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Abstract
In this article, I reflect upon the articles of this special issue in selected respects. My intention is to draw together some of the recurring themes and critical threads with the goal to develop a broader framework for future discussions of authority in Evangelical, Charismatic, and Pentecostal movements. In a manner of responding to the contributions and to our collaborative endeavor in general, I focus on three aspects: First, I discuss the concept of “religious authority,” second, I attend to the question of how to study religious authority empirically (methods of data collection and data analysis), and, third, I consider if and how approaches from post-humanistic literature, especially Niklas Luhmann’s and Bruno Latour’s works, could be valuable additions to classical sociological literature on authority in religious contexts. Far from offering a “conclusion” in the strict sense, this contribution shall raise new questions and spark future debate on the topic of this special issue.
In the history of religions, material artifacts have often played an important role as mediations of the ‘sacred.’ They were and are worshipped, venerated, and sometimes destroyed for their assumed supernatural powers. The article reviews theoretical concepts that engage with the charismatic capacities of objects (‘fetish,’ ‘cultic image,’ and ‘aura’) and discusses literature about ‘charismatic objects.’ It deals with the question of what kind of charisma objects may have and suggests that the term ‘charisma,’ when defined in a specific way, is a useful concept to describe and compare specific material objects from different religious traditions. These conceptual and methodological considerations are illustrated by a brief discussion of Christian relic veneration.
This article discusses the role of popular culture in religious events, focusing on built space and atmosphere using the example of a young Catholic initiative in Germany. While the topic “religion and popular culture” has received much scholarly attention, a focus on popular cultural atmospheres and their adaption in religious contexts remains a research gap. In order to analytically outline the relationship between religion and popular culture, the author proposes a differentiation and systems-theoretical approach while referring to the concept of “popular religion” (Hubert Knoblauch). The article first introduces the concepts of “popular culture,” “popular religion” as well as “atmosphere” and then discusses, on the basis of a case study and empirical surveys, the relationship between popular cultural and religious elements in the spatial and atmospheric setting of the initiative under investigation. Eventually, the author suggests that talk of a “dissolution of boundaries” (Entgrenzung) between religion and popular culture is only partially accurate because distinctions between religious and non-religious domains continue to be made both in the field and in analytical reconstruction.
This article takes up the implications of the spatial turn in the wider context of a material turn (Manuel A. Vásquez) and deals with concrete emplacements of religion. It argues that the concrete, material space of religious practice is not just a passive stage, but itself has ‘agency,’ i.e. it shapes and facilitates discourse and embodiment of human actors in space. The materiality of space influences sensory perception, communication and embodiment, and also relates to imaginations about space as well as social norms. The emplacement of religious practice is illustrated by examples of rooms of silence and rooms of Christian fitness classes in the United States. The article opens a research area at the interface of architecture, spatial studies, embodiment studies, and the psychology of perception – and intends to make this encounter productive for the study of religions.
Abstract
This introduction to the special issue on Religious Authority in Practice in Contemporary Evangelical, Charismatic, and Pentecostal Christianity begins by outlining “Evangelicalism” as an emic and etic concept and briefly introducing how and why it can be used as an umbrella term, including Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity as well. It then introduces “authority” as a sociological concept from various theoretical perspectives and relates it to the field of Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity. We emphasize that authority should be understood as a relationship that considers both sides, rulers and subjects. This special issue therefore focuses on this relationship and the emergence, negotiation and transformation of authority. Finally, it provides a summary of the empirical research results to be found in the issue’s individual contributions with a particular focus on how these contribute to ongoing debates in the broad field of Evangelicals and authority.
Abstract
This chapter aims to familiarize the reader with general conceptual and theoretical considerations that have driven the Käte Hambuger Kolleg ‘Dynamics in the History of Religion’ over the 12 years of its existence between 2008 and 2020. First, we outline the KHK’s general understanding of the key term ‘religion’. Second, we sketch how we understand religious studies as a multidisciplinary field that brings together numerous scholars from different backgrounds in terms of theoretical and methodological orientation, including historical, cultural and philological expertise. Third, we describe how we aim to study ‘contact’ as a central driving force in the dynamics of religious history via the methodological approach of comparison.
Die Studien eröffnen ein interdisziplinäres Feld der Untersuchung von christlichen Formen, Diskursen und Praktiken weltweit und loten verschiedene Theorien und Zugänge aus Religionswissenschaft, Theologie, Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften sowie der Diasporaforschung aus. In den Blick genommen werden die Polyzentrik des Christentums, transkulturalisierende und hybridisierende Dynamiken und Spannungsfelder von Inkulturation und Mission, Globalität und Lokalität, Universalität und Partikularität.
Die Studien eröffnen ein interdisziplinäres Feld der Untersuchung von christlichen Formen, Diskursen und Praktiken weltweit und loten verschiedene Theorien und Zugänge aus Religionswissenschaft, Theologie, Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften sowie der Diasporaforschung aus. In den Blick genommen werden die Polyzentrik des Christentums, transkulturalisierende und hybridisierende Dynamiken und Spannungsfelder von Inkulturation und Mission, Globalität und Lokalität, Universalität und Partikularität.