Pub Date : 2016-05-03DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1181360
John R. Anderson
Abstract This article explores the role of the dominant Russian Orthodox Church in the evolution of the post-communist Russian Federation. This is not a classic case where religion may have contributed to the democratisation of society because this has not been a primary goal of political elites, and the regime that has emerged might best be described as ‘hybrid’ with growing authoritarian tendencies. Having played little role in the ending of communism, having little historical experience of working within a democracy, suspicious of liberal-individualist visions of public life and committed to a vision of its role as the hegemonic religious institution, the promotion of democratic governance has not been a priority of church leaders. At the same time the political structures created by the Kremlin encourage a degree of conformity and support for the regime by key social actors, and in the wake of the political crisis of 2011–2012 there have been further incentives for church and state to work more closely together. For the state, the church offers indirectly a constituency of political support; for the church, a more needy state has been prepared to promote at least part of its socially conservative agenda. In this context, neither is much concerned about democratic governance.
{"title":"Religion, state and ‘sovereign democracy’ in Putin’s Russia","authors":"John R. Anderson","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1181360","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1181360","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article explores the role of the dominant Russian Orthodox Church in the evolution of the post-communist Russian Federation. This is not a classic case where religion may have contributed to the democratisation of society because this has not been a primary goal of political elites, and the regime that has emerged might best be described as ‘hybrid’ with growing authoritarian tendencies. Having played little role in the ending of communism, having little historical experience of working within a democracy, suspicious of liberal-individualist visions of public life and committed to a vision of its role as the hegemonic religious institution, the promotion of democratic governance has not been a priority of church leaders. At the same time the political structures created by the Kremlin encourage a degree of conformity and support for the regime by key social actors, and in the wake of the political crisis of 2011–2012 there have been further incentives for church and state to work more closely together. For the state, the church offers indirectly a constituency of political support; for the church, a more needy state has been prepared to promote at least part of its socially conservative agenda. In this context, neither is much concerned about democratic governance.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124690007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-05-03DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1181365
J. Cesari
Abstract This article presents the concept of hegemonic religion and its relationship with democracy. This concept entails not only a certain type of institutional relation between state and religion but, more importantly, a kind of national culture with religion at its core. Utilizing Norbert Elias’s figurational sociology, this article analyses how postcolonial states have built a national habitus that plays a decisive role in the politicization of religion. It focuses on examples from Islam and Buddhism and discusses how hegemonic types of politicised religions have negative impacts on democracy.
{"title":"Disciplining religion: the role of the state and its consequences on democracy","authors":"J. Cesari","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1181365","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1181365","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article presents the concept of hegemonic religion and its relationship with democracy. This concept entails not only a certain type of institutional relation between state and religion but, more importantly, a kind of national culture with religion at its core. Utilizing Norbert Elias’s figurational sociology, this article analyses how postcolonial states have built a national habitus that plays a decisive role in the politicization of religion. It focuses on examples from Islam and Buddhism and discusses how hegemonic types of politicised religions have negative impacts on democracy.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126672441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-05-03DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1181373
E. Diallo, C. Kelly
Abstract The Senegalese example is often used to suggest that Muslim-majority countries are capable of democratizing if the state is equidistant from all religions. Historically, Islam lacks a hegemonic status in Senegal’s legal order, and national politics exhibits the “twin tolerations,” the mutually respectful relationships between religious and governmental authorities that are necessary for democracy. These continuities cannot explain why Sufi orders (turuq) changed from supporting a single-party authoritarian system in the 1960s–1980s to reinforcing serious electoral contestation as of the 1990s; economic crisis fostered the change. During structural adjustment in the 1980s, economic shocks weakened the ruling party, inducing it to negotiate a democratic electoral code with opponents. The reforms significantly increased electoral uncertainty by the late 1990s, which changed the behavior of state and religious actors. Abdoulaye Wade broke the tradition of presidential neutrality towards religion, favoring Murids over Tijāns in hope of getting re-elected by Murid voters. Turuq members more frequently created political parties (to oppose or collaborate with the president) or grassroots movements (to denounce government corruption and anti-democratic practices). The history of the “Senegalese social contract” suggests why movements more successfully channeled democratic energies, while parties led by Sufi figures had limited impact.
