Christian Bodies
Dialectics of Sickness and Salvation Among the Maisin of Papua New Guinea
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5809847 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J Barker (0000-0002-2896-7358, University of British Columbia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 272-292 |
| Publication date | 2003-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Religious History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4227 • E-ISSN: 1467-9809 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9809.2003.00196.x |
| OpenAlex | W1980529999 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 23 |
| References cited | 1 |
This article examines the impact of a Charismatic youth fellowship movement among the Maisin people of Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, in the late 1990s. Drawing upon ethnographic and archival sources, I show that the response conforms to a pattern repeated periodically over a century of regional religious movements focused upon eradicating sorcery and promoting health. Over several generations, Maisin have experienced and interpreted Christianity in ways that at once confirm a basic belief in sorcery while prodding the faithful towards increasingly individualistic notions of morality and, thus, new collectivist responses to misfortunes like life-threatening illnesses. Thus, while the main intent of religious movements among the Maisin has remained remarkably consistent, the underlying conception of the links between morality, sickness, and healing has shifted markedly over the years. The article thus demonstrates that Christianity in this Melanesian community has had both conservative and transformational effects upon everyday conceptions of morality, sickness, healing, and redemption. More generally, the article advocates moving the study of religious change in longer contacted regions of Melanesia from a dualistic model that opposes Western and indigenous cultures to one that examines the complex historical development of vernacular Christianity
Aesthetics · Charisma · Christianity · Dialectic · Epistemology · Ethnography · Ethnology · Indigenous · Individualism · Morality · New guinea · Political science · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies
Talking it Through
Sorcery, Christianity and the Decline of Medical Services
The Labour of History
The Ontological Turn
Converts, Christians and anthropologists
The perils of ‘yo‐yo’ thinking
Third Wave Evangelism and the Politics of the Global in Papua New Guinea
Carrying the Cross, Caring for Kin
Transforming Relations of Gender, Person, and Agency in Oceania
Le travail « invisible » de l’institution pentecôtiste
Graun Em Pulap Long Pipia
I Was Like Abraham
I shouldn't talk of medicine only
We call it a virus but I want to say it's the devil inside
Secondary Conversion and the Anthropology of Christianity in Melanesia
Horizontal and vertical relations
When Speaking Is a Risky Business
Conversion, continuity, and moral dilemmas among Christian Bidayuhs in Malaysian Borneo
In God's hands
Belief as relational action
Partible penitents
The One and the Many
Sick Again, Well Again
| Unique citing works | 23 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,1 |
| Citation span | 2005 - 2024 (20) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 22 |