It's Almost Like Paying for Praying

Giving Critiques and the Discursive Management of Denominational Difference

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2983249
AutoresJ Hardin (0000-0001-5340-2933, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen92
Número4
Páginas1099-1122
Fecha de publicación2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAnthropological Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0003-5491 • E-ISSN: 1534-1518
EditorialProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/anq.2019.0062
OpenAlexW3001612767
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas36

This article explores how in Samoa, Christians from diverse denominational backgrounds regularly talk about and critique church giving practices ranging from weekly announcements of offerings to tithing. By comparing Pentecostal and mainstream Christian giving practices, Pentecostals discursively created denominational difference through valuation: the comparative process of differentiating between ways of giving. Pentecostals created a socially embedded subject position through giving critiques, demonstrating how denominational comparison is religious practice. By looking at the metapragmatics of giving—that is, how accounts of giving are used in everyday life—discussions of giving become a primary means to navigate the institutional mediation of individualism evident in giving practices. This article thus shows how critiques of giving collapse the distinction between "religious" and "economic" spheres showing that they are often co-constitutive

Economics · Individualism · Mainstream · Mediation · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Valuation (finance · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Law · Religion, Society, and Development