{"title":"Sufi Turuq and the politics of democratization in Senegal","authors":"E. Diallo, C. Kelly","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1181373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1181373","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The Senegalese example is often used to suggest that Muslim-majority countries are capable of democratizing if the state is equidistant from all religions. Historically, Islam lacks a hegemonic status in Senegal’s legal order, and national politics exhibits the “twin tolerations,” the mutually respectful relationships between religious and governmental authorities that are necessary for democracy. These continuities cannot explain why Sufi orders (turuq) changed from supporting a single-party authoritarian system in the 1960s–1980s to reinforcing serious electoral contestation as of the 1990s; economic crisis fostered the change. During structural adjustment in the 1980s, economic shocks weakened the ruling party, inducing it to negotiate a democratic electoral code with opponents. The reforms significantly increased electoral uncertainty by the late 1990s, which changed the behavior of state and religious actors. Abdoulaye Wade broke the tradition of presidential neutrality towards religion, favoring Murids over Tijāns in hope of getting re-elected by Murid voters. Turuq members more frequently created political parties (to oppose or collaborate with the president) or grassroots movements (to denounce government corruption and anti-democratic practices). The history of the “Senegalese social contract” suggests why movements more successfully channeled democratic energies, while parties led by Sufi figures had limited impact.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128381374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-05-03DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1181383
L. F. Mantilla
Abstract The decline of Catholic parties across Latin America appears as an interesting exception to the global political resurgence of religion. Catholic parties, once important players in the region’s politics, have become less distinctive or failed altogether. While many explanations focus on social secularization or the instability of regional politics, this article emphasizes the role of shifting relationship between the Catholic Church and Latin American states. Specifically, it argues that the emergence of flexible accoresearchers continue to catalog the myriad ways in whichmmodation, an arrangement whereby religious politics is managed by individual bishops, politicians and officials, has undermined the functionality and appeal of programmatic religious parties for elites and voters alike. As a result, Catholic religious politics remains vibrant, but is increasingly channeled outside the electoral arena.
{"title":"Church–state relations and the decline of Catholic parties in Latin America","authors":"L. F. Mantilla","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1181383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1181383","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The decline of Catholic parties across Latin America appears as an interesting exception to the global political resurgence of religion. Catholic parties, once important players in the region’s politics, have become less distinctive or failed altogether. While many explanations focus on social secularization or the instability of regional politics, this article emphasizes the role of shifting relationship between the Catholic Church and Latin American states. Specifically, it argues that the emergence of flexible accoresearchers continue to catalog the myriad ways in whichmmodation, an arrangement whereby religious politics is managed by individual bishops, politicians and officials, has undermined the functionality and appeal of programmatic religious parties for elites and voters alike. As a result, Catholic religious politics remains vibrant, but is increasingly channeled outside the electoral arena.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133096468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-05-03DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1181385
J. Haynes
Abstract Democratisation is a process of moving from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state. A democratic state has its governance rooted in representative institutions, with officeholders chosen by the populace through periodic “free and fair” local and national elections. The relationship between religion, democratisation and democracy centres on three issues:• Religious traditions have core elements: some are conducive to democratisation and democracy, others less so;• Religious traditions are typically multi-vocal: at any moment there will be powerful figures more or less receptive to and encouraging of democracy;• Religious actors on their own rarely if ever determine democratisation outcomes. Yet, they may in various ways and with a range of outcomes be significant for democratisation. This may especially be the case in countries that have a long tradition of secularisation, such as Turkey. This introductory article examines these issues and uncovers the significant links between religion and democratisation, relating them to the other contributions in this special issue.
