousexperience for a multitudeof reasons, but antihierarchical, democratic, organizationally certainlyin part because of Pentecostalism's and because of its emotional,often mystical,forms of expression individualizing message the 1977; Maselli1990; Olivierin.d.).During 1920s and early 1930s, the number (Castiglione in of Pentecostal convertsgrew substantially the smallvillagesof ruralsouthernItaly,though after manywere persecuted duringthe fascistyears,particularly 1935, and some were forced intoexile or underground (Leone1972; Rochat1990; Spini1968). WorldWarII,Pentecostalism to Following againemergedas a potentalternative Catholicism, has andthe movement continued growintothe present to Christians period.ThoughPentecostal compriseless than 1 percentof the Italianpopulation,the movementhas a disproportionate Catholiccountry(Garelli 1991). Itinspiresstrongreactionsfrom significancein this culturally and the Catholichierarchy receivesconsiderableattentionin the press.Inthis context, Italian in Pentecostals havetendedto definethemselveslargely oppositionto Catholicism (ratherthan, or forexample,"secular humanism" some similar In counter-ideology). part,thisself-definition also reflects factthatmostof them wereCatholicsbeforetheirconversionand regard the their new identity altogether as distinctfromthe old. on of tour" churches of Myresearch Pentecostalism beganin the summer 1989 with a "grand fromTorinoin the Northto Palermoin Sicily.Then,in 1991-92, Isettledfora year in Tuscany in centralItaly.'ThereI workedprimarily two Pentecostal in communities.One, in a working of class suburb Florence,is a large,well-established churchassociatedwith the Assembleedi Dio in Italia, which in turnis looselyaffiliated withthe Assemblies God in the UnitedStates. of Thesecond is a small,independent churchin a backalley in Prato, manufacturing a town some northof Florence. ten kilometers Thetwo churchesdifferin manyways. Thefirsthas been in the same site for 30 years,owns its own churchbuildings,has a full-timepaid pastor,and participates a nationalnetworkof in affiliatedchurches offeringsuch services as a summercamp in the mountains,a weekly televisionprogram, radionetwork, a BibleInstitute training a and for The service pastors. Sunday attracts some 200 people (withsmallernumbersat the three midweekservices).The church also has foursmall branchesin outlyingareas.The service is, by Pentecostal standards, fairly routinized, thoughnot lackingin spirit.Men and women sit on opposite sides of the church, and women wear white veils duringthe service.The service is dominatedby men, although women do participate and activelywith prayers testimonies. The second churchis abouteight years old but has been in its presentlocation-a rented are and ex-factory building-for only abouttwo years.Itstwo co-pastors untrained unpaid,one

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workingby day as a truckdriverand the other in an administrative positionfor a textilefirm. Between25 and 40 people ordinarily attendits Sundayservice, and midweekservices are The in generallyheld in the homesof members. servicesare relatively spontaneous style,and a visitormighthave difficulty Women pickingthe pastorout fromamongthe othermembers. and men mix in the congregation,and women are as active in prayer,testimony, and activitiesas the men, althoughI neverhearda woman preachthe sermon. organizational which matter greatdeal in some respects, theology a the differences, Despiteorganizational and the religiousexperience of the two communitiesare quite similar.They believe that salvationcan be obtainedonly through their faith,althoughthose who are saveddemonstrate of Christianity throughrightcomportment. Theyemphasizethe significance a personal experience with JesusChrist. Theyemphatically rejectthe Catholicdoctrinethatchurchor ecclesiastical hierarchycan be effective mediatorsbetween the individualand God, and they at particularly rejectthe popularCatholic"idolatry" shrinesto miraculous images.They do, themselves.Theyare"fundamentalist"thattheytakethe in however,firmlybelieve in miracles Bibleto be the literal wordof Godandtheonly appropriate guideforlife.Theyare"evangelical" in thatthey believe that it is theirresponsibility preachthe Gospel to the non-converted.2 to And they are "Pentecostal" thatthey particularly in of emphasizethe "gifts the Holy Spirit," on especiallythe giftof tonguesconferred the 120 discipleson the day of the Pentecost,after Christ's death on the cross.3Formost, speakingin tongues (glossolalia)is the fundamental indicator "baptism the Holy Spirit," especially important of passage. of in an rite Mostmembersof bothchurchesconvertedfromCatholicism youngadults,thoughmany as of those in their teens and twenties are the childrenof Pentecostalparentsand a few are Most(butnotall)describethemselvesas havingbeen laxor inconstant Catholics grandchildren. beforetheirconversion.Many(butnot all)convertedduringa difficult in theirlives,and period thisis likelyto be especiallytrueof thosewho werethe firstmembers theirfamilies convert. of to Bothchurchesincludestrong networks extendedkin(though of all members havesome virtually relativeswho have not converted).Indeed, kin ties are significantenough that one of the of churchhas morethan50 relatives, bloodor marriage, the in foundingmembers the larger by one church,includinga son who is currently of the fourmembersof the churchcouncil and a son-in-lawwho was on the councilfor20 years.Similarly, smallerchurchhas a core group the of at least22 adultswho are intricately linkedby kinshipand marriage. Eachindividual,however,has a uniqueaccountof his or her conversion.4 These accounts of their"encounters Christ" the transformation theirlivesconstitute with and of oral major texts for Italian Pentecostals. Theyare told duringchurchservices,especiallyat "evangelizations," and also at prayermeetings, well as in privatehomes,at dinners,parties, whereverothers as or indicate a desire to hear these sacral memoirs.Thoughthere is some stylizationof these roomfor personalization, it is a genre in which some and accounts,there is also considerable excel and throughwhich othersstumble.Some of the storiesare moredramatic than people themselvesmaintain thatsome are betterthan othersas accountsof others,and Pentecostals God's mercyor power. Manyof the stories,of course,would in no sense describea "crisisof presence."Infact, a fairnumberof convertsseem to have experiencedno seriouscrisisat all and describetheir lives beforeconversionas havingbeen essentiallyfine, thoughwithoutthe joy thatcomes fromknowingChrist. Manyothers,however,seem to havefoundthemselvesin life situations which "thecrisisof presence"is an especiallyapt description. for Thereis a problem,of course, in assessingthe statusof these storiesas "myth" "history." or I follow the lead of others in seeing them as personalconstructions, creations,or "fictions" but as As (Lawless 1991:58),not in the sense of "lies," rather "makings." Ginsburg notes,such storiespresentan "organization ideas in which the self is the axis"(1989:133).Thus,they of are told as storiesaboutthe pastwith meaningsforthe present,and thereis unquestionably a to the conversion testimonial. are in some respect"myth-modIndeed, mythmaking aspect they

