Abstract
This article focuses on the concept of transcendence from a praxeological point of view. In consequence, in order to clarify the concept the author refers not only to theoretical debates but also to tangible empirical conditions. In the first part, based on the observation that religious practice makes strange claims about reality, he elaborates on epistemological aspects of religious communication and religious action. In the second part, by analyzing religious practice in the context of the Guatemalan Counterinsurgency War, he then discuss the usefulness and ambivalence of the concept of transcendence. Finally, on this basis, he designs a praxeological concept of transcendence.
Highlights
If somebody is insubordinate or claims his due, morning he is dead. (...) Torture, kidnapping and so forth... (...) But true Christians do not tamper with this problem
As the verse of Gods word says: Let me do it, vengeance is mine! (Interview 6, field research of the author, 1985). This is how a poor indigenous peasant, member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, during the counter insurgency war in Guatemala makes sense out of his cautious strategy. Another perspective on counter insurgency is given by an official of the upper class Neopentecostal El Verbo church to a group of journalists when asked about napalm bombing of indigenous villages: “The military does not kill Indians, it massacres demons since the Indians are possessed by demons, they are communists” (Carillo Ortiz, 1983, p. 56)
Transcendence turns practical in a strongly theoretical sense of the term: In the flow of praxis the recourse to transcendence becomes an operator of practical logic (Bourdieu, 1977)
Summary
If somebody is insubordinate or claims his due, morning he is dead. (...) Torture, kidnapping and so forth... (...) But true Christians do not tamper with this problem. For this article the only important thing is that the model of the social space allows positioning the actors studied within the broader social power structures in order to better understand the meaning of their religious practical logic.
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