EDITORIAL: PentecoStudies 13:1, April 2014
Three of
the five articles in this issue were first given as papers at the European
Research Network on Global Pentecostalism (GloPent) conference on 1-2 February
2013 at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and have since been revised for
publication. The theme of that conference was Pentecostalism and Politics, an
intriguing and important subject. The conference was attended by some ninety
participants from seventeen countries. Such matters as the impact of the growth
of Pentecostalism worldwide on political governance, development, and public
debates were discussed. Many scholars usually describe Pentecostal and
Charismatic Christians as politically conservative. Whether this is their default position is
certainly debatable, as they are found on all sides of the political spectrum
worldwide, as Timothy Steigenga attests here, and it is only in the United
States that the majority can be correctly described as belonging to the
“religious right”. Interesting questions arise concerning how politicians in
Africa, Asia and the Americas have accommodated the increased presence of
Pentecostals in the public sphere. But before we can fully understand the
complicated relationship between Pentecostalism and politics, we need first to
deal with a common, often unconscious, and narrowly-defined assumption of a
dichotomy between an apolitical sphere of religion and a “secular” sphere of
politics. Such a dichotomy is imaginary and does not exist in most parts of the
world. Although only the first article in this issue deals directly with the
question of Pentecostals and politics, social and political questions are
raised by the other articles too.
The
first paper, "Pentecostalization, Politics, and Religious Change in Guatemala" addresses these issues directly and is written by Timothy J.
Steigenga, Professor of Political Science at the Florida Atlantic University in
south-east Florida. He has done extensive research and publications on religion
and politics in Latin America, transnationalism, and migration, his latest
books being Living "Illegal": The Human Face of Unauthorized
Immigration (2011), and A Place to Be: Brazilian, Guatemalan, and
Mexican Immigrants in Florida’s New Destinations (2009). His article
reflects on survey research conducted in Guatemala in 1993 and warns us about
coming to too facile conclusions about the role of Pentecostalism in politics.
He argues that what he terms “pentecostalized religion” is political inasmuch
as it mobilizes opinions around community, national and international issues
that affect the daily lives of its participants. He challenges conventional
wisdom in studies on Pentecostalism in Latin America (and elsewhere) that have
at their base a Weberian concept of the “Protestant ethic” leading to economic
advancement and upward social mobility. These earlier studies also posit the
idea that Pentecostals are either politically conservative or quiescent.
Steigenga’s research in Guatemala, while showing how “pentecostalized” all
forms of Christianity had become, demonstrates that Pentecostals were not
significantly more or less politically conservative than other religious groups,
even though there was a correlation between religious conservatives across all
groups and the tendency towards quietism. Interestingly, the research also
shows that pentecostalization improves the quality of gender relations and
egalitarianism. There are some surprising results in this research and
important methodological considerations, which I will not spoil for you before
you have read the article!
Healing
has historically been one of the main reasons for the attraction of
Pentecostalism. Candy Gunther Brown, a religious historian and ethnographer and
Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of
Indiana, Bloomington writes the second paper, "Pentecostal Power: The Politics of Divine Healing Practices", focussing on healing as an
alternative to socio-political power. Candy has written several pioneering
studies on Pentecostal and Charismatic healing, her latest books being Testing Prayer: Science and Healing (2012)
and The Healing Gods: Complementary and
Alternative Medicine in Christian America (2013). Her article here focuses
on the dimension of healing as power to mobilise spiritual power and complement
or replace political power. Pentecostalism in many parts of the Majority World
appeals to the politically powerless, including women, and those relatively
poor or uneducated. It promises individuals and communities a better life, but
above all, it gives them a sense of empowerment denied them by the prevailing
social and political system. Brown makes the key point that Pentecostalism
grows because prayer for healing gives people a sense of both physical and
social restoration, and this prayer most often occurs in out-of-the-way, humble
places rather than in large crowds attracted to flamboyant and controversial
healing evangelists. Pentecostals believe that divine empowerment gives them
instant answers to social and political challenges in a world where they have
no access to the material sources of power.
The third
article, "A Megachurch in a Megacity" is jointly authored by Mark J. Cartledge and Andrew Davies from the Centre
for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies in the Department of Theology and
Religion at the University of Birmingham, UK. Mark is the former editor of PentecoStudies and author of several
books on Pentecostalism, the latest being Testimony
in the Spirit: Rescripting Ordinary Pentecostal Theology (2012) and Practical
Theology: Charismatic and Empirical Perspectives (2003). Most recently, Mark
and Andrew head a research project on megachurches in London, and this article may
indicate some of the research agenda for that project. The authors explore the
concept of “megachurch” (defined as a congregation of over two thousand
worshippers) by looking at the leading example in Western Europe, the Kingsway
International Christian Centre in London and its internet projections. This is
a predominantly Nigerian “prosperity gospel” church and the largest
congregation in the UK, whose leader Matthew Ashimolowo personally embodies the
success, “health and wealth” ethic of the church. The article explores issues
that not only relate to the rather new field of megachurch studies, but also discusses
the importance of studies on cyber religion, identity formation, globalisation,
and the relationship between religion and culture. This article points to the
need for further research on these issues and their importance for
understanding religion and society in a rapidly changing Europe.
Torsten
Löfstedt is Associate Professor in religions in the Department of Cultural
Sciences at Linnaeus University in Sweden. This is one of several articles he
has written on Russian Pentecostalism. But here in "Countering Exorcistic Excess in Russia", he compares the beliefs of two
Christian denominations: the dominant Russian Orthodox Church, and the largest Pentecostal
denomination, the Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith. Their beliefs
about demons, curses and exorcism are remarkably similar, despite there being
counter accusations of demonic activity within the other denomination! But the
extent of the threat of demons and curses differs widely. The official views of
both denominations tend to use what Löfstedt calls a “medical metaphor”, that
exorcism is part of a holistic healing ministry that works together with other
health professionals; but within both denominations is also found a dualistic
“military metaphor” that talks of spiritual warfare against demons as agents of
Satan to be cast out of individuals. This article is certainly of great interest
to those of us familiar with exorcism practices in other parts of the world,
and the contrast between Russia and Western Europe on the popular religious
belief level is striking.