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els," as Obeyesekere (1981:99-102) puts it, that break down the distinctions between personal and cultural aspects of the experience. That the crisis of presence is constructed retrospectively, then, does not diminish its significance. Indeed, part of De Martino's point was that such crisis is a constant potential of life in our times, and its retrospective construction is surely a statement about its continuing cultural salience, about the tenuousness of its resolution, as well as about the construction of a new self that knows how to confront it. Here I will present portions of three narratives.They differ from each other in fundamental respects, and yet each illustrates, I think, a distinct crisis of presence. I will begin with an extended version of the testimony cited in the introduction. Lidia Benevento Lidia Benevento is (at the time of this interview in 1991) a 39-year-old optician who works in an optical store owned by her mother. She has never been married. The following are excerpts from a taped interview. but Anyway... as a girl, I was an intelligent person,otherssaid "really" intelligent, also verydifficult, because I was overbearing, because I was so nervous,sometimeseven hysterical, because I was afraid of everything, the dark,when Iwas little.Thedarkwas alwaysa terrifying of thing .... Butall of thiswas morethanthe resut of the conflictbetweenmyown personality, whichwasverystrong, that and nothing of myfather, whichwas even stronger.... Now Iwouldn'twantto blamemyfather, becausehe also has his justifications.... The otherpartwould be my mother,who was closed up in herself,and therefore the couldn'tin anyway counterbalance figureof my father. was practically She and subjectto my father, she hada personality for exactlytheoppositeof mine .... Allthiscreated problems me, thoughtoday big Irealizethat,no matter myparents who havehadwhatitwasthatIwas instinctively were,Isimplycouldn't lookingfor. Because it was somethingmore than human.Thatis, it went beyond the capacityof the humanspirit.BecauseI was instinctively-Ionly realizeit now-searching for perfection, health,true love . . . thatis, love, but not whatotherpeople call love. Itwas ... a searchthatI felt in myself,but I didn'tunderstand what it was I was sought. Andsince Iwas veryextroverted, havingsearchedforit in myfamily,Iwentto searchforitamong after And in those days I had 30,000 friends,I was the leaderof the pack.... Thenas I grew up my friends. of thingsgot morecomplicated,becauseat a certainpointI beganto have "theproblem" men. Totally. I was one who had terrible crushes,which alwaysended in disaster.Eachtime. BecauseI took it too value.Beyondthe possibilities humanlife. for seriously, know?BecauseIgavetheman exaggerated you And it got worse and worse, untilat a certainpointmy . . . suffering become so greatthat I had had to-how to say it?-calm it, confineit, deadenit somehow.I felttoo bad.That's why I began. . . I began to drink.... It remainedan occasional thing, until the last downfall,emotionalbreakdown.I'm talkingabout Thishappenedat the age of 27 ... in 1979. And it was such a bad emotional[romantic] breakdowns. crashthatatthatpoint, I beganto drinkseriously ... Idrankfrom... 1979 to 1986. Butso much. At the same time, since I realizedthat I was too sick to makeit alone, I decidedto enteranalysis.So fromJanuary '80 I beganpsychoanalysis, lastedeightyears.... of that And in those years,I got worse and worse. BecauseI keptdrinking, continuedto take psychopharI I maceuticals-tranquilizershad alwaystaken,becausemy mothergavethemto me even when I was a littlegirl. .. preciselybecause I was nervous,hysterical,I made big scenes, I foughtwith everybody. ... Theanalysis one surelydidn'thelp me; indeed,it mademe worse.Becausein analysis goes digging, one beginsto see things.... Andthe more I realizedthings,the moredesperate became,because... I I don'tknowhow to say it ... I couldn'tfindwhat I was lookingfor.Itwasn'tin the others,and it wasn't in me .... Andindigginginsidemyself,Ididn'tfinda solution, Iwasfindinginstead but only desperation. all Because,precisely, thesethingswerecomingout.... Idon'tknowhow to definethemwell-all these Andall the analysts saidthatthe solutionwas in acceptingmyself.Thesolution,in hopelessweaknesses. Thatis, once you have understood whatis insideyou, you are theory,oughtto be in accepting yourself. acceptedforwhatyou are.... SinceIdidn'teven havethecourage finishitoff,Isaid,I'lltryto makethepainas [minimal] possible to as alcoholanddrugs]. Thatwas the paththatwas leftto me, thator I'moutof here.Becauseto live [through in thisway costsme too much. However, it you can see thatinstead,underneath all, insideof me, I had not entirelysurrendered. am very tenacious [laughs].Somethinginside me wouldn'tgive up.... I I couldn'tdo it any more, I couldn'tworkmuch, but therewas this something wouldn'tsoften,that that continuedto go ahead,thatcontinued lookforthe exit.... to Ithink Godpreserved becausereallyIwasdrinking liters day,of alcohol... and Icouldn't that two a me, do anything more. I couldn'twork,nothing... becausein the eveningsthe anxietycame over me. any Itwas in the eveningthat I was nervous.Andthen I had reachedthe pointwhere I couldn'tsleep any more,and I continuedto drinkfromnine in the eveninguntilfiveor six ... an isolatedatmosphere... a littlelikea motherly I situation. isolated and womb,an amniotic myself, I livedinthisspaceanesthetized, withoutpain.

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Lidialived this way for some time, although,as she herselfindicates,she nevergave up she entirely.Indeed,in additionto eight yearsof psychoanalysis, went into a clinic and was treated(withoutsuccess) for alcoholism,then tried "Orientalreligions," especially a group called Mai Kalithat, accordingto Lidia,originatedin Japanin the 1960s and attemptsto of of And met roommate synthesizethe insights a number religions. then one day Lidia a former on the street.She and the roommatehad partedearlierbecause of the roommate's problems: she had been seriouslyanorexic,and hereatingdisorder createddifficulties had withthe other women in the apartment. When Lidiamet her old roommateon the street,she was therefore because the woman lookedso healthy.She told Lidiathat she was doing fine, and surprised thatshe hadfoundJesus.Aftera number discussionsof theirrespective of this problems, young to woman invitedLidia go to a prayer with her.Lidia was veryskepticalbutfeltthatat meeting thatpointshe shouldtryanything. the meetingshe told her storyand let the groupprayfor At her, but nothingelse happened.
But then, little by little I began to convince myself, until one evening, helped by Luisa, this girl, I really made an act of faith. I declared ardently that Jesus Christwas my savior. But something else should be said. At that point, I was so convinced that there was noth ing good in me that nobody needed to convince me that I was a sinner, and that there was-how to say it?-so much evil... in me, because I was already thoroughly convinced.5 On this point, we were totally in agreement [laughing]. Perhaps this helped me a lot, that I didn't have any faith in myself at that point. That is to say, I really didn't even exist. [Cioe non esistevo appunto.]

