Critical Christianity : Translation and Denominational Conflict in Papua New Guinea / Courtney Handman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Handman, Courtney, Author.

Series:

Anthropology of Christianity.

The Anthropology of Christianity ; 16

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible--Translating--Papua New Guinea.

Bible.

Guhu-Samane language--Papua New Guinea.

Guhu-Samane language.

Lutheran Church--Papua New Guinea.

Lutheran Church.

Protestantism--Social aspects--Papua New Guinea.

Protestantism.

Christian sects--Papua New Guinea--Social life and customs.

Christian sects.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (323 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Critical Christianity, Courtney Handman analyzes the complex and conflicting forms of sociality that Guhu-Samane Christians of rural Papua New Guinea privilege and celebrate as "the body of Christ." Within Guhu-Samane churches, processes of denominational schism-long relegated to the secular study of politics or identity-are moments of critique through which Christians constitute themselves and their social worlds. Far from being a practice of individualism, Protestantism offers local people ways to make social groups sacred units of critique. Bible translation, produced by members of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, is a crucial resource for these critical projects of religious formation. From early interaction with German Lutheran missionaries to engagements with the Summer Institute of Linguistics to the contemporary moment of conflict, Handman presents some of the many models of Christian sociality that are debated among Guhu-Samane Christians. Central to the study are Handman's rich analyses of the media through which this critical Christian sociality is practiced, including language, sound, bodily movement, and everyday objects. This original and thought-provoking book is essential reading for students and scholars of anthropology and religious studies.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Sacred Speakers or Sacred Groups: The Colonial Lutheran Church in New Guinea

2. Linguistic Locality and the Anti-Institutionalism of Evangelical Christianity: The Summer Institute of Linguistics

3. Translating Locality: The Ethno-Linguistics of Christian Critique

4. Revival Villages: Experiments in Christian Social and Spatial Groups

5. The Surprise of Speech: Disorder, Violence, and Christian Language after the Men's House

6. Events of Translation: Intertextuality and Denominationalist Change

7. Mediating Denominational Disputes: Land Claims and the Sound of Christian Critique

8. Kinship, Christianity, and Culture Critique: Learning to Be a Lost Tribe of Israel in Papua New Guinea

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-300) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780520283763

0520283767

9780520959514

0520959515

OCLC:

893735856