Description: Spirits and Letters by Thomas G. Kirsch Studies of religion have a tendency to conceptualise the Spirit and the Letter as mutually exclusive and intrinsically antagonistic. However, the history of religions abounds in cases where charismatic leaders deliberately refer to and make use of writings. This book challenges prevailing scholarly notions... FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Studies of religion have a tendency to conceptualise the Spirit and the Letter as mutually exclusive and intrinsically antagonistic. However, the history of religions abounds in cases where charismatic leaders deliberately refer to and make use of writings. This book challenges prevailing scholarly notions of the relationship between charisma and institution by analysing reading and writing practices in contemporary Christianity. Taking up the continuing anthropological interest in Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity, and representing the first book-length treatment of literacy practices among African Christians, this volume explores how church leaders in Zambia refer to the Bible and other religious literature, and how they organise a church bureaucracy in the Pentecostal-charismatic mode. Thus, by examining social processes and conflicts that revolve around the conjunction of Pentecostal-charismatic and literacy practices in Africa, Spirits and Letters reconsiders influential conceptual dichotomies in the social sciences and the humanities and is therefore of interest not only to anthropologists but also to scholars working in the fields of African studies, religious studies, and the sociology of religion. Author Biography Thomas G. Kirsch is professor for Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Konstanz. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) in 2002 and taught at the Department of Anthropology and Philosophy in Halle (Saale) and at the Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, before coming to the University of Konstanz in 2009. Between 1993 and 2001, he conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Zambia. He has published a book on African Christianity in Zambia and articles in some of the major refereed journals for anthropology and sociology in Germany. Other articles were published in the journals American Anthropologist (2004), Visual Anthropology (2006) and American Ethnologist (2007). Since 2003, he has also conducted fieldwork and published on issues of human safety, security and crime prevention in South Africa. Table of Contents List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsNotes on LanguageIntroductionCharisma – InstitutionCharisma/Spirit/Orality – Institution/Letter/LiteracyAfrican Literate ReligionSpirit and Letter in African ChristianityExamining Literacy PracticesThe FieldworkOutline of the BookPART I: HISTORIES AND ETHNOGRAPHIESChapter 1. Colonial LiteraciesMission, School and Printing PressSteps towards SecularizationCounterforce in WritingWhat is a School?Resistance and Non-religious LiteraciesColonial BureaucracyEvangelists as AdministratorsChapter 2. Passages, Configurations, TracesAt the Edge of the RoadOn the RoadEarly EvangelisationsChristianity in the 1990sReligious IntersectionsChapter 3. Schooled Literacy, Schooled ReligionPART II: LITERATE RELIGIONEnrolment in SchoolAfter the Ringing of the BellRecitations of SyllabiExperiences with Mission SchoolsContemporary Religious EducationChapter 4. Literate Cultures in a Material WorldThe Bible as an Everyday ObjectLiteracy in Times of Paper ShortageGetting Hold of Christian PublicationsPublications as PropertyChapter 5. Indices to the ScripturalBible TalksProgrammatic VisibilityReferences to the BookChapter 6. The Fringes of ChristianityBlurrings and CriteriaTurning Letters Upside DownChapter 7. Thoughts about Religions of the BookBook PeopleScriptural Inerrancy and AuthorityCanonization and the Bridging of RealmsPART III: WAYS OF READINGChapter 8. Texts, Readers, SpiritBibles, Versions, OriginsPamphlets and EclecticismSelections and CombinationsPrivate Readings, Implicit InfluencesBible StudiesChapter 9. Evanescence and the Necessity of IntermediationThe Impossibility of Storing the Holy SpiritObjects, Bodies and Spiritual EvanescenceChapter 10. Setting Texts in MotionDeciphering and PreachingSediments of the SpiritChapter 11. Missions in WritingLiteracy NetworkingThe Jehovahs Witnesses: Questions and AnswersThe New Apostolic Church: Mediation via CircularsSupplements as Obligatory Passage PointsEnablement through Denominational PublicationsChapter 12. Enablements to LiteracyRumination and ScholarshipScripture and EnablementEnabling SupplementsPART IV: BUREAUCRACY IN THE PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC MODEChapter 13. Offices and the Dispersion of CharismaBureaucracy as Social PracticeOrganizational Formalization as a Founding MythDispersing Charisma, Allocating OfficesCharisma, Hierarchies, VariationsIgnorance and Mutual RecognitionChapter 14. Positions of Writers, Positions in WritingsCertifications of AuthorityGods SecretariesIdentifications and RegistriesFixing Polyvalent Rites of PassagePortrayals of the MomentaryChapter 15. Outlines for the Future, Documents of the ImmediateAgendas as RevelationsReports of the UnpredictableAgendas, Reports, and the Holy SpiritRe-spiritualizing BureaucracyChapter 16. Bureaucracy In-BetweenFlows and FacadesAfrican Christianity and the StateFormalizing Social RelationsImagining the StateLegacies and IsomorphismPresentations and ConcealmentsBureaucracy as Pentecostal-charismatic EmpowermentChapter 17. EpilogueBibliographyIndex Review "Kirsch is impressively well read in the history and anthropology of Christianity and the study of literacy, and uses a range of insightful comparative examples to draw out the significance of his research…As well as providing an important and fascinating account of reading practices within and beyond African Christianity, Kirschs study also alerts us to how religious print moves across the globe via religious organizations and networks to create and reinforce religious identities." · Africa"This book has opened the internal communication system of so-called Spirit-filled churches for academic scrutiny. We can now begin to ask how and why are the Holy Spirit and internal communication becoming the principal tools for control, domination, or democracy in them." · Pneuma"For those interested in the social life of the bible and other written materials, this book is sure to surprise…The surprise value of Kirschs work lies in the broad sweep from fine-grained descriptions of individuals bibles to far-reaching theoretical critiques of the anthropology of literary practices and bureaucracy." · Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale "From relative obscurity, the study of Christianity has grown into a major academic field, to which this book makes an important and timely