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Middle Class Pentecostalism in Argentina

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Middle Class Pentecostalism in Argentina Middle Class Pentecostalism in Argentina <UN> Religion in the Americas Series General Editors Henri Gooren (Oakland University, Rochester, mi, usa) Steven Engler (Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada) Cristina Rocha (University of Western Sydney) VOLUME 15 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ream <UN> Middle Class Pentecostalism in Argentina Inappropriate Spirits By Jens Koehrsen LEIDEN | BOSTON <UN> This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported (cc-by-nc 3.0) License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. The research for this book is based on a doctoral thesis submitted to the University of Bielefeld and the Écoles Des Hautes Études En Sciences Sociales. Cover Illustration: Church service at the Assembly Of Christ, in Buenos Aires City on 19 April 2009. The church band is playing worship songs. Photograph by Jens Köhrsen. Reproduced with kind permission. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Koehrsen, Jens, author. Title: Middle class pentecostalism in Argentina : inappropriate spirits / by Jens Koehrsen. Description: Boston : Brill, 2016. | Series: Religion in the Americas series, ISSN 1542-1279 ; VOLUME 15 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed. Identifiers: LCCN 2015049706 (print) | LCCN 2015046856 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004310148 (E-book) | ISBN 9789004298453 (hardback : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Pentecostalism--Argentina. | Middle class--Argentina. Classification: LCC BR1644.5.A7 (print) | LCC BR1644.5.A7 K64 2016 (ebook) | DDC 278.2/08308622--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015049706 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1542-1279 isbn 978-90-04-29845-3 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-31014-8 (e-book) Copyright 2016 by Jens Koehrsen. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. Koninklijke Brill nv reserves the right to protect the publication against unauthorized use and to authorize dissemination by means of offprints, legitimate photocopies, microform editions, reprints, translations, and secondary information sources, such as abstracting and indexing services including databases. Requests for commercial re-use, use of parts of the publication, and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill nv. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. <UN> To Marcia ∵ <UN> Contents Acknowledgements xi List of Figures and Tables xiv List of Acronyms xv 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Class and Religion: A Rather Understudied Topic 3 1.2 Latin American Pentecostalism: Towards a Middle Class Movement? 7 1.3 The Structure of the Study 20 2 Religious Boundary Work and Class Representations – A Theoretical Framework to Study Middle Class Pentecostalism 22 2.1 Bourdieu’s Sociology as a General Framework for Grasping Class in Religion 24 2.2 Everyday Boundary Work 30 2.3 Middle Class Representations 33 2.4 Relating Boundary Work and Class Representations to the Social Space 38 2.5 Towards Religious Non-conformance 40 2.6 Boundary Work as a Way of Dealing with Non-Conformance 43 2.7 Summary 45 3 Exploring Middle Class Pentecostalism in Argentina – Methodological Considerations 47 3.1 Methodical Remarks: Controlling the Quality of Qualitative Research 48 3.2 A Threefold Approach 50 3.3 Remaining Limitations of the Study 55 3.4 Summary 56 4 Social Class, Symbolic Boundaries, and Religion in Argentina 57 4.1 A Brief Overview of Argentina’s Socio-Religious History 57 4.2 Argentina’s Middle Class: Objective and Symbolic Boundaries 70 4.3 Argentina’s Religious Field 81 4.4 Summary 92 <UN> viii Contents 5 Pentecostalism in Tension 94 5.1 Argentinean Pentecostalism between Diversity, Unity and Stigmatization 94 5.2 The Social Stratification of the Pentecostal Movement 107 5.3 From Conformance to Deviation: Experiencing Inappropriateness 114 5.4 Summary 118 6 Becoming a Middle Class Pentecostal: Biographies, Backgrounds, and Beliefs 119 6.1 Religious Belief and Practice among Middle Class Interviewees 120 6.2 Social Positions and Class Backgrounds of Interviewees 121 6.3 Religious Backgrounds and Trajectories 127 6.4 Explaining Middle Class Conversions to Pentecostalism 133 6.5 Summary 137 7 Symbolic Boundary Work in Pentecostalism: Two Pentecostal Churches 138 7.1 A Lower Class Church in a Middle Class Neighborhood: God Is Love 139 7.2 A Case Study of a Middle Class Pentecostal Church: The Assembly of Christ in Villa Devoto 158 7.3 Comparing the