Sensing God: Bodily Manifestations and Their Interpretation in Pentecostal Rituals and Everyday Life: TABLE 1

Abstract

According to Collins (2004), the performance of interaction rituals, or the practice of private religious techniques, may produce emotion believers interpret to be spiritually meaningful. Yet Collins (2004) and more recently Wellman et al. (2014) are unclear on how emotion manifests itself bodily and how these manifestations are interpreted. Using participant-observation and semistructured interviews, this study examines the spiritual experiences of 27 participants from Fellowship Christian Assembly, a Pentecostal congregation. In 21 participants, emotion manifested itself bodily as goosebumps, tingles, or similar sensations. This study examines (1) the conditions under which emotional experiences are produced and (2) how emotion was interpreted using terminology provided by spiritual “experts” (Luhrmann 2012). Findings suggest that somatic manifestations of emotion are relatively common in this congregation, and these experiences are interpreted as communication from God. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of recent theory and research on religious rituals and practices.