Followingher conversionshe continuedto go to the prayermeetings,and withina yearor so from had been "liberated"6 alcohol and drugsas well as fromMai Kaliand psychoanalysis. Alessandro Parducci Alessandro Parducci a retired is farmer construction and who worker converted63 yearsago, on a day when he intendedto kill his brother his mother. 90, and At he now lives with his son, daughter-in-law, their children in a clean and comfortable and in modernapartment a small town some ten miles outside Florence.He has some difficulty and walking,but otherwiseis in decent health,and he speakswith strength conviction. was Alessandro bornand spenthisyouthin a smallmountain not farfromNaples.At village the age of 26 he had a violentdisagreement with hisfather.Alessandro's was seriouslyill, wife and his father,with whom they lived, refusedto pay for the doctor or medicine, telling "If Alessandro hiswife movedout and Alessandro, thisone dies, you can alwaysfindanother." of the house, and his father-perhapsat the urgingof his mother-disinheritedhim, leaving A to everything his brother. littlelater,Alessandrohiredsome workmento help him builda to house on a piece of his own landin the country.As he was returning the worksite one day, in he saw his brother trespassing one of his fields.
Well, then, when we reached this point, we became as I said mortal enemies.... We had adjoining land ... in the countryside, and he passed over into my land.... We were enemies and he threw himself in there, coming into my land for his own convenience, when there was enmity between us. And I had gone to get the stuffto feed the workers who were making my house in the countryside. And I passed the river, loaded with wine-I was carrying a hundred kilos of wine on the back of the donkey. And I went up to the field to see who was there, and I saw that it was my brother, who had come into there.... And we started arguing. We were going to kill each other that day. We reached the point-I was carryinga heavy iron wrench, and he had an axe... this big with a handle. He came at me with the axe and I had this tool on me. I said, "Well then, I'll give him one in the head and then one in the middle." Oh ... how much I regretcertain things, I get emotional [voice breaking, almost crying]. God has been the one who has kept me out of so many messes. So many, so many, since I have been in the faith as well as before. Well then, brother, look, I was about to hit him with this tool ... while he held back, because I was the one with the poisoned blood, I who remained in the middle of the street. Then I raised the wrench to hit him, this tool. And I felt myself suspended.

on at arrived the scene and brokethe fightup. Fortunately, this momentsome otherrelatives to headedforhome,butintended get his rifleandgo backto killnotonly hisbrother, Alessandro As for but also his mother,whom he consideredresponsible the protracted disagreement. it

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happened, when he arrived at his house, there were two Italian-Americanevangelists sitting at the table in his yard. They had a Bible and a hymnal, and he sat down with them to talk. By Alessandro's account, they said only a few things. The man said to him, "Son, the sinful man blasphemes for the least little thing, and he sins against God. And he is condemned by God. And when the man is calm, he sings profane songs, which also displeases God. While the children of God who are saved ... when they are angered, go and pray to God and God saves them from their anger." And then, according to Alessandro, the man and woman sang a hymn, which he recited to me: "Onward I go, onward I go, to enter into the glory of the Lord.This is the way that leads to the creator." (When it is sung in church, Alessandro says, this song still brings tears to his eyes.) The man then said, "Come this evening; the Lordwants to save you." By the time the conversation was over, Alessandro had decided to go that night to a prayer meeting, which turned out to be in a hay barn. About eight people attended, together with Alessandro, his wife, and about five others whom he brought along. Alessandro now laughingly recalls that the leader later told him that he was a terrifying figure that night, "the Devil in person": rifle in hand, cartridge belt, handlebar moustache, and a fierce look in his eyes. The leader of the group preached from the Gospel of John, chapter 3, which includes the injunction, "Truly,truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." After the service, Alessandro was deeply impressed, saying to himself, "Theman spoke well." Months later, on the day of his baptism, Alessandro went to the house of his mother and brother and, in the street, in full view of neighbors, asked for their pardon. In the interview, as well as in other conversations, and in one testimony in the church itself, Alessandro made it clear that on the day of his conversion, and for some time before it, he had felt himself so thoroughly enraged that he was unable to contain himself. He had lost control of his own emotions and thus risked either losing his own life or killing those people who ought to have been most dear to him. Marcellina Vellana Marcellina Vellana is a 19-year-old woman who works part-time for a dry cleaner, but she has also spent parts of the last few years as a visiting student at a Bible college in England. Her conversion accompanied a physical healing when she was 15 years old. When Marcellina was still a small child, her mother had noticed a problematic curvature of her spine, which got worse as Marcellina grew. By the time she was about 12, she was seriously handicapped. She says that she was in constant pain and walked bent backwards. In her conception of it, her spine was growing forward into her stomach. At firstthe doctors tried to treat it with physical therapy, but this, according to her, had no effect. They then put her in a plastic cast. Andsince Iworethiscast,Iwore itday andnight,becausemyspinewas goinginwards, it keptgetting but withthe doctor,he saidthat worse,despitethe factthatI had been wearingit fortwo years.Andtalking I neededan operation, thattherewas reallylittlepossibility thisoperation but that would turnout well. Thus,if it went badlyI wouldbe in a wheelchairforthe restof my life,but if it went well, I would have an ironrod in my spine, and wouldn'tbe able to runor exertmyselfor have children.Ineffect, I was on walking a razor's edge. Butthena familycame to my house . .. and theytold us theirtestimony abouthow Jesushad entered intotheirfamily hadreally and done miracles. we noticedthechangesinthisfamily, Actually, hadalready in theirson, andalso in the husbandand wife, who had been separated. Lord reunited The had them. Atthattime,my mother-she was not a believer.Myfather went oftento fortune-tellers.7 believed He more in the thingsof evil thanthose of good. At any rate,they told us theirtestimony then askedif and we would accept theirprayers, out of respectmy mothersaid, "OK,you can prayfor us."... So and Jesusexists."So then I said that if Jesusexists he can heal me. I said, duringthe prayer,I said, "Surely he for "Certainly can heal me, but I'mgoingto Jesusaboveall forsalvation, my soul. Then,giventhathe is a livingGod, Iwanthimalso to heal me."Andin thatverymoment,when Isaid,"Jesus, enterintomy life and heal me,"in thatmomentI reallyfelta fire,thatrandown my back.Andat the same momentI was baptizedin the Holy Spirit, is, I beganalso to speakin otherlanguages. that Thatwas the beginning of my Christian life. And I shouldalso say thatfor a while afterI converted,I went along fora yearwith one foot in the churchandone in the [world]. the one hand,Iwantedto servethe Lord, on the otherhand,Istill On but

