Who are you in this body

Identifying demons and the path to deliverance in a London Pentecostal church

Bibliographic Data

ID2877296
AuthorsKirsty Rowan (University of London, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume45
Issue2
Pages247-270
Publication date2016-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404516000014
OpenAlexW2222411843
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited41

This article is an examination of the interaction between evangelists and participants of a demonic deliverance (exorcism) ceremony in a London, UK Pentecostal church. The data is taken from an online recording and transcribed using conversation analysis conventions. A familiar feature of exorcism practice is the initial demand for the demon's identity. This study suggests that the importance of asking this question is due to it being procedurally strategic in modelling a performative path of the deliverance ceremony, which results in ritual efficacy. In particular, it is proposed that the omission of the question asking for the identity of the demon causes the deliverance path to become temporarily disrupted. This disruption is the result of a loss of thematic mapping between adverse life events and the causal agency within this specific sphere of sociocultural activity. (Religion, exorcism, possession, diaspora, spirits

Aesthetics · Art · Ceremony · Demon · Exorcism · Identity (music) · Linguistics · Literature · Liturgy · Performative utterance · Possession (linguistics) · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Theology · Vitality · Anthropology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy