The Visible and Less-visible World: Social Ethnography in the Study of World Christianity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Exploring the idea of religion as the cumulative experiences of an individual within a community, part of lived human existence, this article will argue that “World Christianity” needs to be understood as a social phenomenon deeply enmeshed in the emotional and intellectual encounters of humanity within which the “sacred” is located and experienced. Christian belief and its corresponding symbols are intimately linked to the worldly conditions and “lived-in-environments.” Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork in South India, Ghana and England, this article will explore the place of sacred objects, images of the divine, and rituals, which are often treated with great reverence so as to extract power and to prevent misfortune in personal, social, and economic life. From a social ethnographic perspective, this article will shed light on the methodological challenges stemming from the fact that human beings are not neutral/passive observers but are rather active participants in shaping their notions of the “sacred.”