The intersection of religion, ritual, emotion, globalization, migration, sexuality, gender, race, and class, is especially insightful for researching Pentecostal notions of the body. Pentecostalism is well known for overt bodily expressions that includes kinesthetic worship with emotive music and sustained acts of prayer. Among Pentecostals there is considerable debate about bodies, the role of the Holy Spirit, possession of evil spirits, deliverance, exorcism, revival, and healing of bodies and emotions. Pentecostalism is identified as a religion on the move and so bodies are transformed in the context of globalization. Pentecostalism is also associated with notions of sexuality, gender, race and class where bodies are often liberated and limited. This volume evaluates these themes associated with contemporary research on the body.
Contributors are Peter Althouse, Bosco Bangura, Sandra Bhatasara, Candy Gunther Brown, Rafael Cazarin, Manase Kudzai Chiweshe, Naume Zorodzai Choguya, Travis Warren Cooper, Stephen Hunt, Soraya Barreto Januário, Mark Jennings, Jessica Moberg, Ayokunle Olumuyiwa Omobowale, Olufikayo Kunle Oyelade, Devaka Premawardhana, Raluca Bianca Roman, Erica M. Ramirez, Rumbidzai Susan Shamuyedova, Wolfgang Vondey, and Michael Wilkinson.
Michael Wilkinson, PhD (University of Ottawa) is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Religion in Canada Institute at Trinity Western University. He is the author or editor of seven books including most recently Catch the Fire: Soaking Prayer and Charismatic Renewal (2014) and A Culture of Faith: Evangelical Congregations in Canada (2015).
Peter Althouse, PhD (University of Toronto) is Professor of Religion at Southeastern University. He is Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Global Pentecostalism, Co-Editor of Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, and author or editor of five books, including Catch the Fire: Soaking Prayer and Charismatic Renewal (2014).
AcknowledgementsList of ContributorsIntroduction: Social Theory, Religion and the Body âMichael Wilkinson and Peter Althouse
Part 1: Ritual, Emotion, and Experience
1 Pentecostalism, the Body, and Embodiment âMichael Wilkinson 2 Emotional Regimes in the Embodiment of Charismatic Prayer âPeter Althouse 3 Spiritual Property Rights to Bodily Practices: Pentecostal Views of Yoga and Meditation as Inviting Demonization âCandy Gunther Brown 4 Worship Rituals, Discipline, and Pentecostal-Charismatic âTechniques du Corpsâ in the American Midwest âTravis Warren Cooper 5 Embodied Gospel: The Materiality of Pentecostal Theology âWolfgang Vondey 6 Pentecostal Revivalism and the Body âStephen Hunt
Part 2: Globalization, Migration, and Meaning
7 Before Habitus: Embodied Indeterminacy in Black Atlantic Pentecostalism âDevaka Premawardhana 8 Emotions and Spiritual Knowledge: Navigating (In)Stabilities in Migrant Initiated Churches âRafael Cazarin 9 Pentecostal Rituals, Human Wellbeing, and the Reshaping of African Migrants at Word Communication Ministries, Belgium âBosco Bangura 10 Spiritual Embodiment in Yoruba Pentecostalism in Southwestern Nigeria âAyokunle Olumuyiwa Omobowale and Olufikayo Kunle Oyelade
Part 3: Gender, Race, and Class
11 A Silence Like Thunder: Pastoral and Theological Responses of Australian Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches to lgbtq Individuals âMark Jennings 12 Maintaining Sexual Purity: Ritualized, Embodied, and Spatial Strategies among Neo-Charismatics in Stockholm âJessica Moberg 13 Body Limited: Belief and (Trans)Formations of the Body in a Pentecostal Roma Community âRaluca Bianca Roman 14 A Hegemonic Masculinity: Ethos and Consumption in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Brazil âSoraya Barreto Januário 15 Women and Pentecostalism in Zimbabwe: Negotiating Leadership in the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God âForward in Faithâ (zaoga fif) Ministry, Harare âSandra Bhatasara, Rumbidzai Shamuyedova, Naume Zorodzai Choguya and Manase Kudzai Chiweshe 16 Contra-Deprivation: A Bourdieusian Analysis of the Production of Glossolalia as a Competitive Form of Religious Capital âErica M. Ramirez
All interested in the sociology of religion, Pentecostal studies, and theoretical and methodological issues for research on the body, religion, culture and embodiment.