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wantedto go out withmy friends do the thingsthattheydid.... and Untilone day, while I was working-and in fact God had alreadybeen tellingme fora while that"I wantyou justformyself"-I was at work... and I heardsomethinglikea whistlein my ear.... Andthe Lord that beganto talkto me, and he told me, "Goandwritedown everything I havetold you."Ineffect it was thatI hadmade a firststep,but I had really abandonmy friends to entirely.Forme itwas difficult to say no. And thatonce I had madethe firststep, the Lord would help me up all at once withoutany effort.Andthen so manyotherthingsGod revealedto me: thatI shouldstayfirmwith him,becausethe Lord wantedme only for himself.He wantedto do worksin my life.... Infact,it happenedlikethat.I tookthe firststep, I gave up goingout withthesefriends the worldone day.Thatwas difficult me, of for really a sacrifice. ButI can say, thanksto God, that God has remainedfaithfulto what he promised
me....

I can say, it'snot thatI makesacrifices,it'snot thatGod forcesme, but I know thatGod lives in me, and thus I am contented.It'sa choice to followthe Lord. At this point, Marcellina considers herself cured of her back problems, and she appears to be physically normal and healthy. Her story is regarded by other members of the church as a particularly significant demonstration of God's power. She herself regards her cure and conversion as having given her a new sense of purpose and direction in life.

De Martino's analysis of the crisis of presence

Before discussing these narratives as expressions of a crisis of presence, I want to describe the intellectual context of ErnestoDe Martino'sdevelopment of this construct. De Martinowas born in Naples in 1908 and came of age during a dramatic period in European history.8He was educated in classical studies at the University of Naples, and his training in philosophy and history is evident in all of his work. While Mussolini was remaking Italy into a fascist state, De Martinojoined the intellectual circle of Benedetto Croce, the idealist historian and philosopher who, perhaps along with Antonio Gramsci, remains the most significant intellectual figure of 20th-century Italy. De Martino's early work is distinctly Crocean in theoretical approach, although he also showed his independence by applying Crocean historiographyto those whom Croce regarded as genuinely "without history" (Croce 1949:247), particularly the "primitive" societies of the colonial world.9 Fromthe start,then, De Martino was an anthropologist as well as a historian. Like his mentor Croce, De Martinotook an antifascist position early on, helping to organize an intellectual resistance as early as 1941. He laterjoined the Socialist partyand eventually the Communist party. At the end of the war, he spent a period in the south of Italy as a political organizer for the Communist party, and during this time his ethnographic interest began to shift from the colonial Third World to the poor of his own society. He remained a voracious reader of ethnographies of "primitive"societies, and his writings make use of ethnographic material from all over the world, but his own ethnography from this point on dealt with ruralsouthern Italy. De Martino'sfirstbook, Naturalismo e storicismo nell'etnologia (Naturalism and Historicism in Ethnology) (1941), begins rather surprisingly with a discussion of the crisis in Western civilization. Though intending to focus on primitive societies, De Martino argues that a major goal of all ethnological analysis should be "expansion of our own self-consciousness in order to clarify our actions" (1941:12). This is an early statement of an approach later referredto as "criticalethnocentrism" (cf. Gallini 1979; Saunders 1993), in which De Martino argues that our study of the Other necessarily entails critical reflection on our own analytic categories.'0 In the same opening paragraph, De Martino introduces his enduring ethical and intellectual concern: "Modern civilization needs all of its energies to overcome the crisis" of its own historical moment. De Martino's preoccupation with cultural crisis has led historian Carlo Ginzburg to place him among the writers of "the books of the year zero" (1979:239), those European intellectuals

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who saw nazism, fascism, and World War IIas portents of the demise of Europeancivilization. The crisis that concerns De Martino, however, is much greater than fascism and the war-it is endemic in modern society. Though he does not yet name the precipice, this first book worries about life on the edge and about the potential "end of the world" (the title of his final book, posthumously published in 1977). Indeed, De Martino'swork shows an almost morbid concern with degeneration and demise in all its guises: the death of the individual, the crumbling of civilization, and the extinction of humanity. This forms the backdrop to his more particular attention to the "crisis of presence," the existential worry that one might cease to be. Like Heidegger, Sartre, and others who influenced him, however, De Martino has a particular understanding of what it means "to be." This understanding is developed in several major publications. In 1948 De Martinopublished a book he had begun during the war, IImondo magico (The Magical World)(1973 [1948]). This book introduces the issue of "the crisis of presence" during a discussion of latah and related dissociative phenomena. Latahis the Malaysian name for a dissociative state in which a person becomes highly susceptible to external influences, imitating the movements of others, echoing voices, and generally seeming to lose the integrity of the individual's own personality. De Martino analyzes this state as a "loss of presence" (1973[1948]:93), suggesting that the person's consciousness, as a sense of self, is fragile and labile, and in the face of an emotional shock is unable to maintain its active posture. In this situation, individuals lose "the content" of their own consciousness and perseverate on some particularalternative content. As De Martino puts it, "the distinction between presence [as consciousness] and the world that makes itself present crumbles" (1973[1948]:93). In more psychological terms, De Martino is describing the loss of ego boundaries; the loss of presence is the dis-integration of the personality. De Martino, however, thinks ofthis crisis in existential ratherthan psychoanalytic terms. He repeatedly refers to "the risk of not being in the world" (1975[1958]:3) or simply of "not being-here" (il rischio di non esserci) (1975[1958]:3) and talks at length about the dialectic of being and the world in which one is. De Martino draws from both Hegel and Heidegger here in ways that are not always easy to differentiate.11De Martino himself relates his use of the term "presence" to Hegel's "sense of self," and he cites this passage from Hegel's discussion of ontology: the itselfin itself, Thesensitivetotality in itscapacityof individual, is, essentially tendencyto distinguish in of as andto wakeup to thejudgment itself,in virtue which it hasparticular feelingsandstands a subject in respectof these aspectsof itself.The subjectas such gives these feelingsa place as its own in itself. of [cited in De Martino1975[1958]:21; I have here used the translation Hegel by Wallace (Hegel 1894:188);emphasisin the original] This sense of self, for Hegel, is an aspect of the nature of being and a quality of human consciousness. Other passages from Hegel describe the consciousness that De Martino prefers to call "presence": In life,consciousness a distinctions modificaas contemplates processwhich developsitsown essential tionsof itsown concreteidentity. Ihavethusinone andthesameconsciousness ... myselfandmyworld; I find myself in my world and I find my world in myself;world-itself-thatwhich is-gives me my and objectivity findsin me its subjectivity.... Self-consciousness-Iam relating myselfto myself-not it only overcomesobject-consciousness; also preservesit as a necessarylevel or aspectof its concrete is (Trieb) unitywith itselfandwithitsworld.... Thecoreof self-consciousness itspractical intentionality to to actualizeitspotentiality, find itselfin producing itself.[1959[1817]:212-213] then, is at the heart of "presence." It is also significant that in Hegel's dialectical "Intentionality," the negation of anything, including "being" and "presence," is integral to the thing approach itself. The negation of presence, which might be seen as the "passivizing"of the individual, is particularly important in De Martino's analysis of ritual, which in turn can be a means of regaining presence.

