Power in Powerlessness

In this empirically and theoretically rich book, Martin Lindhardt shows how the everyday practices of Pentecostals help marginalized Chileans create new identities, gain a sense of control over their lives, and develop new and meaningful interpretations of their social reality.Lindhardt's subjects are direct descendants of the first Pentecostal church in Latin America, the Methodist Pentecostal Church (MPC), founded in 1909. Lindhardt studied the Evangelical Pentecostal Church (EPC), which emerged through a schism from the MPC in 1934. Because the MPC's founder left the church to help start the EPC, its members claim to be the legitimate heirs of the continent's first Pentecostal revival.Lindhardt argues that Pentecostalism is primarily an indigenous movement and that context matters in its development. In contemporary Chile, the Catholic Church maintains its prominence in the religious terrain as well as its middle- and upper-class location. The national economy is robust but has generated a chasm between rich and poor. Political malaise has set in, and civil society groups are weak. Lindhardt provides a deft history of how Chile arrived at this point, and how these dynamics shaped Pentecostalism along the way.Today, Chilean Pentecostalism empowers its poor adherents and recrafts their cultural status. Pentecostals create lifeworlds, or socially construct reality, using religious language, rituals, and practices. Pentecostals often talk about the “world,” Satan, and personal interactions with God in ways that show how their reality is constantly disrupted by supernatural actors. Lindhardt also argues that Pentecostalism is steeped in ritual (Pentecostals often claim that their faith is relational, not ritualistic). Examples include emotional oratory in worship, exuberant singing styles, and uncontrolled dancing. These activities are authentic but fit recent theories of ritual well. Finally, Pentecostal practices include ascetic tendencies, modest dress, and reoriented interactions between genders. Such practices have been written about before but are important in Lindhardt's explanation of how Pentecostals establish a distinctive outlook on society.The keys to making this outlook work—the book's new insights into this process are its most important contributions—include Pentecostals' acceptance of their own powerlessness and their complete dependence on God. Alone, EPC members are powerless in the face of witchcraft and demon possession. Less dramatically, they cannot overcome Satan when he causes them to get stuck in traffic or puts evil thoughts in their heads. The “world” and Satan are powerful allies: Lindhardt learned that the owners of Microsoft, McDonald's, and Citibank donate their profits to satanic churches. These and other affluent, mass-mediated, and worldly entities promote forms of beauty and success and offer goods and services that are beyond the reach and influence of impoverished EPC members.God, however, is greater than these forces. Through God's power, Pentecostals cast out demons and resist the evil eye. God also empowers his followers to obtain pensions, find housing, construct new churches, and experience miraculous healings. God thus replaces a dysfunctional state and an inadequate health-care system. He renders local and national politics meaningless. God's power, combined with and activated through the language and practices that bring Pentecostals into closer relationship with him, mitigates feelings of inadequacy resulting from mass-mediated culture, inverts the social dominance of the Catholic Church, and distinguishes Pentecostals from the crass and often-erotic culture of their lower-class peers. In short, the constant intrusion of God into all spheres of life converts the social reality of impoverished Pentecostals from marginalization to personal empowerment and allows them to confidently critique Chilean society.Power in Powerlessness is a sophisticated and significant contribution to the field of Latin American religion. Lindhardt, an anthropologist, conducted 17 months of ethnographic research over a 10-year period. By selecting the EPC as a case study, Lindhardt goes right to the beginning of Latin American Pentecostalism. He also explores Pentecostalism where it is most often found: among the poor. Such a case study does not (and should not) shed light on newer, affluent churches nor Pentecostalism's burgeoning transnational ties (although the latter get some attention). Rather, Lindhardt's careful and deep theoretical treatment creates knowledge about the essence of the Latin American Pentecostal experience. His findings are thus especially valuable for specialists in the field. The book will have a lasting impact

Context (archaeology) · Faith · Indigenous · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Schism · Sociology · Theology · Cultural and Social Studies in Latin America · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions