Sharing charisma as a mode of Pentecostal expansion

The prophet, the word and charisma

In reformed Christianity, mediation with God is not merely challenged but dissolved. The divine word is no longer kept secret and becomes democratized through its dissemination in vernacular language, becoming available to everyone. The result is the promotion of autonomy in the layman’s relation to the sacred. It is curious, therefore, that charismatic leaders have emerged within Pentecostalism who appear to pay little attention to the written text, substituting themselves for the scripture. The preaching of these new charismatic Pentecostal leaders replaces, to some extent, the systematic reading of scripture, bringing back the mediation of an elite between the believers and the divine in Pentecostalism. These pastors use the Bible in different ways, and transform written texts (commented Bibles) and oral preaching into objects for consumption (DVDs, CDs, etc.), which are used and read in place of the traditional Bible, without necessarily excluding it. This phenomenon requires the adoption of a more generous view of textuality, which allows believers to go beyond the written word (see Barber, 2007). Here we are dealing with a shift in authority from the text to the pastor.

In Brazil, which is the author’s area of specialization and serves as the context for this article, these pastors operate in various denominations: Assembleia de Deus (Assembly of God), Batista da Lagoinha (Baptist of Lagoinha), Comunidade Evangélica Internacional da Zonal Sul (International Evangelical Community of the Southern Area), Sara Nossa Terra (Heal Our Land), Bola de Neve (Snowball) and so on. They are ‘celebrities of faith’ and their lives are followed by believers through websites, blogs and Twitter accounts. Even more important is the creation of virtual spaces, like the Ministérios da Fé (Ministries of Faith), on the web by various pastors, such as Silas Malafaia and Ana Paula Valadão, who head the ministries Associação Vitória em Cristo (Victory in Christ Association) and Ministério Diante do Trono (Before the Throne Ministry), respectively. The Churches to which believers belong become of secondary importance to other, more visible, forms of religious institution through the evangelizing action of these pastors. In the virtual spaces dedicated to each of the ministries, it is the figure of the leader rather than the Church that stands out. Through the internet they promote their names (as international speakers) and their products (courses, books, CDs, DVDs and commentated Bibles) to pastors, young evangelists, ordinary believers and a whole range of other consumers without any ties to the original denomination of the pastor.

Although the emergence of these leaders can be seen as the reinvention of a hierarchical structure based on charisma, it is also possible to view the spread of Pentecostalism as a sharing of charisma, in that the uses of the biblical text by these pastors and their faithful (ordinary believers, pastors and lay admirers from different denominations and even without defined affiliation) have as an outcome the transformation of the Bible into something that is lived and shared. This is achieved through an emotional and corporal flow between the pastor, the faithful and other followers. Here I am following a Weberian argument, that charisma, as an extraordinary and vital connection, manifested in an individual, can be transformed into a shared experience. Edward Shils (1965) develops this argument in his discussion of charisma and social stratification. The aspect of the argument I wish to emphasize here is the potential for transformation of genuine charisma – the charisma that is intense and individualized – into categories of charisma such as ‘kinship charisma’, ‘hereditary charisma’ and the ‘charisma of office’. This idea allows us to think of charisma as extending beyond the leader. Shils’s contribution is to greatly expand Weber’s idea, applying to other dimensions of social life what in Weber is restricted and confined to institutions. As Shils says (1965: 202): ‘Weber had a pronounced tendency to segregate the object of attributed charisma, to see it almost exclusively in its most concentrated and intense forms, and to disregard the possibility of its dispersed and attenuated existence’.

I will argue that this process of transformation is part of the process of institutionalization or routinization of charisma, that in order to understand the authority of Pentecostal charisma, one must recognize that its circulation and transmission are fundamental to the spread of Pentecostalism in the modern world. Circulation here refers to the ways in which charisma is learned, transmitted and shared. Therefore, I am not only arguing for the collective character of charismatic phenomena – that is to say, that charismatic leaders must be acknowledged collectively by the public who follow them – I am also, in fact rather, pointing to another dimension of the transformation of charisma, which is that it can be shared not only among leaders but also among the faithful. This is crucial for the expansion of the Pentecostal message. First, however, it is necessary to examine the concept of ‘charisma’ itself.