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Several other Hegelian ideas seem to be reflected in De Martino's consideration of the crisis of presence. Like Hegel, De Martino understands individual and world as a unified whole, and that relationship is intrinsic to "being." As Oilman (1971) and others have suggested, this relationship is best understood as internalto the individual ratherthan something thatsomehow connects two separate entities. To put it another way, the individual's relationship to the world is simultaneously a relationship to the self. For De Martino, when individuals lose the kind of self-consciousness that includes "practical intentionality,"when they find themselves unable to "produce" themselves, then one can speak of a crisis of presence. Heidegger also argues that we "exist"because we have a particularrelationship to ourselves. Heidegger's term, Dasein, differentiates simple "being" from "existing," and only humans "exist"in this sense of having a relationshiptothemselves, a relationshipto "being"itself (Biemel 1976:34). This relationship can be problematic, however:
When Dasein is absorbed in the world of its concern-that is, at the same time, in its Being-with towards Others-it is not itself. ... This distantialitywhich belongs to Being-with, is such that Dasein, as everyday Being-with-one-another, stands in subjection [Botmassigkeit]to Others. It itself is not; its Being has been taken away by the Others. Dasein's everyday possibilities of Being are for the Others to dispose of as they please. [1962(1927):1 63-164]12

Such passages must have influenced De Martino,who sees the crisis of presence as a situation in which people are "absorbed in the world" and thus lose control of their own existence, becoming subject to an indefinite other (Cherchi and Cherchi 1987:61-90). Note that it is not situations per se that create a crisis of presence; it is rather a question of consciousness. The crucial point is that sometimes absorption in the world renders people absolutely passive in the face of situationsthatthreaten to undo them, but it is a passivity of consciousness, not necessarily of behavior. The crisis of presence, furthermore,entails the possible loss of a place in history, since history is the work of thinking, acting, feeling, and, perhaps above all, "distinguishing" human beings. The ability to distinguish the categories and content of one's own consciousness is the foundation of a dynamic interaction with the world, and the dialectic of "presence in the world" and "the world which presents itself"always reflects (and determines) the individual's posture with respect to an unfolding story. This theme reemerges in a 1956 article in the intellectual review AutAut, in which De Martino particularlyexplores the relationship between the crisis or presence and certain forms of mental illness. The mentally ill, according to De Martino, are unable to engage in "dialectic" with the world. They employ defense mechanisms, but these are inadequate, in the unique sense that they do not "reestablishthe spiritualdialectic"(De Martino 1956:20); that is, the mentally ill do not "retake possession of the alienated psychic realities, putting them once again into the cultural circuit, redisclosing to them their values" (De Martino 1956:20). Though focusing on psychopathological dissociation, De Martino sees it more generally as the loss of subjectivity, that is, the loss of the sense of self that allows people to make appropriate distinctions and thus to control their own place as actors in history.This formulation is related to the Marxian notion of alienation, in which individuals are alienated in the first place through loss of control of the products of their own labor, but De Martino, like Gramsci and other Marxists in the Italian tradition, is less concerned with economics than with consciousness. In some vague sense, for De Martino, the crisis of presence is often connected to economic marginalization and political powerlessness, but alienation can occur without the person's recognition of it, and thus create no crisis. The essence of the crisis of presence, on the other hand, is the anxiety that "underlines the threat of losing the distinction between subject and object, between thought and action, between representation and judgment, between vitality and morality: it is the cry of one who is wobbling on the edge of the abyss" (De Martino 1956:25). De Martino also argues that "presence" is in part a relationship between nature and culture:

