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This book is a powerful and engaging ethnographic study and expose of a church of Brazilian origin, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in South Africa (UCKG), which has taken root in South Africa as a feature of the post-apartheid era. It is part of the rapidly growing Pentecostal movement, yet is quite distinctive from it in the sense that it denies the expression of emotions and eschews the formation of community which are fundamental to Christian community. Its markers are demonology and angelology which are basic to the work of spiritual warfare. As is common in gnostic bodies which claim to possess arcane special knowledge, it is dismissive of mainline Christianity and African Traditional Religion (ATR). It is neither biblically based nor Christocentric. What it does have in common with similar churches is the prioritisation of material rather than spiritual growth as a source of blessing in the forms of wealth, health, social harmony and happiness. Pastors are money-makers while congregation members are pressed into making large donations, even when this means the denial of basic family subsistence needs. Obedience is required to the institution rather than to the call of the Holy Spirit. Its organisation is eclectic yet basically hierarchical, exercising total control often by remote means and micro-management, thus denying the manifestation and operation of charismatic leadership. This indicates the presence of worldly features and multi-national corporate strategies. Control is often exercised by means of the spread of gossip, hearsay and rumour. From their entry into the church, members

A church of strangers: the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in South Africa