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the salvation of a drunk
Author(s) -
MANNING FRANK E.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1977.4.3.02a00010
Subject(s) - worship , meaning (existential) , generalization , sociology , religious conversion , empirical research , religious studies , aesthetics , epistemology , social psychology , psychology , philosophy , theology
This article examines a spectacular cultural event—the religious conversion of a drunken man at a Pentecostal worship service in Bermuda. The statements and actions of the congregation reveal both an empirical awareness of the man's profuse vomiting and a religious understanding of his symptoms as the manifestation of a dramatic struggle between Jesus and Satan. The playful aspects of Pentecostal ritual throw light on how these two orders of meaning are phenomenologically related and provide the basis of a hermeneutic analysis that allows generalization and comparison.