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and Civilization humanhistory alwaysborn,todayas in the mostremoteandarchaicpast... through are the power of distinctionaccordingto determined formsor values, and culturalpresence,that is the being-herein history,is definedpreciselyby this distinguishing energy.... And since the relationship which constitutespresence is the same relationship that rendersculturepossible, the threatof not being-herein human history is configuredas the risk of losing culture and of receding without into compensation nature.[1956:19] The "recession into nature" is often manifest as a bodily experience-illness, dissociation, anesthesia, and so forth. When the body is experienced as alien, nature has somehow gotten the best of culture. Finally, this crisis is specifically, for De Martino, an emotional dilemma, "the manifestation of an emotional reality in the face of which presence cannot be maintained, threatening to become, in the passivity of ecopsychic behavior, the object of the emotions" (1973 [1948]:140). By contrast, emotion used in the service of culture-that is, in overcoming the crisis of presence-has an active and directed dimension rather than simply consisting of "feelings." Furthermore,De Martino argues: At the rootof the radicalcrisisof presenceis the inability maintain dialecticof the vitalwiththe to the ethos andwiththe logos,wherethe vital... ceasesto be livingandvitalpassion,the powerful stimulus and of civilization of history, configure to itselfas mere"suffering," impulse, parasitic as as representation, as unredeemable guilt,and so forth.[1956:21] Citing Janet, De Martino describes such affective passivity as "moral weakness" (1956:21) at a critical moment in which the individual faces the problem of "deciding to go beyond the situations of his own history" (1956:19). Moral failure, like mental illness, derives from the inability to synthesize appropriately, or from a kind of perseveration on one dimension of a problem. Thus De Martino is particularly critical of Freud's treatment of libido as "sexual vitality," preferring instead to treat it as "synthethic energy" that takes one beyond the given circumstances and enables one to act. Such energy is the fount of real passion, and the loss of presence is the inability to direct one's emotion. While passion with presence makes one the author of one's emotions, the loss of presence makes one their passive instrument. De Martino devotes the last part of the 1956 article to the role of religion in the resolution of the crisis of presence. His analysis presents a wonderful paradox. The crisis of presence centers around the potential loss of one's place as an actor in history, and yet "the fundamental act of religious re-integration is the technique of institutional de-historification" (1956:31). Alienation-in whatever form-makes one into an object, and objects do not make history; when religion helps people to overcome this alienation, De Martino calls the process "the cultural redemption" (il riscatto culturale) (1956:31). Rituals move one back into history, however, precisely by "de-historicizing"an otherwise unique encounter of consciousness and the world. De Martino deals at length, for example, with the crisis of mourning (la crisi del cordoglio). Death not only removes a person from the historical moment, it threatens to remove as well those whose fate is tied to the deceased, those who depend on or love the dead one. The survivors may fall into "melancholy inaction"or may even be inclined to follow the dead person into the grave. Mortuary rituals serve to bring the living back into their particular history by assimilating the existential crisis to a metahistorical pattern:"Such passages are dehistoricized, that is resolved-masked and protected-in the iterationof the identical, and in the last instance [are treated] as if they were not new (or historical), but ratherrepeated an archetypical situation, one that has already taken place in metahistory"(1956:31 ). Through ritual,then, the individual may overcome the crisis of presence and regain his or her particular consciousness and the ability to act in the world.

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discussion Eachof the threenarratives cited above, in itsown way, describesa crisisof presencethatis resolvedin the conversion Pentecostal to Beforeconversion, each personfeels in Christianity. some way "on the razor'sedge" (Marcellina's phrase)or on the "edge of the abyss"(De The for the needs Martino's). abyssistheirown passivity (though Alessandro senseof "passivity" to be explained),the possibility they may cease to "behere"in some very realsense. that LidiaBenevento's crisis is in some ways the most "modern," thoughits psychologicalroots are perhapstimeless:as a child, her own strongpersonality an confronted even stronger one, 3 thatof herfather, while herpotential and model,hermother, seemedineffectual. Shewas ally and nervous,"evenhysterical," was givento romantic episodes inwhichshe totallylostherself. her own account, she was unrealisticin her expectationsof these relationships was and By destinedto failto findthe love she desperately wanted.Herinitialattempts resolution-psyat choanalysis,mood-altering drugs,and "Oriental religions"-were also disappointments. Psyfailedher in perhapstypicalways:she achievedsome insight,but the insightdid choanalysis not help herfinda pathawayfromthe abyss.14 Mood-altering drugsand alcohol, likeMaiKali, herwithoutpacifyingher. further passivized Intheend, she foundherselftotally unableto act, although continued resist"absorption she to in the world."Hernarrative reflectsthe dialecticalrelationship Martino De describes:presence in the world ineffectually confronts worldwhich presentsitself.She was unableto commit the suicide,butshe was also unableto leave herhouseorto work.Shewas depressedandanxious, of afraid the dark,afraid beingalone, and yet she isolatedherself.Herstatement she "no of that existed"is a dramatic, of her "lossof presence."She had no longer spontaneousexpression self-esteem,no will to act, no sense of herselfas otherthananesthesized anxiety. Lidia an experiencewithJesusthat,in herview, "liberated" and returned had her her Finally, to a sense of self. "Liberation" conversionmay seem a contradiction those inclined to through to see integralist as commitments a formof voluntary religious slavery,but most Pentecostals see theirconversionas a liberating to experience.Theircommitment Jesusgives them some distancefroma worldthatotherwiseseemsto holdthemso strongly theyareoverwhelmed that by it,a worldinwhichtheyhave lostcontrolof theirown lives.Itgivesthema senseof a definite, with whom they can have a deep relationship, fromwhom they are but personalized"other" thus affirms in theirexistence. Later her testimony,Lidiacomclearlyseparate.This "other" mentedthatthe firstthingshe noticedwhen she convertedwas that she no longerfelt alone; she feltthatshe hada friendwho loved herand lookedafterher.She drawsstrength fromthis friendshipand is now able to confronta world that remainsproblematicand essentially to to but unfriendly, no longerthreatens undo her.She is able to return work.Shecan leave her and house. She buys an apartment beginsto socialize with friendsfromthe church.And she can standbeingalone when she has to be. Alessandro Parducci's crisisseems at firstglance anythingbut passive,revolvingas it does He aroundhis own threat act too precipitously. also needs "liberation," to however.Beforehis conversion,his own emotionswere too strongfor him to control.He had "poisonedblood," surelyan imageof possession,of loss of controlof the substancethatforhim definedthe very essence of a person.At the momentwhen he raisedthe wrench to strike,he felt himself someone who oughtto be amongthose whom He "suspended." was aboutto kill his brother, In he he most loved and protected. anotherconversation, told me thatthis act would probably haveended with his beingeitherdead or in prisonforthe restof his life. conversionhas given hima way to takechargeof his own emotionallifeagain. Alessandro's He is, even at 90, a man who demonstrates strongemotions, but also a gentle, affectionate character.He cries easily, and his occasional testimoniesand commentariesin church are passionateand moving.A few yearsback he stood up in frontof the churchand apologizedto