contribution. It is the first book-length study of literacy practices among African Christians." · JRAI"Developing new theoretical perspectives out of sensitive historical and ethnographic research on practices of reading and writing in the Spirit Apostolic Church, this well written and accessible study offers anthropology at its best. Cautioning against simplistic understandings of literacy and textuality that still underpin much work on Christianity, his work offers a substantial intervention into broader debates about religion, media and materiality." · Birgit Meyer, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit"the primary aim of the author lies...in challenging the presuppositions made in the study of African religion - and in this he has admirably succeeded" · H-Net Reviews"…Kirsch…provides an excellent introduction, contextualizing his material and his aim of explaining the relationship between charisma and institution in the Spirit Apostolic Church." · Choice"The examination of literacy practices presented in this book enables – and hopefully will engender – much thought in a variety of ethnographic domains." · Ethos"[The author] demonstrates in this book an extraordinary command of several scholarly literatures and takes up questions that have vexed the social sciences since at least the time of Max Weber. In particular, Kirsch wishes to understand how something as fundamental to the religions of the Book as literacy could be so often overlooked in current anthropological discussions of Christianity in favor of electronic and other media.. Kirsch has produced an impressive monograph here, one that ought to be read by Africanist anthropologists, religious studies scholars and by others interested in understanding the meaningful qualities of literacy for all peoples of the Book." · Journal of Religion in Africa Long Description Studies of religion have a tendency to conceptualise the Spirit and the Letter as mutually exclusive and intrinsically antagonistic. However, the history of religions abounds in cases where charismatic leaders deliberately refer to and make use of writings. This book challenges prevailing scholarly notions of the relationship between charisma and institution by analysing reading and writing practices in contemporary Christianity. Taking up the continuing anthropological interest in Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity, and representing the first book-length treatment of literacy practices among African Christians, this volume explores how church leaders in Zambia refer to the Bible and other religious literature, and how they organise a church bureaucracy in the Pentecostal-charismatic mode. Thus, by examining social processes and conflicts that revolve around the conjunction of Pentecostal-charismatic and literacy practices in Africa, Spirits and Letters reconsiders influential conceptual dichotomies in the social sciences and the humanities and is therefore of interest not only to anthropologists but also to scholars working in the fields of African studies, religious studies, and the sociology of religion. Review Quote "Kirsch is impressively well read in the history and anthropology of Christianity and the study of literacy, and uses a range of insightful comparative examples to draw out the significance of his research...As well as providing an important and fascinating account of reading practices within and beyond African Christianity, Kirschs study also alerts us to how religious print moves across the globe via religious organizations and networks to create and reinforce religious identities." Africa "This book has opened the internal communication system of so-called Spirit-filled churches for academic scrutiny. We can now begin to ask how and why are the Holy Spirit and internal communication becoming the principal tools for control, domination, or democracy in them." Pneuma "For those interested in the social life of the bible and other written materials, this book is sure to surprise...The surprise value of Kirschs work lies in the broad sweep from fine-grained descriptions of individuals bibles to far-reaching theoretical critiques of the anthropology of literary practices and bureaucracy." Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale "From relative obscurity, the study of Christianity has grown into a major academic field, to which this book makes an important and timely contribution. It is the first book-length study of literacy practices among African Christians." JRAI "Developing new theoretical perspectives out of sensitive historical and ethnographic research on practices of reading and writing in the Spirit Apostolic Church, this well written and accessible study offers anthropology at its best. Cautioning against simplistic understandings of literacy and textuality that still underpin much work on Christianity, his work offers a substantial intervention into broader debates about religion, media and materiality." Birgit Meyer , Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit "the primary aim of the author lies...in challenging the presuppositions made in the study of African religion - and in this he has admirably succeeded" H-Net Reviews "...Kirsch...provides an excellent introduction, contextualizing his material and his aim of explaining the relationship between charisma and institution in the Spirit Apostolic Church." Choice "The examination of literacy practices presented in this book enables - and hopefully will engender - much thought in a variety of ethnographic domains." Ethos "[The author] demonstrates in this book an extraordinary command of several scholarly literatures and takes up questions that have vexed the social sciences since at least the time of Max Weber. In particular, Kirsch wishes to understand how something as fundamental to the religions of the Book as literacy could be so often overlooked in current anthropological discussions of Christianity in favor of electronic and other media.. Kirsch has produced an impressive monograph here, one that ought to be read by Africanist anthropologists, religious studies scholars and by others interested in understanding the meaningful qualities of literacy for all peoples of the Book." Journal of Religion in Africa Details ISBN1845454839 Author Thomas G. Kirsch Publisher Berghahn Books Year 2008 ISBN-10 1845454839 ISBN-13 9781845454838 Format Hardcover Imprint Berghahn Books Subtitle Reading, Writing and Charisma in African Christianity Place of Publication Oxford Country of Publication United Kingdom Illustrations 7 ills Series Berghahn Short Title SPIRITS & LETTERS Language English Media Book DEWEY 306.63096 DOI 10.1604/9781845454838 UK Release Date 2008-05-01 Pages 288 Publication Date 2008-05-01 AU Release Date 2008-05-01 NZ Release Date 2008-05-01 Audience Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:159362003;
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