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At the Edge of Faith: an Ethnographic Study of British Pentecostalism

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At the Edge of Faith: an Ethnographic Study of British Pentecostalism Durham E-Theses AT THE EDGE OF FAITH: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF BRITISH PENTECOSTALISM Cookson, Helen How to cite: Cookson, Helen (2008) AT THE EDGE OF FAITH: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF BRITISH PENTECOSTALISM, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1340/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 At the Edge of Faith: An Ethnographic Study of British Pentecostalism. Helen Cookson Submitted for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy Department of Anthropology University of Durham 2008 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author or the university to which it was submitted. No quotation from it, or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author or university, and any information derived from it should be acknowledged. 2 6 JAN 2009 At the Edge of Faith: An Ethnographic Study of British Pentecostalism. Abstract This thesis is an ethnographic account of four Elim Pentecostalist congregations in the North East of England. It is one of the very few studies of white British Pentecostal congregations and is part of the growing literature on congregational, denominational and Pentecostal studies. The study is also a growing part of 'anthropology of Britain' and more generally the anthropology of religion. The thesis foregrounds the words of participants who articulate their faith and reflects Pentecostal spirituality in the twenty-first century. 'At the Edge of Faith' is a title which considers the sociality of Elim Pentecostals. The thesis illustrates the ways in which Pentecostalists view their 'faith' and distinguish themselves from other social groups. It is also an account of the articulation by Pentecostals of their faith and the future direction the Elim movement may take. The thesis presents an analysis of several key issues: time, boundaries, embodiment, risk and salvation, organisational theory and 'belonging'. These topics emerged as centrally important in the co-construction of Pentecostal identity. Much of the thesis involves the 'emic' and 'etic' analysis of discourse presented by research participants during interviews. A range of social scientific methods were used in collecting data on these congregations -- participant observation, interviews, sermon analysis, surveys, photographs and the collection of Elim literature. The research was carried out with the full knowledge of the Pastors and members of the four congregations, who allowed extremely good access to all areas of their religious lives. To ensure ethical conduct and to preserve the integrity of the research, interview informants were provided with transcripts of their interviews and allowed to make minor changes to their transcripts if they so wished; however, changes were not commonly made. 2 Table of Contents Title Page 1 Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 List of Photographs, Illustrations, Graphs and Tables 8 Declaration and Statement of Copyright 10 Acknowledgements 11 Chapter One: Introduction 12 Introduction 12 Structure of the Thesis 14 Putting Pentecostals in their Place: the academic context of the thesis 17 Time and Temporality 19 A Christian Context 21 British Pentecostal Studies 22 Elim Pentecostals 24 Pentecostalism and Religion in Britain 25 Pentecostalism as a Global Movement 26 British Elim Pentecostalism 29 A Brief History of the Four Congregations 33 Demographic Outline of the Congregations 38 Individual Congregations 47 3 Redland 47 Riverside 47 Castletown 48 Sandyshore 49 The Regional Context 51 Conclusion 57 Chapter Two: Studying Congregations 58 Introduction 58 Congregational Studies 61 Methodology 63 Ethical Considerations 67 Researching in Churches 69 Participant Observation 70 Photographs 72 Surveys 73 Sermons, Church Events and Church Literature 75 Journals 75 Interviews 77 Elim, Outside Events and Cell Groups 79 Coding and Writing Up 79 Analytical Approach 81 Reflexivity 82 Conclusion 84 Chapter Three: Elim as an Organisation 86 Introduction 86 A Church as a Voluntary Organisation 87 National and Local Structure of Elim Church 88 The Changing Role of Churches 92 Attracting Potential Followers 95 Adaptations of Physical Space 100 Church Membership 104 Pastors -- 'apart of' or 'apart from' 107 Leaders' Behaviour as a Moral Beacon 110 Accountability 113 The Gendered Organisation 114 Elim Today 116 Conclusion 119 Chapter Four: Risk and Salvation 121 Introduction 121 Risk and Pentecostalism 123 Foulcault on Risk 123 Beckon Risk 134 Douglas and Wildavsky