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his childrenfor havingbeen so sternwiththemwhen they were younger,but he also told me, and with evidentpride,thatone of his sons stood up immediately thankedhimpubliclyforthe disciplinethatkeptthem all on the rightpath in life. and not Thecontrolof hisemotionswas probably an easy, once-and-for-alaccomplishment, and some yearsto find a balance between restraint expression. it may have takenAlessandro Though he converted right away, for example, it was only 14 years laterthat he finally the experienced "baptismin the Holy Spirit," cathartic,mysticalexperienceof speakingin Manynew convertsexperiencethiswithinthe firstmonthsof theirconversion.Itmay tongues. conversionbroughthis emotions undera tenuouscontrol,and thatfor a be thatAlessandro's a long time lettingthem go againwas too threatening prospect. kindof crisis.Herbackproblemdoes notappearto have Vellanafaces a different Marcellina to threatened takeaway hercontrolover her life. Indeed, but been life-threatening, it certainly indicatesa sense that,beforeherconversion,"thedoctors"had takenchargeof her narrative the of her,thatshe had no realoptionsand no possibility influencing outcomeon herown. She depictsherselfas an object insteadof a subject;she feels thatherbody and herspirithadbeen she fromeach other,and her body was alien to her. LikeLidiaand Alessandro, had separated her and she become one-dimensional; had "become" disability hadthus lostcontactwith and controlover the restof her self.15 to Itwould not be unreasonable referto this as a kindof "identity crisis,"especially if we well-formed of Murphy bodyto the sense of self.As Robert recognizethe importance a healthy, wrote: so poignantly
[T]he disabled ... enter the social arena with a skewed perspective. Not only are their bodies altered, but their ways of thinking about themselves and about the persons and objects of the external world have become profoundly transformed. They have experienced a revolution of consciousness. They have undergone a metamorphosis. [1990:87]

connected to bodily experience both Indeed,the sense of self is almost always "intimately (Johnson1985:130). In addition,as ontogeneticallyand through'here and now' awareness" and Pandolfihas argued,identityis oftenexpressedmorephysicallythanpsychologically, "the becomes a kindof personalhistoryof self (1991:161;see also 1990). Thusthe body narrated" an of distortions herbody areforMarcellina indexof her loss of self, hercrisisof presence,and aboutAlessandro's herlackof controlof herown destiny.One could arguesimilarly "poisoned blood" and Lidia'salcoholism. All these individualshave lost their ability to marshalan physicalpresencein the world;theirbodies arethe locus of crisis. appropriate entailsthe as and of Theresolution the crisisof presence,forMarcellina for Lidia Alessandro, dimensionsand of restoration a sense of wholeness,as well as the recoveryof her "other" of in In of the hersubjectivity. hernarrative, conjunction cure,'6conversion,and baptism the Holy Shetakesthe activestepof "goingto Jesusformy salvation, my for is particularly striking. Spirit a act. and considersthisessentially spiritual Inaddition,however,she wantshimto heal soul," the her, a requestthatclearlysubverts controlof the doctors.She reunites body and soul and controlover herown fate by puttingherselfin the handsof God. Forher,thereare no regains in contradictions this process. to As notedearlier,De Martino's analysisof the crisisof presencealso paysspecialattention in It the roleof "de-historicization" its resolution. maybe worthcitingherean extendedsection discussion.Incriticalmomentsof existence, he says: of De Martino's
[H]istoricity sticks out, the rhythm of the future is manifest with particularevidence, the human task of "being-here" is directly and irrevocably called into question, something decisive happens, or is about to happen.... The critical character of such moments lies in the fact that in them the riskof not being-here is more intense, and therefore cultural redemption is more urgent.... The future creates anxiety, above all in the critical moments of existence; the religious institution of dehistoricization takes these moments out of the camp of human initiative and resolves them in the iteration of the identical, where the cancellation or the masking of the anxiety-producing history is accomplished. With such dehistoricization

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above all there is establisheda relationship with the alienated(or naturalized dehistoricized) or self. [1953-54:19] In the last sentence, "naturalized" means "decultured," and "dehistoricized" means "having lost its place as an actor in history."Thus, paradoxically, the resolution of the crisis of presence consists in reestablishinga relationship with oneself such that one is able to use cu ture (religious ritualand symbolic structures)to regain culture (a shared sense of meaning in the human world), and to use metahistorical ritual (ritual which timelessly assimilates this event to thousands of like events) to regain an active place in a particular historical moment. De Martino thus also distinguishes between "institutional dehistorification," by which the alienated individual is "redeemed"to culture, and "irrelativedehistorification,"which occurs in radical alienation and the loss of presence, from which there is no redemption (Massenzio 1986:24). Such "de-historification"is clearly indicated in these conversion stories. Indeed, one of the crucial factors in Pentecostal experience is its manipulation of ordinary culturally defined horizons of time (Cucchiari 1990a; see also Lancaster1988:208 and Taussig 1980:5). All three of the narrativespresented here attend particularlyto "criticalmoments," points in time at which being-in-the-world is at risk in dramatic ways. All three confront and survive these moments in part by changing the horizons of time in their world, by subsuming their experience into a great metahistorical plan in which future, present, and past come together, and in which personal history is melded to the history of an essentially timeless cosmos. Herzfeld calls this the "longue duree of textual evolution, in which the grand events ... are scarcely more than generic markers for repetitive experience" (1993:244). In retrospect, then, Alessandro understands that God has saved him from "messes" even before his conversion, even before he "knew" God, and implies that all of these events were somehow prescripted in a timeless past. Marcellina sees her conversion as "the beginning of my Christian life," a rebirthfounded in her relationship with a timeless God. And Lidia very consciously unravels her own personal history, and yet she simultaneously implies that the "real history" was elsewhere. When she says, for example, "Today I realize that, no matter who my parents were, I simply couldn't have had what it was that I was instinctively looking for," she is suggesting that her conversion has opened up to her a different history. When she uses the word "instinctively," she implies the timelessness and ahistoricity of her search for God. The "eternalness"of Pentecostal time horizons is evident in many other ways. At an emotional Sunday evening service, for example, a woman with a life-threateningillness was anointed with oil, and immediately afterward the pastor broke out spontaneously in a hymn that began, "Yesterday,today, and in eternity, Jesus is the same.... He never changes." In such eternal sameness, Pentecostal ritual helps resolve the crisis of presence and reestablishes for converts their place in a specific historical moment. Recall that De Martino linked the crisis of presence to anxiety about "the end of the world." Though Pentecostals eagerly anticipate the end of this world, they are confident of the eternity of a more importantworld. Perhaps paradoxically, the dehistorification also allows them to live in the present moment, as "inner-worldly"activists. The time horizon is also reflected in another common feature of these narratives:the sense that, on the one hand, each person has been personally selected by God for special treatment, and yet, on the other hand, each must make the choice to accept that selection. This is most evident in Marcellina's testimony. In a common pattern, her initial conversion startsher on the path, but she has trouble accepting all the implications. She remains with "one foot in the church and one in the world." Then, while she is at work, God speaks to her and lets her know that he "wanted me only for himself." She has a sense of a special "call" from the Lord, and of works that she is to accomplish. But it is up to her to take the final step, to refuse to go out with her friends "in the world." As she says directly, "It'sa choice to follow the Lord." This choice, then, seems to give Marcellina, Lidia, and Alessandro alike a new sense of will and intentionality in their lives, so that they make decisions rather than being passively

