The Limits of Meaning (eBook, ePUB)

Case Studies in the Anthropology of Christianity
Redaktion: Engelke, Matthew; Tomlinson, Matt

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Too often, anthropological accounts of ritual leave readers with the impression that everything goes smoothly, that rituals are "meaningful events." But what happens when rituals fail, or when they seem "meaningless"? Drawing on research in the anthropology of Christianity from around the globe, the authors in this volume suggest that in order to analyze meaning productively, we need to consider its limits. This collection is a welcome new addition to the anthropology of religion, offering fresh debates on a classic topic and drawing attention to meaning in a way that other volumes have for key terms like "culture" and "fieldwork.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Berghahn Books
• Seitenzahl: 252
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. Oktober 2007
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780857457097
• Artikelnr.: 39605958

Autorenporträt

Matthew Engelke is Professor of Religion and Director of the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life at Columbia University. He has conducted research in Zimbabwe and published numerous articles in leading journals, focusing on Christian ritual, conversion, spirit possession, and textual authority. He is coeditor with Marshall Sahlins of Prickly Paradigm Press.

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Meaning, Anthropology, Christianity
Matt Tomlinson and Matthew Engelke
Chapter 2. When Silence isn't Golden: Charismatic Speech and the Limits of
Literalism
Simon Coleman
Chapter 3. Clarity and Charisma: On the Uses of Ambiguity in Ritual Life
Matthew Engelke
Chapter 4. Rituals without Final Acts: Prayer and Success in World Vision
Zimbabwe's Humanitarian Work
Erica Bornstein
Chapter 5. Nationalism and Millenarianism in West Papua: Institutional
Power, Interpretive Practice, and the Pursuit of Christian Truth
Danilyn Rutherford
Chapter 6. The Limits of Meaning in Fijian Methodist Sermons
Matt Tomlinson
Chapter 7. Converting Meanings and the Meanings of Conversion in Samoan
Moral Economies
Ilana Gershon
Chapter 8. Dusty Signs and Roots of Faith: The Limits of Christian Meaning
in Highland Bolivia
Andrew Orta
Chapter 9. Paranomics: On the Semiotics of Sacral Action
James D. Faubion
Afterword: On Limits, Ruptures, Meaning, and Meaninglessness
Joel Robbins
List of Contributors
Index