Gifts of tongues and healing: The performance of charismatic renewal

Abstract

Behavioral researchers interested in religious movements have not studied the phenomena of speaking in tongues and healing nor the subculture of renewal from the native's point of view; moreover, they have not viewed such behavior as cultural performance. This qualitative case study of one American Christian subculture reveals the performative dimensions of charismatic renewal. Religious beliefs in the community find particular expression in the public rituals of speaking in tongues and healing, which support the cultural performance of renewal. Cultural performance not only unites participants and reaffirms their place in the local religious community, but it also gives members purpose in their social life in general. The dimensions of “intimacy” and “community” capture both the intrapersonal response to God and the interpersonal, public performance. Ritual performance as an enactment of the sacred is one cultural form linking individuals to the community constituting their religious experience.