{"title":"Religion and democratisation: what do we now know?","authors":"J. Haynes","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1181385","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1181385","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Democratisation is a process of moving from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state. A democratic state has its governance rooted in representative institutions, with officeholders chosen by the populace through periodic “free and fair” local and national elections. The relationship between religion, democratisation and democracy centres on three issues:• Religious traditions have core elements: some are conducive to democratisation and democracy, others less so;• Religious traditions are typically multi-vocal: at any moment there will be powerful figures more or less receptive to and encouraging of democracy;• Religious actors on their own rarely if ever determine democratisation outcomes. Yet, they may in various ways and with a range of outcomes be significant for democratisation. This may especially be the case in countries that have a long tradition of secularisation, such as Turkey. This introductory article examines these issues and uncovers the significant links between religion and democratisation, relating them to the other contributions in this special issue.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126397700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-05-03DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1181382
J. Cesari
This special issue aims to contribute to the growing literature on the role of religion in democratisation by focusing on state–religion interactions. Although the following articles focus on the relations between religion and democracy, they also add to the broader field of religion’s influence on politics. Our goal is not to assert that religion is the significant factor in the transition to democracy. Actually, most existing surveys demonstrate that the GDP, level of education, urbanisation, and the existence of a middle class are more relevant triggers of regime transition. Religion, however, may influence the building of new institutions, the legal status of civil liberties, and patterns of political participation—all significant factors when it comes to consolidation of democracy. To capture the specific role of religion in democratic or political changes, it is necessary to move away from the dichotomy of state and religion and explore more deeply the interactions between state and religious organisations and actors. The often-assumed antagonism or tensions between the two represents only one form of interaction, which may be used or combined with competition, adaptation, and cooperation. Consequently, the following papers will examine the roles of multiple actors and their different levels and agencies within the state, religious associations, clergy, religious adherents, diasporas, and purveyors of education. In this regard, this special issue breaks from the dominant approaches in political science which focus on either the strategies of political elites during periods of democratisation or on the nature of the authoritarian state. It sheds light on the nature of state interactions—not only with religious ideas and factors, but also with religious institutions—therefore bringing the state back in the study of democratisation.
{"title":"Religion and democratisation: when and how it matters","authors":"J. Cesari","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1181382","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1181382","url":null,"abstract":"This special issue aims to contribute to the growing literature on the role of religion in democratisation by focusing on state–religion interactions. Although the following articles focus on the relations between religion and democracy, they also add to the broader field of religion’s influence on politics. Our goal is not to assert that religion is the significant factor in the transition to democracy. Actually, most existing surveys demonstrate that the GDP, level of education, urbanisation, and the existence of a middle class are more relevant triggers of regime transition. Religion, however, may influence the building of new institutions, the legal status of civil liberties, and patterns of political participation—all significant factors when it comes to consolidation of democracy. To capture the specific role of religion in democratic or political changes, it is necessary to move away from the dichotomy of state and religion and explore more deeply the interactions between state and religious organisations and actors. The often-assumed antagonism or tensions between the two represents only one form of interaction, which may be used or combined with competition, adaptation, and cooperation. Consequently, the following papers will examine the roles of multiple actors and their different levels and agencies within the state, religious associations, clergy, religious adherents, diasporas, and purveyors of education. In this regard, this special issue breaks from the dominant approaches in political science which focus on either the strategies of political elites during periods of democratisation or on the nature of the authoritarian state. It sheds light on the nature of state interactions—not only with religious ideas and factors, but also with religious institutions—therefore bringing the state back in the study of democratisation.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"159 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115299539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-01-02DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1085246
Sonja Luehrmann
Abstract Prayer is most easily conceived of as political speech when it is a spontaneous practice showing individual and group reactions to current events. Where prayer is a routinized activity involving the recitation of canonical texts, interpreters locate politics in the disciplining of bodies and acts of claiming space. This paper takes inspiration from ethnographies of oral ritual performance and Quranic recitation to include texts and the delegation of speech roles in the analysis of recited prayer. Most Russian Orthodox Christians either pray from a prayer book or order such prayers to be said by specialists. Focusing on the use of baptismal names as indexical elements in intercessory prayer, I argue that Orthodox Christian textual practices sustain a particular form of fractal social authority. Standardized prayer texts synchronize lay and delegated clerical voices, while individualizing responsibility for non-Orthodox kin and acquaintances. Through analyzing canonical and non-canonical intercessory formulae, one can see that part of the political force of prayer lies in constructing community boundaries while dynamically readjusting them.
