Marshall2019 Redacted.Pdf (4.390Mb)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Order from Chaos: Agonism and Salvation among Khmer Evangelical Christians in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Q. Adam Marshall A thesis submitted in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology School of Social and Political Science THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 2019 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis is of my own composition, and that it contains no material previously submitted for the award of any other degree. The work reported in this thesis has been executed by myself, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text. Q. Adam Marshall Declaration | i Acknowledgements I never dreamed of getting a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. The truth is that I have been surrounded by amazing people who deserve a lot of credit for this thesis. Firstly, my parents, Jim and Robin. Thank you for your undying love and support. Mom, for your feistiness and curiosity. Dad, for your humility and integrity. Not many are as blessed as I to have such loving parents. I am blessed. To Helen and Al Sparks, my generous benefactors and supporters, none of this would be possible without you. You have given me the gift of education. Thank you for believing in me throughout my life. Your generosity is truly inspirational and I hope to always pay it forward. To my intimidatingly brilliant supervisors, Richard Baxstrom and Naomi Haynes, I am deeply thankful and humbled by your support. Richard, your genius is truly astounding. Thank you for always gently pushing my mind beyond its limits. Naomi, thank you for your steadfast excellence and pushing me to be excellent. Thank you for always having my back. To you both, thank you for believing in me even though I regularly did not believe in myself. I would also like to thank Jon Bialecki, Maya Mayblin, and Magnus Course for their kind support. To my PhD cohort, Bridget Bradley, Michael Crawley, Alysa Ghose, Roslyn Malcolm, Hannah Mcinnes-Dean, Alice Nagle, Mairi O’Gorman, Elliot Oakley, and Guy Paikowsky, I am proud and honoured to have spent these past years journeying with you. I wish you all nothing but the very best. To Peter Hillen and Anke Kossurok who encouraged and helped me along the way, thank you. To my friends in Cambodia, Kim, Becky, and Rachel, thank you for your love. To Charles McCaul, Angeline Porter, Bedro and Sunah Kong, thank you for the trust and hospitality you gave me. To my Khmer friends, Cettra, Chanthol, Dara, and Srey Touc, soum preahomchah’ protienpo. Most of all, to my wife, Heather, who sacrificed, dreamed, wept, celebrated, and struggled with me throughout this agonising process. Life with you is truly half as hard and twice as good. I am so thankful for you. I am grateful. I am blessed. Acknowledgements | iii Table of contents Declaration ............................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ................................................................................... iii Table of contents ...................................................................................... iv List of figures .......................................................................................... vii Abstract .................................................................................................. ix Lay summary ........................................................................................... x Prologue – the God of Salvation ............................................................. 1 Into the Mire: Missionary Calling and the Semiotic Paradigm of Sin .............. 1 Deus Ex Machina .................................................................................. 4 Dissonance and Chaos ........................................................................... 5 Jesus’s Intervention in the chaotic world .................................................. 7 Introduction ......................................................................................... 11 Crushed Brick and Muddy Streets ........................................................... 13 Khmer Order: Hierarchy and Proper Behaviour in the Khmer World ............. 15 “Worlds” collide and Radical Uncertainty ................................................. 20 A Theory of Order from Chaos: Agonism and Salvation ............................. 22 Neoliberalism, Globalisation, Modernity, and Christian Conversion in the Global South ....................................................................................... 26 Evangelical Christianity ......................................................................... 31 Fieldsite and Methodology ..................................................................... 33 Jesus Village Church (Krumcumnum Phum PreahJesu) .............................. 40 New Life Fellowship (Krumcumnum Ciwit Thmey) ..................................... 44 Pastor Senna, Pastor Dara, and Friends .................................................. 47 Wat - the Buddhist pagoda .................................................................... 49 Structure of Thesis ............................................................................... 51 Chapter I: Shifting City, Shifting Geographies ...................................... 55 Introduction ........................................................................................ 55 Srok – Visions of the “Tame” ................................................................. 56 A Snapshot of Day life in Toul Sangkae and the Agency of the City ............. 60 Lamentations - Venturing into the Unknown ............................................ 65 Table of contents | iv De-Foresting and Re-Foresting the City: a brief history of Phnom Penh ....... 69 Chaos and Moral Ambiguity in Toul Sangkae ........................................... 73 City-as-Forest – Order through Chaos .................................................... 76 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 80 Chapter II – The Khmer Logic of Religion and the Nature of Sin ........... 83 Introduction ....................................................................................... 83 Benbat, Chan, and Bon ........................................................................ 84 The unstable divisions of the Khmer person ............................................ 89 Taming the heart (cett) ........................................................................ 92 Bon and Bap – “Do bon, receive bon. Do sin, receive sin” ......................... 94 Sel and Kileh’s role in the creation of bon and sin .................................... 97 The Day of Sel (Thngay Sel) ................................................................. 99 Sin as a thing .................................................................................... 105 Conclusion – sin as chaos .................................................................... 107 Chapter III– “They Need Jesus in Their Heart”: the Agonism of Christian Conversion .......................................................................................... 109 Introduction ...................................................................................... 109 Retreating to the Countryside: Meng’s encounter with Jesus .................... 110 Re-entering the Wild – the city and conversion ....................................... 115 On Conversion ................................................................................... 120 Stress, Failure, and Agonism ............................................................... 123 Murkiness and Clarity ......................................................................... 126 Conclusion: Clarifying (Creahthlah) the Agonism of Christianity ................ 130 Chapter IV: Witnesses and Warriors: Christian Agonism in the Khmer World .................................................................................................. 135 Introduction ...................................................................................... 135 Reverend Heng Cheng ........................................................................ 136 On Being Persecuted ........................................................................... 140 Order through Sacrifice ....................................................................... 145 Warfare in the Wat ............................................................................. 150 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 156 Table of contents | v Chapter V – “God Has No Politics Here”: Evangelical Political Theology ..........................................................................................................