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book reviews
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Gwendoline Malogne-Fer and Yannick Fer, dir.
Femmes et pentecôtismes. Enjeux d’autorité et rapports de genre(Enquêtes, 1;
Geneva: Éditions Labor et Fides, 2015). 295 pp.isbn: 978-2-8309-1578-5. 20 Euros.
Women and Pentecostalisms: Issues of Authority and Gender Relations is an important contribution to the literature on the subject. It is a collection of twelve essays, written by anthropologists and sociologists, the first being an introduction by the editors, both of whom have done extensive research on Pentecostalism in francophone islands of the South Pacific. The title uses the felicitous French term “pentecôtismes” which recognizes the diversity of the tradition, which I have translated with the infelicitous “Pentecostalisms.”
The introduction, “Women, Gender and Pentecostalism,” (pp. 5–37) will be a bit jarring for many American historians and theologians. It presents Pen- tecostalism as a conservative movement, from its beginning. There is nothing describing a noble liberating vision of the movement, as many since Hollen- weger have argued. Instead, there is a paradox: women are allowed significant roles in relating to God; but, women are rarely if ever allowed into the centers of power in the Pentecostal Churches. The case studies are of women’s expe- riences in Lebanon, Cameroun (Yaoundé), Australia, Brazil, Montreal, France, Sweden, and Switzerland. The studies demonstrate that Pentecostals reflect or lag behind the gender attitudes of the general society that they represent.
The eleven studies are grouped into three categories. The first section ex- plore issues of “Genre, conversion et structure de féminité” (“Gender, Conver- sion and the Structure of Femininity”). The three essays of this group are: (1) Fatiha Kaoues, “Développements pentecôtistes dans le monde arabe. Le cas des femmes libanaises” (“Pentecostal developments in the Arab world. The case of Lebanese women,” pp. 41–60); (2) EdmundviiMballa Elanga, “Les transforma- tions des rapports sociaux de genre au sein des familles des femmes convertis au pentecôtisme à Yaoundé,” (“The transformations of gender social relations in families of female converts to Pentecostalism in Yaoundé,” pp. 61–86); and, (3) Marion Maddox, “Le salut par le shopping. Une éthique féminine de la con- sommation ostentatoire dans une méga-Église global en Australie,” (“Salvation by shopping: A feminine ethic of ostentatious consumption in a global mega- church in Australia,” pp. 87–109). The latter essay describes and analyzes the approach of Hillsong Church to women and evangelism.
The second section addresses “Genre et migrations” (“Gender and Migra- tions”). The four essays in this section are: (1) Géraldine Mossière, “Trans- mission et appropriation des modèles matrimoniales pentecôtiste auprès de jeunes Congolaises à Montréal. Des discours sur le genre, l’ethnicité et les rapports d’autorité,” (“Transmission and Appropriation of Marriage Models
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2016 | doi: 10.1163/15700747-03801009
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among young Congolese in Montreal. Discourses on Gender, Ethnicity and the Relationship to Authority,” pp. 113–134), (2) Damien Mottier, “La délivrance. Ethnographie d’un pratique corporelle et sexuée,” (“Deliverance. Ethnography of a bodily and sexual practice,” pp. 135–154), examined African immigrants in Paris; (3) Armand Aupiais-L’homme, “Le système de genre de l’Église Uni- verselle du Royaume de Dieu et son ancrage local,” (“The system of gender in the Church of the Universal Reign of God and its local grounding,” pp. 155–182) looked at the Universal Church of the Reign of God in its African and Euro- pean diasporas in light of its Brazilian roots; and, (4) Bernard Bouttier, “Des ‘servantes discrètes’ aux ‘femmes puissants.’ La féminisation de l’autorité au sein de la mouvance évangélique charismatique en France” (“From ‘discrete servants’ to ‘strong women.’” (“The feminisation of authority in the evangeli- cal charismatic movement in France,” pp. 183–201) examined the experience of Pentecostal women among the African and Caribbean migrations to France and the influence of the American Pentecostal Churches on their practices.
The final portion of the volume focuses on “Le Genre de l’autorité religieuse en pentecôtisme” (“The Gender of Religious Authority in Pentecostalism”). The four essays in this section are: (1) Baptiste Coulmont, “Centralité des unes, autorité des autres. Des formes genrées de hiérarchie dans les Églises Évangé- liques ‘noires’ de la banlieue parisienne” (“The centrality of some, the authority of others. Forms of the hierarchy of genders in Evangelical ‘black’ churches in the Paris suburbs,” pp. 205–215), (2) Christophe Monnot, “Pouvoir et genre en pentecôtisme: d’un ‘paradoxe’ à l’autre. Analyse à partir d’une enquête quantitative suisse,” (“Power and gender in Pentecostalism: from one ‘paradox’ to another. Analysis of a Swiss quantitative survey,” pp. 217–242); (3) Émir Mahieddin, “Le parité en Christ: La féminisation du pentecôtisme suédoise” (“Parity in Christ: The feminization of Swedish Pentecostalism,” pp. 243–264); and, (4) Marion Aubrée, “Brésil: les femmes pentecôtiste entre ‘combat’ et ‘délivrance’” (Brazil: Pentecostal women between ‘combat’ and ‘deliverance,’ pp. 265–287).
This work is extremely important for Pentecostal history and theology. The carefully defined and researched case studies suggest that the scholarly myths about the liberating effects of Pentecostalism need to be re-examined. Cer- tainly in the present, the praxis of Pentecostalism regarding the roles of women supports the status quo ante, serving as a means of controlling women and forcing them to conform to the supposed biblical norms of female submission. Even in Sweden the trajectory is toward the current Swedish cultural consensus which it did little if anything to shape. This is a challenge to Pentecostals who consider themselves promoters of a “biblical” understanding of women and of the possibilities for women “baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Is that biblical
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understanding of the tradition more than conservative cultural demagoguery? Does the “prophetic” tradition of Pentecostalism mean more than the preser- vation of male hegemony as long as possible? Are there significant cultural differences between Pentecostalism and the rest of culture, or is it only a reflec- tion of longing for a past that may never have existed? These are important questions and this book invites the reader to careful thinking and a lot of work! The volume is indeed a “tour de force.”
David Bundy
Research Professor of World Christian Studies, New York Theological Seminary
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