Domination and performance – from individual to collective charisma

In this article, the concept of charisma will be discussed in relation to the anthropological literature, and an attempt will be made to understand it as something more learned than innate. Its authority will be shown to lie ultimately not in the subjectivity of the leader but in collective experience. I argue for the analysis of charisma in terms of its performativity and not as a kind of domination, as is widely found in most sociological analyses of the phenomenon. Pentecostal pastors are regarded not only as priests but also as prophets. Through the power of their charismatic leadership they announce a new way of living according to the Word. Therefore, I will use the anthropological literature on orality and textuality in order to include the oralization of the Bible in the interpretative model, locating the pastor as filling the gap between the congregation and the scripture. In addition to my analytical intentions regarding charisma and oralism in the Bible, I hope to contribute to the understanding of the expansion of Pentecostalism and the possibility of imagining a global Pentecostal culture. Thus I will try to establish a connection between the idea of the performativity of charisma and the expansion of the Pentecostal message.

The importance of studying prophets as pivotal figures in and social transformation reproduction has been well highlighted (Weber, 1994 [1922]; Harding, 2000). Here I will try to develop a model that looks beyond the actions of the leader to include the laity as fundamental to the plausibility and efficacy of prophecy. This theoretical endeavour, as previously mentioned, formulates the analysis of charisma in terms of performativity: the charismatic leader transforms the written text into something alive and performable – into ritual chains of intense emotional energy. I will be looking at charisma more as performance than domination, thereby distancing my approach from the classical approaches of Weber and Bourdieu. This does not mean that I am denying that charisma is a form of domination but my objective is to construct an argument that includes the way in which the prophet establishes his authority and presents himself as an exemplary person of great faith, and at the same time is able to share his charisma.

In Economy and Society, Max Weber (1978 [1922]: 241) defines charisma as follows:

The term ‘charisma’ will be applied to a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These are such as are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a ‘leader’.

According to Bourdieu, in trying to escape the reductionist view that sees religion as a direct reflection of economic and social conditions, Weber eventually falls into the opposite camp: the subjectivist view (Bourdieu 2007a [1973], 2007b [1982]). Bourdieu draws attention to the social conditions of the production of charisma, which in his analysis depends on the place it occupies in the social structure, transforming what is spontaneous and subjective in Weber into something objective that is socially and economically defined: religious capital. Bourdieu also believes that the interaction between priests and laity is always characterized by conflict, that is, a relationship of domination within fields rather than between individuals. Thus the ‘religious legitimacy at a given moment reflects the state of power relationships’ (Bourdieu, 2007b [1982]: 90). Indeed, it is important to consider that charismatic authority is not limited to the personal qualities of the pastor. But these characteristics cannot be reduced to social and economic capital, as seems to be the case in Bourdieu.

Bourdieu’s critique of Weber, briefly described here, is crucial if we are to avoid falling into the extreme subjectivism of the extraordinary personal qualities of pastors. On the other hand, Bourdieu’s analysis restricts our gaze to institutional spheres and leadership, overlooking the necessity for charisma to circulate and to be shared so that the religious message (‘the good news’) also circulates and spreads. Therefore, recognizing the social production of charisma, I intend to extend the analysis to include the way in which the prophecy is spread, that is, how it circulates, which is the targeted question in this article. I suggest that the success of the prophet or charismatic leader depends on, in addition to their extraordinary abilities, what is called in Bourdieu’s language social and economic capital: their ability to share and circulate charisma. Obviously, this capability is not restricted to individual and spontaneous qualities, but to mechanisms that are socially and culturally available to individuals who are situated within fields of influence and power.