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manipulated by others. They have acquired a protector, a community, and a set of responsibilities all at the same time. They are liberated from their passivity. They have recreated their own histories and, in the process, have regained a presence in history itself.

notes
Acknowledgments. Vincenzo Padiglione has given useful advice, companionship, and hospitalityat every stage of this project. Tony Gait and F. G. Bailey both gave especially helpful readings of an earlier version of this article, as did three anonymous reviewers for American Ethnologist. I also thank, for support and advice of various kinds, Salvatore Cucchiari, Carlo Ginzburg, Mariella Pandolfi, Domenico Maselli, Paolo Pirillo, Isabelle Chabod, Laura De Angelis, Mark Anderson, Rachel Herzing, Jay Roberts, Anne Jacobson Schutte, JanetSmith, Ronald J. Mason, Carol Mason, Mose Polverino, Salvatore and MariaZaccariello, and Franco and Marisa Franci. Special thanks go to the members of the two Pentecostal communities described in the article. I also gratefully recognize the ongoing support of Lawrence University, as fine a professional home as any scholar could want. 1. The research in 1989 was funded by an NEH Summer Stipend, and the longer period in 1991-92 was funded by the National Science Foundation, grant BNS-9005857. The latter project was developed in collaboration with Salvatore Cucchiari, who conducted fieldwork in Palermo in 1990-91. 2. It is worth noting, however, that Italian Evangelical Christians seem reluctant to proselytize in public areas unless specifically invited. As far as I know, they do no door-to-door canvassing of the type done by Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons (in Italyas elsewhere); though most are eager to discuss their experience and the Gospel with people who show an interest,they are rarelyaggressive about it. This is in keeping with other aspects of their belief system, particularlythat conversion is an individual matter and that no one, neither God nor human, can convert someone whose heart is closed. It may also have to do with the history of harassment of Pentecostals in Italy,such that they prefer to maintain a low profile. 3. "When the day of Pentecost came it found them gathered in one place. Suddenly from up in the sky there came a noise like a strong, driving wind which was heard all through the house where they were seated. Tongues as of fire appeared, which parted and came to rest on each of them. All were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to express themselves in foreign tongues and make bold proclamation as the Spiritprompted them." [Acts of the Apostles 2:1-6] 4. Eventhose who have been "borninto the faith"must "convert"and have their own personal experience with Jesus. Pentecostals reject infant baptism, and although they consider it an advantage to have parents who instructand guide children, the experience of becoming a Christian is ultimately an individual matter of choice and will. A fair number of second-generation Pentecostals in fact spend a period of their youth "in the world," and some never convert and become serious Christians. 5. See Lawless 1988 for a discussion of the "conviction of a sinful nature" among Pentecostal women preachers in the United States. 6. "Liberation"(liberazione) is the term used to describe being freed of possessing demons, and it is extended to refer to throwing off any vice or bad habit (many of which, such as these, are thought of as "diabolical" in the literal sense). 7. Italy has a strong tradition of local magicians, fortune-tellers, and healers, and they remain active in contemporary Italy.The maghi, card-readers,astrologers, and others have even adapted well to contemporary media. In the late evening, many advertise extensively on television, some with regular "shows" that last as long as an hour. 8. An essential bibliography of De Martino's work has been published by Gandini (1972, 1986). Significant reviews and commentaries on his anthropology include Angelini 1977, 1991; Carpitella 1986; Cases 1973; Cherchi and Cherchi 1987; Di Donato 1989; Galasso 1978[1 969]; Gallini 1979, 1982, 1986; C. Ginzburg 1988; Lanternari1977, 1979, 1986; Lombardi Satriani 1979; Massenzio 1986; Padiglione 1978; Pasquinelli 1977, 1984, 1986; Saunders 1984, 1993; Signorelli 1986; and Solinas 1985. For discussion particularlyof the crisis of presence, the Cherchi and Cherchi book is especially recommended. Pandolfi (1991) has insightful comments about emotions and the crisis of presence. 9. De Martino's precocious concern with historicizing the lives and situations of those ordinarilytreated as "without history" thus anticipates one of the most important developments of contemporary American anthropology (Geertz 1980; O'Brien and Roseberry 1991; Sahlins 1985; Wolf 1982). 10. De Martino's view of critical ethnocentrism is actually considerably more profound than simple "reflexivity."For more discussion of this issue, see Saunders 1993. 11. Part of the difficulty in tracing the origin of De Martino's theoretical ideas is that although he is meticulous in citing sources of ethnographic data he rarelycites those authors who have clearly influenced his conceptual approaches. The reluctance to cite Heidegger may also reflect De Martino's rejection of Heidegger's political positions. 12. I am grateful to an anonymous American Ethnologist reviewer for reminding me of the complexity of Heidegger's position here and for pointing out that the brief excerpt oversimplifies matters. In fact, the thrustof Heidegger's phenomenology is to overcome the simple polarities of subject/object, active/passive, and so forth, and, to the extent that my characterization of Heidegger suggests the contrary, I may mislead

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the reader. I excuse myself with the argument that I am reading Heidegger through De Martino, and I think that De Martino saw the dialectic of consciousness and world in this fashion. 13. As Cucchiari notes in discussing the transformationof patriarchy in Sicilian Pentecostalism, these stories are also frequently about "the negatively experienced control of domestic authority"(1990b:698) in difficult parent-child or husband-wife relations. 14. The failure of psychoanalysis is Lidia'sown judgment, and it is out of my competence to assess the therapy itself. I should note, however, that although I have chosen "the crisis of presence" as an analytic tool in these three cases, I think that it would also be appropriate to describe this conversion (and some others) as effective use of a "culturallyconstituted defense mechanism" (Spiro 1965). 15. See Spiro 1993 for an excellent discussion of anthropological ways of thinking about the self and the confusions therein. Though I lack both the space and the courage to enter into the discussion on the universality or "peculiarity"of Western conceptions of the self, it might be appropriate to note that I here use the term loosely in the fourth sense mentioned by Spiro as "the person's construal of such an entity as the center or locus of his or her initiative, sensations, perceptions, emotions, and the like" (1993:11 4). 16. The "reality"of the cure is not a question of concern to me here. Certainly Marcellina, like Lidia, appears to be healthy in every sense at this point.

references cited
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submitted August 5, 1993 accepted November 1, 1993

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