on Risk 136 Salvation 139 Eschatology 144 Boundaries of Protection 146 The Place of Heaven and Hell 148 Witchcraft 150 Satan 151 The Sacred and the Profane 153 Conclusion 155 5 Chapter Five: Denominational Culture and Belonging 157 In troducti on 157 Boundaries 159 Negotiating Boundaries 160 'Believing and Belonging' 163 Stories of Belonging 165 The Past 169 Conflict and Tolerance 173 Adaptation to Social and Cultural Conditions 178 Politics and Morality 181 Science and Creationism 187 Joking Behaviour 190 Conclusion 194 Chapter Six: The Body: Creating Moral Vessels 196 Introduction 196 Pauline Theology of the Body 197 'Embodiment' throughout Life 198 Disabled in Body but not in Spirit 201 Freedom and/or Constraints 203 Socialising the Young 208 'Our Earthly Future' 210 Adapting to Youth Culture 216 Teaching the Young 220 The Moral Body: Death 225 Conclusion 227 6 Chapter Seven: Ritual 229 Introduction 229 Life-cycle Rituals or 'Rituals of Transition' 231 Dedication 233 Conversion 233 Baptism 235 Repeating Rituals 239 Worship 239 Christmas and Easter 242 The Power of Language and 'Speaking with Tongues' 244 Prophecy 247 Prophetic Signs 251 Conclusion 256 Chapter Eight: The Conclusion 259 Introduction 259 Characteristics of Boundaries 260 Temporality and Morality within Elim Practices 261 Future Research 262 Appendix 265 Bibliography 271 7 List of Photographs, Illustrations, Graphs and Tables Chapter One: Introduction Figure 1.1 Photograph of the 'Stones' on the Riverside Christian Fellowship Building 30 Table 1.2 Questionnaires Completed 38 Table 1.3 Congregant Genders 39 Table 1.4 Gender of the North East and England 40 Table 1.5 Congregant Age 41 Table 1.6 Population Age Ranges in the North East and England 41 Table 1.7 Congregant Ethnic Group 42 Table 1.8 Population Ethnic Groupings in the North East and England 43 Table 1.9 Congregant Marital Status 45 Table 1.10 Population Marital Status for the North East and England 46 Figure 1.11 Photographs ofElim Pentecostal Church, Redland's building 47 Figure 1.12 Photographs of Riverside Christian Fellowship's building 47 Figure 1.13 Photographs of Elim Pentecostal Church, Castletown' s building 48 Figure 1.14 Photographs of Sandyshore Christian Fellowships' building 49 Chapter Two: Studying Congregations Table 2.1 Congregant Attendance of Other Churches 60 Table 2.2 Congregants Converted in a Pentecostal Church 61 Chapter Three: Elim as an Organisation Figure 3.1 Diagram of Douglas' (1973) Group-Grid Theory 105 Chapter Four: Risk and Salvation Table 4.1 Congregant Beliefin the 'Second Coming' 144 8 Chapter Five: Denominational Culture and Belonging Table 5.1 Congregant views on whether someone can be a Christian and a Homosexual 162 Figure 5.2 Journal advert for a course entitled 'Believing and Belonging' 164 Table 5.3 Changes in Membership and Ministers in UK Churches/Congregations 179 Chapter Six: The Body: Creating Moral Vessels Table 6.1 Congregant Contact with Youth for Christ 218 Chapter Seven: Ritual Figure 7.1 Photographs of a Baptistery 237 Table 7.2 Congregants who could 'Speak with Tongues' 246 Table 7.3 Congregants who Receive 'Words' 248 Table 7.4 Congregants who Receive 'Visions' 249 Table 7.5 Congregants who Receive 'Prophecy' 250 Appendix Figure 9.1 Questionnaire Distributed 265 9 Declaration No material from this thesis has been previously submitted for a degree at this University or any other institution. Statement of Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published in any format, including electronic and the Internet, without the author's prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. The length of this thesis is 99,076 words. 10 Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone who has helped and supported me. In particular I would like to thank Dr Peter Collins (University of Durham) and Prof Simon Coleman (University of Sussex), my supervisors, who have provided me with unending support. I thank them for the giving of their time -- meeting me fortnightly with comments and suggestions throughout the entirety of this PhD, they are two people I could not have asked for more from and for this I thank them. I would like to thank St Chad's College for the Postgraduate Bursary I received 2004-2005. Lancashire County Council for their Disabled Student's Allowance and in particular Mr Ian Booth for all his assistance. The staff at DUSSD, Ms Linda Kiakides, my dyslexia support tutor, for her time, patience and support and Mrs Hillary Osborne, dyslexia advisor. I would like to thank Mr James Moar for proof reading my entire thesis. I would like to thank my fantastic photographers -- Mr Niall Maguire and Mr Adam Cluett who took countless photographs for me during my fieldwork.
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