In his interpretation of the phenomenon of sacred authority, Durkheim offers us another perspective, to add to that of Weber and Bourdieu, which can help us shift our gaze. Without using the term charisma, Durkheim in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1989) [1912] shows us that charisma goes beyond the leader to manifest itself as a collective emotional synchronic energy (effervescence). This is how, in Durkheim’s language, charisma is collective (cf. Lindholm, 1993).

Similar to the Durkheimian concept of ritual effervescence, but in a more interactionist perspective inspired by the work of Randall Collins, Joel Robbins’ (2009) position is that anthropologists of religion (more specifically of Christianity) should investigate the emotional and bodily flow between pastor and congregation in order to better understand the globalization of the Pentecostal message. Robbins (2009) links the success of the Pentecostal Churches with their ability to thrive as institutions. The high sociality of Pentecostalism, in Robbins’ view, is due to the fundamental role that Pentecostal ritual plays as a supplier of emotional energy, and in turn, derives from the bodily coordination of the worshippers, that is, between the pastor and believers in perfect bodily synchrony (Robbins, 2009). Here we have a clear theoretical link with the idea of charismatic connections (see Shils, 1965), which asserts that genuine charisma can be transformed into less intense forms, and can be held by individuals other than leaders. Robbins, like Durkheim, allows us to see how charisma extends beyond the persona of the charismatic leader and is manifested in an emotional flow between the pastor and believers in Pentecostal worship. This marks a fundamental shift in perspective regarding the economics of charisma, since it can be learned and mimicked and thus distributed and shared. Its authority, in fact, depends on its circulation, and it is this performative emotional flow that both establishes the authority of and strengthens the belief in prophecy.

Various authors have examined the impressive growth of Pentecostal Churches, missions and ministries around the world. Among these, the studies on Latin America, West Africa and Asia are particularly relevant (Capone, 2004; Corten and Marshall-Fratani, 2001; Frigerio, 1994; Fancello, 2003, 2005; Gifford, 2004; Laurent, 2003, 2005; Mary, 2002; Mary and Fouchard, 2005; Noret, 2010; Meyer, 2004; Oro, 2009, 2010; Wynarczk and Semán, 1995). C Mayrargue (2008: 5), when examining the growth of Pentecostalism in Africa, remarks that ‘Pentecostalism in Africa is both a religion anchored in local communities, supported by local actors, and a globalised religion. These same local African actors are responsible for more and more initiatives worldwide’. Here, I will be following the line of thought of Joel Noret (2010), who stresses that Pentecostalism turned into a globalized phenomenon not as a result of interpersonal relationships, but rather of collaboration between institutions. However, I consider that separating the individual from the institutional action may not be the best way to understand how the Pentecostal message is spread. After all, there are clearly institutionalized ways of promoting and encouraging the common believer (the individual) to broadcast the Good News. That is, the existence of an institutionalized charismatic flow between individuals cannot be ignored. The network created by Silas Malafaia is an example of the blurring of the institutional and the personal dimensions. Malafaia is a religious leader who belongs to the denomination Assembleia de Deus (AD). On the one hand, his branch churches are subjected to a restricted level of autonomy. Even decisions related to weekly planning are made by the main church, located in Rio de Janeiro, which characterizes this network as a closed institution, following the typology created by Oro (2009, 2010). On the other hand, Malafaia is one of the most charismatic entrepreneurs on the current Pentecostal scene. Even after splitting with the main national organ of the AD, the Conferência Geral das Assembleias de Deus (CGADB), Malafaia did not want to unlink his image from the institutional charisma held by the biggest Pentecostal church in Brazil. However, such is his personal charisma that many of the other pastors worship him. Clearly, there is room for further analysis of the institutional apparatuses that make charisma move beyond the leader, and I suggest that it is through a sociological and anthropological investigation of these apparatuses that we can clarify how the social strength generated among the Pentecostals is able to transcend barriers of language, ethnicity and nation.

For the purpose of the argument at hand, I highlight three directions in which charisma flows: (1) through its commodification, (2) through family names and (3) through an emotional and bodily channel of energy between pastors and believers.

