"This book argues that the runaway popularity of Pentecostal Christianity on the Zambian Copperbelt is a result of this religion's capacity to produce novel forms of value realization. A close analysis of the relationships that form in Pentecostal churches reveals that Pentecostal social life is structured around an animating idea - a value - called 'moving by the Spirit.' Moving by the Spirit entails personal advancement both with regard to material prosperity and religious skill or charisma. While moving by the Spirit makes Pentecostalism attractive, it is difficult for Pentecostal believers to balance prosperity against charisma without reproducing divisions in economic status. These divisions undermine the social world of the church by limiting the access of poorer believers to the relationships with their leaders - relationships through which the value of moving by the Spirit is most effectively realized"--Provided by publisher
AbstractThis article explores the elaboration and application of the Old Testament idea of 'covenant' among Zambian church leaders who are Christian nationalist activists. In this framework, Zambia serves as an analogue of biblical Israel, while contemporary government and church leaders are the analogues of Old Testament kings, priests, and prophets. This covenantal approach presents challenges. On the one hand, government support for Christian nationalism encourages the compliance of church leaders with state‐led religious projects; on the other hand, however, the analogical reading of the biblical text on which this support depends casts the church in a prophetic role, which in turn opens the door for criticism of the government. Christian nationalist activists in Zambia therefore find themselves caught in a double‐bind that simultaneously encourages submission and critique. An analysis of this process contributes an important non‐Western perspective to contemporary discussions of Christian nationalism. It also complicates easy interpretations of Christian nationalism as abetting state power by demonstrating its critical possibilities.
AbstractIn October 2015 the Zambian president broke ground on a new National House of Prayer, a building project meant to reaffirm the country's status as Africa's only self-proclaimed "Christian nation." Over the next four years architects produced three separate sets of plans for the House of Prayer, images of which were circulated among Zambian Christians, primarily church leaders. Each set of plans has provoked conversations about what the House of Prayer should look like. This article shows how discussions of the building's aesthetic features were connected to the theological-political possibilities of Christian nationalism, crystalizing around two competing models of how to go about making Zambia a (more) Christian nation. By tracing the tension between these models through architectural and aesthetic debates, this article shows the link between images and the theological-political imagination. It therefore builds on anthropological analyses of other parts of the world that have emphasized the political power of aesthetics as more than representations of already existing ideas—that is, as an ideologically and politically productive force in its own right.
AbstractWhy has Nevers Mumba, one of Zambia's most famous Pentecostal leaders, been so unsuccessful in his two presidential bids? Previous analyses have blamed Mumba's political woes on a presumed Pentecostal belief that politics is a lesser vocation than the pastorate. In contrast to these interpretations, I argue that Pentecostals in Zambia are very committed to the notion that, at least ideally, their leaders should be pastors, and more specifically that they should be effective mediators of the divine covenant established when Zambia was declared a "Christian nation." The problem with Mumba is, therefore, not that pastors are not supposed to be politicians, but rather that he has failed to convince believers that he is a good mediator. This article opens up new horizons in the study of Pentecostal politics, suggesting that populism in countries with high Pentecostal populations is increasingly defined by the capacity for religious mediation.
Abstract This article responds to a trend in recent anthropological scholarship in Africa that has overemphasized a lack of social organization following the advancement of neoliberal reforms across the continent. Using a theoretical framework informed by the theory of Louis Dumont, I show that social organization remains an important analytical topic in times of crisis, and that this is best apprehended through an analysis of values. The ethnographic focus of this article is Pentecostal Christianity as it is practiced on the Zambian Copperbelt. In this particular African context, Pentecostalism is animated by an overarching value that I call "moving," which is in turn made up to two sub-values: charisma and prosperity. By exploring how Pentecostal believers navigate the hierarchical relationship between these two sub-values, we are given a clear picture of the social world that Pentecostal adherence makes possible.
ABSTRACT In this article, I draw on ethnography from the Zambian Copperbelt to examine the social productivity of the Pentecostal prosperity gospel, a Christian movement centered on the idea that it is God's will for believers to be wealthy. In the light of the challenges that recent economic history has posed to Copperbelt relational life, Pentecostalism has become an important source of hierarchy—and, therefore, of social organization. This social productivity is evident in the complex patterns of exchange that emerge as believers make gifts to God and religious leaders. An analysis of Pentecostal exchange reveals that the hierarchical relationships forged through religious adherence are often in danger of being undermined by economic concerns, and prosperity gospel practice is therefore continually mobilized to protect these ties. In this discussion, I foreground the position of Pentecostalism among the repertoire of ideas, practices, and beliefs involved in negotiating social life in times of economic uncertainty.
