Recherche – Detailansicht
Ausgabe: | Juli/August/2022 |
Spalte: | 762–763 |
Kategorie: | Ökumenik, Konfessionskunde |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Rocha, Cristina, Hutchinson, Mark P., and Kathleen Openshaw[Eds.] |
Titel/Untertitel: | Australian Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Arguments from the Margins. |
Verlag: | Leiden u. a.: Brill 2020. XVI, 304 S. = Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, 36. Kart. EUR 57,00. ISBN 9789004425781. |
Rezensent: | John G. Flett |
This collection of essays, the result of a 2017 symposium, is organised around a twofold claim. First, it questions the common reliance of Pentecostal historiographies on ›point of origin‹ mythologies. Such »reductionist tendencies,« the text argues, appear more interested in confirming imperialist stories, and infer that Australian Pentecos-talism is derivative of an American experience and privatized and individualised in form. The work, second, complexifies Australian Pentecostal and charismatic movements. Questioning these origin stories permits rethinking the tributaries informing the roots and international flows of (Australian) Pentecostalism. The introductory essay, for example, credits primitivism and liturgical renewal, prophetic/millennialist movements, healing movements, and sancti-fication/experiential movements, as existing factors in the pre-Pentecostal Australian religious experience.
The varied voices and methodological approaches of the contributors (theologians, anthropologists, historians, sociology, religious studies, and ministers) develop over three parts. Part one »situates« Pentecostal and charismatic Christianities in Australia. These four essays develop the above claim via particular illustrative stories.
Peter Elliot argues that the Catholic Apostolic Church, which arrived in Australia in 1853, and which practiced glossolalia and prophecy from 1863, constitutes a precursor to Australian Pente-costalism – and does so half a century prior to the rise of American Pentecostalism in Topeka, KS (1901) and Azusa Street, LA (1906).
John Maiden’s chapter on Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR), which occurred in Brisbane in the early 1970s, maintains that the received historiography of the CCR is marred by an Amerio-centric interpretive filter. The rise of the CCR resulted more from informal and unplanned flows of people and media, and connections with other local Pentecostal factors. Recognising this does not displace the importance of the American partner; it recognises the developments in Australia as part of globalising flows, not simply as pas-sive recipients, but also influencers of those flows.
Andrew Singleton charts the demography of Pentecostalism in Australia, arguing that the rise in Pentecostal adherence is less due to inroads into the secular population, and more due to migration of peoples from the Global South.
The five essays which comprise part two give a more detailed account of »home-grown« Australian Pentecostal and Charismatic movements (PCMs). Daniel Thornton addresses the importance of musical style in the growth of PCMs, the affinities of this style with secular music in terms of the economics, tempo, key and structure, and the use of the »somantic, emotive and metaphysical« (113). While differences exist (communal performance, lyrics), these correspondences point to worship music as a »vernacularisation« of popular music and so a form of contextualisation with all the cultural affinities that this term indicates.
Mairead Shanahan examines the marketing and brand creation within Pentecostal megachurches. The branding itself draws on a theology concerned with individualised spirituality and abundant living, including prosperity, and appeals to the type of modern life stylised on these themes. Branding becomes a form of self-representation, manufacturing a form of belonging (»a branded reli-gious experience«), and a type of missionary witness for growth within a global marketplace.
While the current Australian Prime Minster, Scott Morrison, might be the most famous of Pentecostal politicians, he is far from the only one. Denise A. Austin examines the work of Rev. Dr. Andrew Evans, co-founder of the Family First Party (2001) and his development of a politicised theological foundation through his work as a missionary in PNG, drawing on a theology of the kingdom of God and a triumphalism confident in the power to bring about social change. His wide social networks, experience with campaigning within the mega church context, and interdenominational and interfaith work in promoting »family values« resulted in politically significant social support.
Tanya Riches focuses on Hillsong and its relationship to the »marketplace.« Hillsong’s »missional model of economics« encourages members both to adopt a »religiously-imbued work ethic« and to believe that »God anoints their work as sacred« (172). This sets the »work of the Spirit« in relation to the believer’s daily life via the cultivation of virtues. Based on interviews with three »exemplars,« Riches argues that Hillsong intends to develop a Bourdieu-ian habitus, one which encourages normative behaviours which then replicate themselves within the wider working world.
Tania Harris notes how the claim »God told me …« is basic to the Pentecostal experience and disruptive in terms of theological authority and effective ministry outcomes. Via an ethnographic study of three churches, Harris conclusions shadow Berger’s no-tion of »plausibility structures« and the idea that prophetic ut-terances tend to match the already existing theologies, practices and languages operative within the community. Potential disruptive effects are mitigated through training and the social correc-tives (testing) of the community itself.
Part three sets the Pentecostalisms of the global North and South into conversation. Cristina Rocha looks at the motivation and experience of young Brazilian Pentecostals moving to Australia to study at Hillsong College. Key factors in this move include the opportunity to learn English, a focus on leadership skills, and Hillsong’s stress on love and inclusivity when compared with the themes of wealth and spiritual warfare common in Brazil.
Kathleen Openshaw examines the Australian presence of the Brazilian neo-Pentecostal »Universal Church of the Kingdom of God« (UCKG). For Openshaw, Australian members of the UCKG participate within the global flows and exchanges of spiritual capital via the dynamic media space created by the UCKG. Members are part of a ›polycentric cartography‹ as the different nodes partici-pate in the same event in real time.
Mahnaz Alimardanian looks at the Pentecostal experience of the indigenous communities located in far north New South Wales and south-east Queensland, the Bundjalung nation, through the lens of »paradox.« This terminology is potentially misleading as the discussion concerns the negotiation between traditional cosmologies and those afforded by Pentecostalism. Alimardanian concludes that »paradox is the force that regenerates the faith by giving currency to lived experience.«
An epilogue written by Allan H. Anderson provides an excellent summative overview of the work, replete with critical insights into the work’s various claims. In short, while some conclusions read a little apologetic, the work is a solid addition to the study of Pen-tecostalism.