The expansion of the religious message: The oralization of the divine word and the pastor

Like many other social activities, evangelizing is something that is learned and involves the acquisition of a style and its reproduction. The sacred word in its written form (the Bible), alongside the social forms of Christian organization, was one of the most important ways through which Christianity promoted its own globalization (Goody, 1968). In recent years, researchers have highlighted the emotional and oral nature of the experience and transmission of the religious message, particularly in relation to (neo-) Pentecostal expansion. Harvey Cox (1994), in his book Fire from Heaven, argues that the notion of lived theology emerged in the Pentecostal Churches created after World War II, while others have emphasized that the forms of acquisition of religious knowledge within Pentecostalism rely more on ritual, i.e. the experience of the divine word (writing that has been oralized), than on the written word (Robbins, 2009; Coleman, 2006a). In Brazil, Clara Mafra (2008) has examined the place of the trance in the major religions (Catholicism, Pentecostalism and African-Brazilian) and observes that, just like the African-Brazilian religions:

Pentecostalism, a religion that was established in Brazil through the activities of missionaries from countries to the north during the twentieth century, also has in trance the core of its ritual life, its cosmology and the constitution of the person. (Mafra, 2008: 12)

The oralization of the Bible is not simply a matter of overcoming illiteracy. As Susan Harding (2000) points out, the oralization of the Bible is present even in the context of white middle-class American fundamentalists. However, the notion of textuality includes possibilities other than written texts (objects, music, etc.) (see Barber, 2007). Engelke’s (2007) makes a similar observation as a result of his research among the Friday Masowe apostolics of Zimbabwe: that in order to present itself as divine, the Word does not necessarily need be written. This is not anti-Christian, since Christ himself had a body and a historical existence. The divine word in Christianity since its beginning required the support of a material body.

What is more pertinent here is that the apparent lack of interest in the Bible in Pentecostalism helps to emphasize the figure of the charismatic leader. Authority shifts from the written word and its embodiments to the prophet himself.

Charisma and the holy person

Pentecostalism, as described by Coleman (2009), follows the Paulian tradition of treating the ‘brother’ as ‘holy’. From a Pentecostal perspective, sanctity is available to everyone instead of reserved only for those capable of heroic acts, as in Catholicism (see Woodward, 1990). But as Coleman (2009) points out, despite the democratic principle of Pentecostal sanctity, where everyone is a saint, it still seems that some are more holy than others. This is evident in that many of the faithful believe pastors who preach in the media to be more ‘anointed’ than those who preach in churches and are therefore more interested in them than in their local pastor.

The most important consideration here is the question of power, which is raised by the shifting of authority from the text to the pastor. As Engelke (2007: 245) comments:

Absence of the text is one way to focus attention on the presence of the prophet. The concern with ‘focus’ has this double edge and forces us to consider how the problem of presence is never only theological but also an element in the struggle for social power.

However, charisma is not restricted to extraordinary powers, like the capacity to heal; it can also refer to setting an example to follow (see Weber, 1994 [1922]; Campos, 2005). Many new pastors are not healers; instead of a magical role, they take on that of virtuousness and exemplary faith. Instead of providing cures or exorcisms, they give practical and moral advice. Unlike the power of healing, counselling and exemplariness are attainable for the common believer and are therefore more democratic. Silas Malafaia and Ana Paula Valadão do not exorcise or heal – or, at least, this is not their charismatic emphasis.

At the same time, the pastors make great play of their ‘ordinariness’. The prophet is at once superior and equal to ordinary believers. The extraordinary sanctity of the pastor is at all times balanced by humility. In breaking with the Penha Convention and changing the name of his church from Assembleia de Deus Convenção (Assembly of God Convention) to Associação Vitória em Cristo (Victory in Christ Association), Silas Malafaia strongly denied that he was better than anyone else. Ana Paula Valadão, on the television programme Domingão do Faustão (24th October 2010), said that she was a ‘lure’, a ‘little thing’ that appeals to something far greater, which is the divine message. This simple symbolic displacement opens the path for the common faithful to be identified with the leader and project themselves as an empowered man or woman. Ana Paula Valadão and Silas Malafaia are prophets, even though they do not state their position openly. Silas Malafaia, for example, suggested at the beginning of his address at the 8th Avivamento Despertai Conference 2010 in Recife: ‘I want to be your prophet’. In asking to be, rather than asserting that he is, a prophet, Malafaia constructs his place in the religious field with the acquiescence of the audience.

