Language, Charisma, and Creativity: The Ritual Life of a Religious Movement

Language, Charisma, and Creativity: The Ritual Life of a Religious Movement examines the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, a contemporary religious movement that has gained significant global traction. The book investigates how language and creativity fuel charisma within the movement, exploring the interplay between ritual performance and everyday practices. The author situates this study within broader anthropological debates, aiming to unravel how religious participants navigate the tension between the exotic and familiar, a duality that characterizes both the movement's rituals and its reception in secular societies. By employing ethnographic methods, the author delves into the nuances of Charismatic ritual life, including prophecy and healing practices, demonstrating how these acts foster a "sacred self" through embodied and collective experiences.

The text is structured into three parts, blending historical context, ethnographic observations, and theoretical insights. Early chapters outline the movement's evolution, from its origins in North America to its global spread, highlighting its diversity and organizational complexities. The book then shifts to focus on the community dynamics and ritual performances of The Word of God, a prominent Charismatic group. It critically examines how rituals such as prophecy and glossolalia (speaking in tongues) generate and sustain charisma as a collective self-process. Ultimately, the work seeks to contribute to broader discussions on creativity in ritual and the role of religious movements in shaping identity within the postmodern cultural landscape.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1997.