As part of a growing body of work focused on the social implications of Pentecostal Christianity, this article explores one of the ways that this religion is shaping relational life on the Zambian Copperbelt. Through a discussion of the changing nature of the prosperity gospel, I show how Pentecostalism embeds believers in social relationships that often extend beyond their religious cohort. In the absence of the lavish wealth promised by prosperity gospel preachers, Pentecostals have had to alter their understanding of divinely authored economic success. Specifically, local definitions of prosperity are characterized not by uniform, individualized wealth, but rather by progress along a gradient of material achievement through relationships that span differences in economic status. This retooled version of the prosperity gospel serves to integrate believers into the wider social world by emphasizing material inequality and promoting displays of wealth. Each of these aspects of Copperbelt Pentecostalism embeds its adherents in networks of exchange that are a central component of urban Zambian sociality. This analysis of Pentecostalism expands on studies of this religion that focus only on formal ritual life, while at the same time challenging interpretations of Pentecostalism that have given its social potential short shrift.RésuméLe présent article s'inscrit dans un corpus de plus en plus important de travaux consacrés aux implications sociales du christianisme pentecôtiste. Il explore l'une des manières dont cette religion façonne la vie relationnelle dans la province du Copperbelt, en Zambie. Par la discussion de la nature changeante de la théologie de la prospérité, l'auteure montre comment le pentecôtisme intègre ses fidèles dans des relations sociales qui s'étendent souvent au‐delà des limites de leur communauté religieuse. Ne voyant pas venir l'abondance promise par les prédicateurs de la doctrine de la prospérité, les pentecôtistes ont dû revoir leur interprétation d'une réussite économique sanctionnée par Dieu. Plus précisément, les définitions locales de la prospérité sont caractérisées non pas par une possession de biens uniforme et individualisée mais plutôt par une progression suivant un gradient de réussite matérielle, par le biais de relations franchissant les différences de situation économique. Cette version remaniée de la théologie de la prospérité sert à intégrer les croyants dans le monde social qui les entoure, en mettant l'accent sur les inégalités matérielles et en encourageant les signes extérieurs de richesse. Chacun de ces aspects du pentecôtisme dans le Copperbelt intègre les fidèles dans des réseaux d'échange qui sont une composante essentielle de la société zambienne urbaine. L'analyse du pentecôtisme réalisée ici commente les études de cette religion axées uniquement sur le rituel, tout en remettant en question les interprétations faisant peu de cas du potentiel social du pentecôtisme.
The most striking characteristics of Pentecostal Christianity on the Zambian Copperbelt are the proliferation of small churches and the near-constant circulation of their members among them. These are the phenomena that this dissertation seeks to explore and explain. Doing so has required me to place Pentecostal practice within the broader social and political economic context of urban Zambia. Social life on the Copperbelt is organized around two parallel relational orientations that I call ambition and obligation, which are in turn structured by a hierarchy of economic success. Shocks to the Copperbelt economy, including the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, make it harder for people to maintain this traditional social model because market insecurity causes the hierarchy of success to become unbalanced. Whereas relational hierarchy on the Copperbelt more generally depends on the market, Pentecostal adherence produces a hierarchy of charisma that is insulated from economic concerns. This religion therefore presents the possibility that culturally important relational forms might find a more secure basis than that which is available outside the church. It is the potential of Pentecostalism to produce hierarchy, ambition, and obligation that makes this form of Christianity so compelling for people in urban Zambia. However, while the social possibilities of Pentecostalism are central to the religious participation of individual believers, it is not always easy for them to keep their relationships separate from economic concerns. The influence of the prosperity gospel, the importance of making gifts to church leaders, and the financial needs of pastors all bring material issues into religious life. When believers perceive that Pentecostal hierarchy has been compromised by these issues they will often leave one church for another that they feel better exemplifies the relational ideals of their religion. Alternately, they may form a new congregation. The social promise of Pentecostalism therefore allows us to understand not only what makes this form of Christianity so compelling, but also why its adherents move so frequently from church to church
Battle of cosmologies : the Catholic Church, Adat, and "inculturation" among Northern Lio, Indonesia / Signe Howell -- Vertical love : forms of submission and top-down power in Orthodox Ethiopia / Diego Maria Malara and Tom Boylston -- The good, the bad, and the dead : the place of destruction in the organization of social life, which means hierarchy / Frederick H. Damon -- Civilization, hierarchy, and political-economic inequality / Stephan Feuchtwang -- Islam and pious sociality : the ethics of hierarchy in the Tablighi Jamaat in Pakistan / Arsalan Khan -- Demotion as value : rank infraction among the Ngadha in Flores, Indonesia / Olaf H. Smedal