On the other hand, charismatic leaders must develop and present certain abilities and characteristics in order to become great men of God, standing apart from the masses of ordinary believers. Simon Coleman (2009) identifies these as mobility, narrative and ‘reaching out’. A charismatic pastor must be itinerant, heard by crowds in different places around the world. This quality makes the charismatic leader a mediator between places. Pastor Paulo Marcelo of Assembléia de Deus (Assembly of God), for example, often begins stories within his sermons with ‘When I was in London / New York …’ or some other location, to emphasize his mobility. It is not uncommon for charismatic leaders to highlight their credentials as international speakers on their websites. Like the Catholic saints, charismatic Pentecostal leaders must also have their lives transformed into texts (narratives). But unlike the former, whose narrative is the product of the institution and the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the pastor is himself the subject of his story (Coleman, 2009). As Coleman (2009) argues, charismatic leaders must be masters of speaking and have the ability to ‘reach out’ to their followers. The actions of a preacher must entice his followers to break any bodily resistance in order to transform into their own spiritual selves. The act of preaching as a ‘reaching-out’ occurs through a mimetic relationship, a kind of transforming, as ordinary believers imitate their leaders (Coleman, 2009). As Robbins (2009) points out, believers become familiar with the trajectory of the sermon, the culminating moment of exaltation – when the pastor’s arms are lifted, they should be exalted. The bodily synchrony between believers and pastors can be seen during live worship and on DVD recordings. Characteristic of this mimesis is the reproduction of each pastor’s style of speaking and moving. This indicates that the believers acquire a habitus. As Harding (2000: 12) explains: ‘preachers appropriate each other’s sermons piecemeal and wholesale, while church people assimilate their preacher’s language at the level of grammar, semantics, and style’.

Therefore, success for the charismatic leader means the capacity for performative propagation of his charisma through bodily synchrony with believers. The charisma of the pastor here refers not only to his individual characteristics but also, in the Durkheimian sense, to the emotional resonance of his preaching. Hearing the spoken word may have implications for individual and social transformation: ‘individuals in communities bound by intense practices of speech mimesis may undergo in the space of few years profound changes of collective speech that transform who they are, their social boundaries, and their worldly relations’ (Harding, 2000: 12).

Conclusion

Pentecostal pastors are pivotal figures in the transformation of the Word, all the more so as leadership courses involving pastors from different denominations and of different nationalities offer opportunities for them to globalize the Pentecostal message. As Coleman (2000) argues, analysis of the pastors’ actions must go beyond the ‘dramatised exemplification of biblical precedent’ and see them as

a resource to be commoditized, replicated and reconsumed in electronic media; all of these elements of evangelical practice contribute to globalizing processes that can only be understood through an appreciation of ritual forms and ideological assumptions of charismatic Christianity. (2000: 233)

I have also maintained that there are other forms of circulation that are not restricted to commodification but are nonetheless related to it. In addition to courses, conferences, DVDs and CDs, there are the pastor’s family and the emotional mimetic flow between the prophet and the believers.

I have tried in this article to analyse theoretically how charismatic leadership is enacted and how it establishes the divine presence, believing that this analysis is fundamental to understanding how words circulate and are distributed and shared. After all, pastors are teaching not only a new language to their congregations and their audiences, but also a new way of interpreting reality, of living according to the Word in relation to other people and objects and thus of (re)imagining their communities. They are granted divine authority by virtue of their ability to make charisma circulate, creating forms of alliances and communities that strengthen the process of ‘reaching out’.