Social Composition and Religious Styles of gil and ac 177 7.4 Summary 181 8 Crafting a More Appropriate Pentecostalism: Five Symbolic Boundaries 183 8.1 Legitimacy and Power: “Legitimate” Boundaries 184 8.2 Excellence and Order: Structural and Organizational Boundaries 192 8.3 Intellectual Refinement: Educational Boundaries 201 8.4 Moderating the Spirits: Expressive Boundaries 210 8.5 Authenticity, Respectfulness and Selflessness: Moral Boundaries 227 8.6 Summary 239 <UN> Contents ix 9 The Evolution and Implications of Boundary Work 242 9.1 The Evolution of an Appropriate Pentecostalism 242 9.2 The Inappropriate Other 249 9.3 Summary 260 10 Conclusion 262 Bibliography 269 Index 307 <UN> Acknowledgements After many years of research, I am sitting at my office desk and, a bit aston- ished, I am realizing that with these lines, I am finishing the draft of the book manuscript and concluding a period of my life. Although I experienced this time as an opportunity, it was also marked by doubts and struggles with my own background, capacities, beliefs, and ideas. The help and ideas of Heinrich Schäfer and Nathalie Luca inspired my work and encouraged me to go on and further develop my thinking. In my personal life, finishing this study would not have been possible without my partner Marcia Palma: her strength, affection, and patience helped me to cope with the difficulties related to this work. Writing this book and conducting the related research project was facili- tated by the financial and administrative support of various institutions: the generous funding of the German National Academic Foundation (Deutsche Studienstiftung) during my doctorate; the excellent research context at the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (bghs) and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (ehess) and their financing of numerous field trips; a publication grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation; and a mobility grant from Franco-German University which facilitated carrying out the doctoral project as a co-tutelle between France and Germany. Apart from the aforementioned persons and institutions, numerous people have contributed in some way or another to this publication. When I arrived in Argentina, I enjoyed the generous hospitality of the Theological Institute, Instituto Superior Evangélico De Estudios Teológicos, and its scholars such as Pablo Andiñach, Daniel Beros, Cesar Gogorza, René Krüger, and Heike Walz. My research was also facilitated by the Argentinean research group “Society, culture and religion” located at the Conicet with its sociologists of religion such as Joaquin Algranti, Juan Eduardo Bonnin, Gabriela Irrazábal, Fortunato Mallimaci, and Mari-Sol García Somoza. However, conducting the investiga- tion would not have been feasible without the interview partners and the pastors who granted me access to their churches and religious lives. I am enor- mously grateful for their confidence and assistance. For the transcription of the interviews and their support of the field research, I am very thankful to Natalia Baez, Jhon Martinez, Natalia Morales, Aymará Pais, Gloria Pua, Karla Steilmann, Juan Sebastian Valarezo, Yani Vigna and, above all, to Marcia. Back in Bielefeld where I presented my results in various research seminars at the Center for the Interdisciplinary Research on Religion and Society, the ideas and feedback of Elena Rambaks, Heinrich Schäfer, Leif Seibert, Axel Stockmeier, Heinz Streib, Adrián Tovar, Rory Finch and many others enhanced my research. <UN> xii Acknowledgements Particularly enriching was Adrián’s and Adriana’s hospitality with the tortillas and frijoles that I enjoyed so much. Moreover, working together with Adrián, Heinrich, and Leif on sociological theory and methods nourished my desire to work in academia. In Paris, I benefited from the indispensable help of Nathalie Luca and her research seminar – the “Groupe d’enseignement mutuelle” – at the Centre d’Etudes Interdisciplinaires des Faits Religieux. The comments I received in this context enabled me to fundamentally rethink my approach. In the context of my stays in Paris, the friendship, hospitality and humor of Ingrid Bejarano, Pablo Corral, Cantaura La Cruz, Katerina Kerestetzi, Carole Saint-Germain, and Claire Salabelle have enriched my life and filled me with great joy at travel- ing to Paris. Back in my hometown of Oldenburg, Jannika Mattes and Martin Heidenreich gave me the opportunity to work in a fantastic research environment in the social sciences department of the University of Oldenburg. Although working on a different topic – the sociology of innovation and the energy transition – I thoroughly
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