P.G.A. Versteeg

A TYPOLOGY OF DOMESTICATION IN EXORCISM

In this article the authors develop a typology that maps the way in which contemporary exorcist practices become ‘domesticated’. The typology is based on a comparison of Dutch charismatic Christians and Brazilian Spiritists, two religious contexts in which dealing with evil spirits takes a central place. The typology makes clear that the discourses surrounding demons and exorcism, including the medical discourse, are made up of different practical parameters of diagnosis and treatment, which are intrinsically linked to the use of language. Metaphorical and metonymical language form two extremes of the continuum in this respect, the former representing a ‘domesticated’ demonology and the latter referring to the untamed reality of the demonic world.

“Can we dance in this place?”: Body Practices and Forms of Embodiment in Four Decades of Dutch Evangelical Youth Events

This article describes the developments of the EO Youth Day, a Dutch Christian mass event that attracts thousands of young people every year. It is argued that in the course of time, the EO Youth Day has changed from a modest and sober event characterized by a Calvinist outlook to an expressive ‘hip’ event with an evangelical swing. This change becomes especially visible when the first versions of the EO Youth Day in the 1970s are compared with more recent ones—a comparison we shall make in this article. Central to this change is the way the body is addressed and referred to in what we call the ‘forms of embodiment’ offered at the EO Youth Day. Evidence for this is provided by an explorative empirical study of four EO Youth Days—those organized in 1977, 1987, 1999, and 2008.

Liminoid Religion: Ritual Practice in Alternative Spirituality in the Netherlands

Alternative spirituality can be seen as a particular form of religious practice related to processes of de-traditionalisation and deinstitutionalisation. Although often regarded as a western, secularised phenomenon, such alternative forms of spirituality are becoming increasingly popular among the middle classes worldwide and in the Netherlands in particular. In this article I look at the distinction between institutional religion and spirituality through the lenses of liminality and the liminoid. I argue that religion is becoming a liminoid domain in society and, through an example from Christian spirituality in the Netherlands, I show how, in spirituality, religion itself becomes liminoid, suggesting a subjectivised approach to identity and meaning.

Marginal Christian spirituality: An example from a meditation group

Spirituality is one of the forms of religion that seems to thrive in secularised Western societies. It has become an umbrella term for a variety of experience-oriented religious practices in Western societies. The popularity of spirituality is clearly visible within Christian settings, both inside and outside churches. This paper explores the nature of ‘marginal’ Christian spirituality, i.e. Christian spirituality outside the churches, through a case study of a meditation group in a Dutch spiritual centre founded by Jesuits. It will be shown how meditation as a free experiential space stimulates the diversity of individual meanings, both traditional and alternative. Hence, meditation in this case is a method which affirms religious individuality. Exercise I am the stream And I flow beyond myself I am the river And I pour myself into the sea I am the sea And I evaporate into nothing I am the cloud And I am losing my hold In rain and snow My form fragments Who can love me When I appear and disappear Again and again You are water, says the water Water, my child, you are me Whether ice or fog You are me Love yourself, then you love me And everywhere you are safe in me. (Visser 1)1

God changes people: modes of authentication in Evangelical conversion narratives

Abstract One of the distinguishing characteristics of Evangelicalism is the conversion story. In this article we focus on the conversion stories of interviewees within the setting of several related Evangelical television programs broadcast in the Netherlands since the 1980s. We argue that the conversion story is construed through a particular view on and practice of authenticity. Thus we see that, in the televised conversion story, modes of authentication are at work in what we analytically distinguish as frames, narratives, and strategies of authentication. We argue that the idea of an authentic transformation has changed from a more fundamentalist mode of authentication, emphasizing the subjection of the self to a particular religious narrative, to a more expressive mode of authentication that emphasizes the exploration of the inner, unique self of the interviewee.

Contextual responses to interreligious encounters online

Increasingly, interreligious encounters occur through internet communication. The debate on the influence of internet communication on interreligious encounters is characterized by a contradiction between the theory of cyber-balkanization on the one hand and the theory of networked religion on the other. However, neither theory is contextualized and neither can therefore explain why an interreligious encounter results in either interreligious conflict or mutual understanding. In this article, a contextualized approach to the implications of internet communication for interreligious relationships is advocated. The authors show that contextualization on the level of the openness of the religious group is too one-dimensional. Therefore, a contextual reception model on the level of the situation is developed to explicate the possible attitudinal and behavioral positions within an online interreligious encounter. This model can be used to investigate the implications of internet communication for interreligious relationships.

