Born Again in Balaka: Pentecostal versus Catholic Narratives of Religious Transformation in Rural Malawi
Pentecostal membership and born-again conversion have been growing in popularity across Africa. Yet despite the many explanations posited for their growth, few studies have attended to the local meanings attached to the born-again identity specifically. In this study, I compare narratives of born-ag...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford Univ. Press
2010
|
| In: |
Sociology of religion
Year: 2010, Volume: 71, Issue: 4, Pages: 409-431 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
|
| Summary: | Pentecostal membership and born-again conversion have been growing in popularity across Africa. Yet despite the many explanations posited for their growth, few studies have attended to the local meanings attached to the born-again identity specifically. In this study, I compare narratives of born-again conversion among a sample of Pentecostal and Catholic young people in Malawi, in order to better understand its meaning and appeal as a religious identity. I argue that the born-again identity is highly salient for those who claim it; and that although its roots are in Pentecostalism, it has diffused widely into other denominations. I also argue that for these young people, it is described not primarily as a conversion of belief but as a conversion to a new moral lifestyle; and that the major difference between Pentecostals and Catholics is in their expressed sense of the attainability of this conversion, not of its desirability. The connection between the born-again lifestyle and the impact of modernity in the development context is also explored. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1759-8818 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociology of religion
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/socrel/srq021 |