Practicing the Faith The Ritual Life of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christians Edited by Martin Lindhardt L Berghabn Books [New York * OxfordBerghab Books ‘wwrberghahnbooks.com (©2011 Martin Lindhardt ss reserved Except for the quotation of short passages sere of nts and review, no part of his book sno bere an form oy ny ree toni a ncluding photocopying, recording, or any information eand Sees ‘system now known or to be invented, ‘Shut written permission ofthe publisher: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data smatie Christians / Practicing the faith : the ritual life of Pentecostal-Ch: edited by Martin Linchardt, p.m, Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-84545-770-9 : : ae 1 Ritual, 2, Pentecostalism. 3. Public worship—Pentecostal church I. Lindhardt, Mart BR1644.P72 2 264,094 —de22 Saat British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data ‘Accatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed in the United States on acid-free paper. ISBN: 978-1-84545-770-9 Hardback Published with the generous support of the Religion in the 21st Century Publication Fund, University of Copenhagen. ke Contents Introduction ; ‘Martin Lindhardt CHAPTER 1 The Obvious Aspects of Pentecostalism: Ritual and Pentecostal Globalization 49 Joel Robbins CHAPTER 2 Laying Our Sins and Sorrows on the Altar: Ritualizing Catholic Charismatic Reconciliation and Healing in Fijt 68 Jacqueline Ryle CHAPTER 3 Healing and Redomestication: Reconstitution of the Feminine Self in South Korean Evangelical Cell Group Ritual Practices 98. Kelly H. Chong, CHAPTER + Ritualization of Life 129 Thomas J. Csordas CHAPTER 5 Adventure and Atrophy in a Charismatic Movement: Returning to the “Toronto Blessing” 152 Martyn Percy CHAPTER 6 The Ritual Use of the Bible in African Pentecostalism 179 Paul GiffordContents CHAPTER? Voices: Presence and Prophecy in Charismatic Ritua ‘Simon Coleman CHAPTER 8 4 When God Interferes: Ritual, Empowerment, an Divine Presence in Chilean Pentecostalism Mactin Lindhardt CHAPTER 9 Quiet Deliverances Jon Bialeck CHAPTER 10 Imperfect Vessels “American Pentecost Greichen Pieil Emotion and Rituals of Anti-Ritual ir ‘and Charismatic Devotional Life (CHAPTER 11 : Public Rituals and Political Positioning: Venezuelan Evangelicals and the Chavez Government David Smitde Notes on Contributors Index 198 220 249 277 306 330 333 ke Introduction Martin Lindhardt Over the past thirty to forty years, Pentecostalism and charismatic re vivalism within mainline Protestant churches and the Catholic church have proved to be the fastest growing religious movement in the world. ‘This movement is characterized by an emphasis on the continuous manifestations and gifts of the Holy Spirit (the charismata),' on per- sonal salvation, the immanent return of Christ, and not least by high degrees of ritual activity. ‘The worldwide growth and expansion of this form of Christianity has been paralleled within the last two decades by a significant growth in academic literature on the topic, fueling existing critiques of clas- sical secularization theories. Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity is frequently considered an example of the limitations of these thearie inspiring scholars instead to explore local experiences of modernity or multiple modemities and global neoliberal capitalism as ambiguous, contradictory, and very much enchanted (Meyer 1998a, 19992, 1999b, 2004a; Marshall-Frantani 1998; Corten and Marshall Frantani 2001; Oro and Seman 2001; van Dijk 2001; Comaroff and Comaroff 1999, 2001; Lindhardt 2009a), While an abundance of scholarly literature is now available on Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity, the detailed study of ritual seems, as noted by Joel Robbins, to be “the greatest lacuna in the work done so far” (2004b: 126). This lacuna is especially remarkable in the literature on the global south, where the majority of the world’s Pentecostals! charismatics Jive. Important and innovative work on Pentecostal- charismatic ritual in North America and to a lesser extent in West- ern Europe has been conducted by anthropologists, sociologists, and anthropologically/sociologically minded theologians (McGuire 1982; Csordas 1990, 1994, 1997; Percy 1996, 1998b; Albrecht 1999; Stringer 1999; Coleman 2000a, 2000b; Coleman and Collins 2000; Steven 2002; Shoaps 2002; Luhrmann 2004). Yet their numerous colleagues who