Virtualization of Ritual: Consequences and Meaning

It is frequently argued that the authenticity of a religious ritual is in danger when practiced online because of the mundane and profane setting of the practitioner, which is usually a domestic space with a desk and a computer. This would easily distract the practitioner and create an “overload” of the mundane, possibly resulting in a loss of sacredness. However, in this contribution we base our argument on a tentative empirical journey made by one of the authors, and come to another conclusion. Following a broader trend of scholars who claim that the onand offline worlds are intrinsically linked, we propose that the quality of an online ritual mainly lies in the realm of experience. Moreover, we argue that the authentication of an online ritual is highly dependent on the framework of previous ritual experiences acquired in the offline domain. We have seen in the aforementioned explorative qualitative research that people are capable of sacralising their personal surroundings by excluding mundane elements and introducing the sacred into their homes and work environments. However, this is only possible if they have had experience with such a mental and material transformation previously. Subjective interference is thus a key notion in understanding the way the ritual changes through virtualization.

The discovery of Dutch identity A critical exploration

Since 2001, questions of national and cultural identity have become central concerns in the public debate in the Netherlands and in Dutch politics. Although the culture and lifestyles of migrants were socially and politically recognised as a distinct identity over the years, Dutch identity was hardly definable. Gradually, things seem to have turned around. Post-2001, Netherlands migrant identities have become problematic, particularly the identities of people from a Muslim background. At the same time, a substantial number of Dutch have started to emphasise Dutchness, along with a call for an assimilation of difference. In this paper, I trace how and why identity formation in the Netherlands has changed. The Netherlands thus prove to be an interesting example of the understanding that identity is situational and contextual. I conclude with the remark that our understanding of how identity formation works, without precluding a critical judgment of that process.

Review of James K.A. Smith [Review of: (2010) Thinking in Tongues: Pentecostal Contributions to Christian Philosophy]

Thinking in Tongues by James K. Smith presents pentecostal philosophy as an inclusive, playful and liminal way of believing and thinking. Although it sometimes reads as a pentecostal dogmatics, Smith has written a book which is more than just a Pentecostal take on Christian philosophy but rather a radically new way of practicing Christian thought. Smith’s pentecostal philosophy follows Plantinga’s idea of a Christian philosophy as something that is more than apologetics, but which includes more than a secular philosophical agenda. Characteristic for this approach is the idea that there is no real distinction between pentecostal spirituality and pentecostal philosophy. Pentecostal philosophy should be inspired by spirituality – pentecostal thinking starts with and centers on pentecostal worship. ‘A pentecostal philosophy will not simply be a detached philosophical reflection on charismatic phenomena; it will be a charismatic reflection on philosophical questions’ (16). However, it would be a mistake to see the foundation of this charismatic reflection in a set of key doctrines. Pentecostal assumptions for philosophy, according to Smith, must be located in practices rather than doctrine. This pentecostal worldview without a capital – to distinguish it as particular style of Christian belief and practice rather than a denomination – has five key aspects that are shared by pentecostal Christians across the globe. It is radically open to God; it includes an enchanted theology of creation and culture; is is a non-dualist affirmation of materiality; its epistemology is affective and narrative; and it has an eschatological orientation to mission and justice. In Chapter 2, these key aspects are further elaborated. Pentecost, says Smith, is a hermeneutic. Pentecostal philosophy is based on pentecostal spirituality, which is not a compartmentalized worldview but a construal of the world. It is not just about speaking in tongues but about thinking in tongues as well. The pentecostal worldview is no set of doctrines but ‘a passional orientation that governs how one sees, inhabits, and engages the world’ (27). The passional orientation is related to Charles Taylor’s social imaginary (and Amos Yong’s ‘pneumatological imagination’), which is ‘a tacit, affective understanding of the world that constitutes the “background” of our being and doing’ (29). The affective and aesthetic dimension of this concept are continuously presented as typical for the pentecostal worldview and practice. Chapter 3 describes pentecostal epistemology as