{"title":"The politics of prayer books: Delegated intercession, names, and community boundaries in the Russian Orthodox Church","authors":"Sonja Luehrmann","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1085246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1085246","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Prayer is most easily conceived of as political speech when it is a spontaneous practice showing individual and group reactions to current events. Where prayer is a routinized activity involving the recitation of canonical texts, interpreters locate politics in the disciplining of bodies and acts of claiming space. This paper takes inspiration from ethnographies of oral ritual performance and Quranic recitation to include texts and the delegation of speech roles in the analysis of recited prayer. Most Russian Orthodox Christians either pray from a prayer book or order such prayers to be said by specialists. Focusing on the use of baptismal names as indexical elements in intercessory prayer, I argue that Orthodox Christian textual practices sustain a particular form of fractal social authority. Standardized prayer texts synchronize lay and delegated clerical voices, while individualizing responsibility for non-Orthodox kin and acquaintances. Through analyzing canonical and non-canonical intercessory formulae, one can see that part of the political force of prayer lies in constructing community boundaries while dynamically readjusting them.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"126 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129352188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-01-02DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1085245
Z. F. Parvez
Abstract This article draws on participant observation in a working-class Salafist women’s mosque community outside of Lyon. A decade after the headscarf ban in public schools, public hostility and aggression against Salafist women is rampant. As they remain estranged from the secular educational system, prayer and Islamic education have come to serve as an important substitute. Prayer is defined expansively as recitation, supplication, and the effort to strengthen one’s attachment to God. I argue that Salafist women are developing their own pedagogy and learning to question the meaning and purpose of knowledge itself. They do this through their study circles in which they share prayers and have conversations about doubt, forgiveness, and wisdom. The struggles and reflection their study requires are in contrast to depictions of Islamic education as merely mechanical and stifling. Further, their education shares similarities with critical pedagogy in its religious critique of capitalist culture. The paper asserts that France’s political crisis over laïcité has also become a crisis of public education. This, in turn, has facilitated the deepening of prayer as part of the new pedagogy among marginalized and stigmatized Muslim women.
{"title":"Prayer and pedagogy: Redefining education among Salafist Muslim women in France","authors":"Z. F. Parvez","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1085245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1085245","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article draws on participant observation in a working-class Salafist women’s mosque community outside of Lyon. A decade after the headscarf ban in public schools, public hostility and aggression against Salafist women is rampant. As they remain estranged from the secular educational system, prayer and Islamic education have come to serve as an important substitute. Prayer is defined expansively as recitation, supplication, and the effort to strengthen one’s attachment to God. I argue that Salafist women are developing their own pedagogy and learning to question the meaning and purpose of knowledge itself. They do this through their study circles in which they share prayers and have conversations about doubt, forgiveness, and wisdom. The struggles and reflection their study requires are in contrast to depictions of Islamic education as merely mechanical and stifling. Further, their education shares similarities with critical pedagogy in its religious critique of capitalist culture. The paper asserts that France’s political crisis over laïcité has also become a crisis of public education. This, in turn, has facilitated the deepening of prayer as part of the new pedagogy among marginalized and stigmatized Muslim women.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126549257","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-01-02DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1140299
Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi
In the micro-politics of community and neighborhood practice, formal Muslim prayer (namaz) frequently becomes juxtaposed to trance, possession or other dissociative states of consciousness. In the latter states, a subject becomes overwhelmed by an encounter with otherness and reacts on the basis of an economy of affect. In India such affective encounters are traditionally articulated allegorically in cultural forms that actively negotiate alterity. Specifically, the afflicted are considered “possessed” (hajri) and ritual specialists apply means of exorcism by naming the afflicting agent that has caused the disturbance. What happens, however, when a subject is overwhelmed by an encounter with an other, yet remains without any means to account for this experience? What happens when particular responses to feeling overwhelmed are no longer available or legitimate? Through ethnographic accounts of encounters, this paper first explicates encounters involving an overwhelming experience with difference in Africa and India in the 1950s that resulted in mimetic play, and then offers accounts of encounters of overwhelming experience in contemporary India in which alterity seemed absent and mimetic play failed.
