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Pentecostalism, Religious Experience,and the Body / Le pentecôtisme, l’expérience religieuse et le corps

Call for Papers: International Society for the Sociology of Religion

The 33rd ISSR Conference: Sensing Religion. 
Louvain-la-Neuve
July 2-5, 2015

 Thematic Session

 Pentecostalism, Religious Experience, and the Body / Le pentecôtisme, l’expérience religieuse et le corps

Michael Wilkinson, Trinity Western University (Canada) michael.wilkinson@twu.ca
Peter F. Althouse, Southeastern University (USA) pfalthouse@seu.edu

The intersection of religion, sexuality, gender, disability, health and illness, pain, death and dying, emotions, and embodiment is especially insightful for researching Pentecostal and Charismatic notions of the body. Pentecostalism is well known for overt bodily expressions of religious experience that includes kinesthetic worship such as speaking in tongues, dancing, twirling, and falling down. Among Pentecostals and Charismatics there is considerable debate about bodies, the relationship between bodies and the Holy Spirit, possession of evil spirits, deliverance and exorcism. Pentecostalism also has a long history of claiming divine healing for the body and emotions. Believing that healing is a sign of divine power and presence raises a certain tension with bodies that never experience healing or face some type of disability. Pentecostalism is also associated with notions of sexuality and gender roles that are liberating and limiting. While literature on embodiment and religious experience continues to expand, to date, there is no sustained examination of Pentecostalism and the themes associated with research on the body. To explore these issues we invite presentations to address any of the following areas: the kinesthetic body; bodies and Spirit(s); health, illness, and disability; and the politics of sexuality and gender roles. 

La confluence de la religion, la sexualité, le genre, l’infirmité, la santé et la maladie, la douleur, la mort et le mourir, les émotions et l’incarnation nous donne une compréhension assez perspicace lorsqu’on étudie les notions pentecôtistes et charismatiques du corps humain. En effet, la spiritualité pentecôtiste est bien connue pour ses expressions kinesthésiques, par exemple la glossolalie, la danse, et « tomber dans l’esprit ». Parmi les pentecôtistes et les charismatiques le corps humain, le rapport entre les corps et le Saint-Esprit, la possession diabolique et l'exorcisme, sont tous des sujets de débat. On constate surtout une tension lorsqu’on essaie de réconcilier la croyance fondamentale pentecôtiste voulant que tous et toutes aient accès à la guérison, que ce soit pour le corps ou pour les émotions, avec le fait incontournable qu’il y a toujours des malades et des personnes handicapées au sein du mouvement. Les notions de sexualité et des rôles de genre au sein du pentecôtisme sont à la fois restrictifs et libérateurs. Tandis que la recherche sur le lien entre spiritualité et corps est encore en augmentation, il n’existe jusqu’à présent aucune enquête scientifique sur ce lien chez les pentecôtistes et les différents thèmes associés avec les recherches au sujet du corps. Pour mieux améliorer cette recherche, nous invitions des dissertations qui adressent les thématiques : le corps kinesthésique ; les corps et l’Esprit (les Esprits) ; la santé, la maladie et l’infirmité ; et les politiques des rôles concernant la sexualité et du genre. 


Details on the program can be found here. 

Paper Proposals can be submitted online here.

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