Reading, feeling, believing: online testimonies and the making of Evangelical emotion
A personal relationship with God is central to Evangelical belief. It unfolds as believers interpret internal sensations as coming from outside-from God. How does the formulaic design of testimonies present the audience with a personal relationship with God as a pursuit that is both feasible and dee...
| Published in: | Journal of contemporary religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Carfax Publ.
[2019]
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| In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Evangelical movement
/ Confession of faith
/ Emotional behavior
/ New media
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| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality CD Christianity and Culture KDG Free church |
| Further subjects: | B
Discourse Analysis
B Testimony B Language B online Christianity B anthropology of Christianity B Evangelical B close reading B Emotion |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | A personal relationship with God is central to Evangelical belief. It unfolds as believers interpret internal sensations as coming from outside-from God. How does the formulaic design of testimonies present the audience with a personal relationship with God as a pursuit that is both feasible and deeply desirable? Analyzing the discursive rules structuring the appearance of emotion in the most popular testimonies on the online platform of Christianity Today reveals that such texts expertly present a microcosm in which the experience of reading mirrors the trajectory toward belief writers describe. To read a testimony from start to finish, readers must choose to tolerate the unfamiliar: that is, feel emotions that specifically belong in an Evangelical frame. Online written testimony relies on compelling storytelling to move readers, making them practise what it feels like to hand over part of one's own story to God. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2019.1585122 |