{"title":"Mimetic failure: Politics, prayer and possession","authors":"Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1140299","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1140299","url":null,"abstract":"In the micro-politics of community and neighborhood practice, formal Muslim prayer (namaz) frequently becomes juxtaposed to trance, possession or other dissociative states of consciousness. In the latter states, a subject becomes overwhelmed by an encounter with otherness and reacts on the basis of an economy of affect. In India such affective encounters are traditionally articulated allegorically in cultural forms that actively negotiate alterity. Specifically, the afflicted are considered “possessed” (hajri) and ritual specialists apply means of exorcism by naming the afflicting agent that has caused the disturbance. What happens, however, when a subject is overwhelmed by an encounter with an other, yet remains without any means to account for this experience? What happens when particular responses to feeling overwhelmed are no longer available or legitimate? Through ethnographic accounts of encounters, this paper first explicates encounters involving an overwhelming experience with difference in Africa and India in the 1950s that resulted in mimetic play, and then offers accounts of encounters of overwhelming experience in contemporary India in which alterity seemed absent and mimetic play failed.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122317228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-01-02DOI: 10.1080/20566093.2016.1085239
E. Mcalister
Abstract This article examines how militarism has come to be one of the generative forces of the prayer practices of millions of Christians across the globe. To understand this process, I focus on the articulation between militarization and aggressive forms of prayer, especially the evangelical warfare prayer developed by North Americans since the 1980s. Against the backdrop of the rise in military spending and neoliberal economic policies, spiritual warfare evangelicals have taken on the project of defending the United States on the “spiritual” plane. They have elaborated a complex theology and prayer practice with a highly militarized discourse and set of rituals for doing “spiritual battle” and conducting “prayer strikes” on the “prayer battlefield”. The work draws on ethnographic fieldwork at an intensive spiritual warfare boot camp organized by a group of Native Americans who have founded a training base in Oklahoma dedicated to training recruits in the theology and practical strategy of spiritual warfare. Despite their hyper-aggressive rhetorical and ideological stance, members of this network in fact practice self-sacrificial rituals of fasting, holiness, and submission to the Holy Spirit. Native prayer warriors are using spiritual warfare prayer to assert a privileged place for themselves in Christian life as heirs of God’s authority over the stewardship of North American land and as central to the project of repairing sinful pasts both on and off the reservations, reconciling present racial conflict, and defending the land in spiritual battle against new immigrant invasions by foreign, demonic forces.
{"title":"The militarization of prayer in America: White and Native American spiritual warfare","authors":"E. Mcalister","doi":"10.1080/20566093.2016.1085239","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20566093.2016.1085239","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article examines how militarism has come to be one of the generative forces of the prayer practices of millions of Christians across the globe. To understand this process, I focus on the articulation between militarization and aggressive forms of prayer, especially the evangelical warfare prayer developed by North Americans since the 1980s. Against the backdrop of the rise in military spending and neoliberal economic policies, spiritual warfare evangelicals have taken on the project of defending the United States on the “spiritual” plane. They have elaborated a complex theology and prayer practice with a highly militarized discourse and set of rituals for doing “spiritual battle” and conducting “prayer strikes” on the “prayer battlefield”. The work draws on ethnographic fieldwork at an intensive spiritual warfare boot camp organized by a group of Native Americans who have founded a training base in Oklahoma dedicated to training recruits in the theology and practical strategy of spiritual warfare. Despite their hyper-aggressive rhetorical and ideological stance, members of this network in fact practice self-sacrificial rituals of fasting, holiness, and submission to the Holy Spirit. Native prayer warriors are using spiritual warfare prayer to assert a privileged place for themselves in Christian life as heirs of God’s authority over the stewardship of North American land and as central to the project of repairing sinful pasts both on and off the reservations, reconciling present racial conflict, and defending the land in spiritual battle against new immigrant invasions by foreign, demonic forces.","PeriodicalId":252085,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religious and Political Practice","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134153481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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