Tying Loose Ends

Though every chapter has some concluding remarks, there is a need to reinforce, qualify, and tie together the different strands of thought in order to assemble together a mosaic image of the contemporary Pentecostal–Charismatic movement in Goa. This attempt to build a cohesive, though not necessarily conclusive, understanding of Pentecostal–Charismatic Christianity is done in the final chapter. Since new religious movements are generally pitted against the mainstream religious establishment and occupy a contested religious space, this chapter discusses themes such as power, identity, evangelization, authoritative discourses, sacred and profane symbols, production of truth and mediation of grace, and terrains of conflict. The mission, the New Testament Church (NTC), the dualistic spiritual worldview, and the formation of a Charismatic habitus that structures and guides the everyday life practices and processes of individual believers are also important strands woven in the book to arrive at a tapestry of Pentecostalism.

Introduction

The Introduction follows a spiral movement beginning with the author’s motivation for choosing this area of study and moving into locating the themes of the study within the context of related literature. It narrows down the theoretical area from the broader field of new religious movements to Pentecostal–Charismatic Christianity and to more specifically the neo-Pentecostal movement. Thus the basic premises that gird this study and the reasons for choosing the theoretical and geographical fields of the study are highlighted. Thereafter, the physical area is explored by locating the fieldwork. The narration of the author’s field experiences takes one deeper into the personal space of the identity of the author both as a native anthropologist and an outsider. The chapter ends with the theoretical scheme of the book by outlining the chapters.

Power, Inequality, and Terrains of Conflict

This chapter deals with the exclusivist and fundamentalist notions of the Pentecostal movement, and the resultant terrains of conflict in Goan society. It describes how the Pentecostal–Charismatic movement by entering in the religious sphere of Goa has attempted to reform Church ritual and challenge the traditions of the Catholic Church as well as promote an evangelistic agenda of preaching and proselytizing. The resultant contestations and conflicts with both the Catholic and Hindu communities are then explored in the chapter by studying specific instances of conflict in Sao Joao de Areal and Siolim. These contestations occur in a rapidly changing Goan society in different spaces such as social, spiritual or metaphysical, and physical. The chapter argues how neo-Pentecostalism in Goa is characterized as fundamentalist and how its image of a militant Church with exclusivist views on salvation and other religions has led to the churning up of the religious space of Goa.

The New Testament Church and the Emergence of Religious Identities

This chapter is an elucidation of the process of identity formation among the Catholic Charismatics and the neo-Pentecostals, both at the corporate and the individual levels, with the recreation of the New Testament Church (NTC) as the guiding motif. The process of identity formation for the neo-Pentecostals involves marking clear-cut boundaries with Catholicism and Hinduism, the two dominant religious traditions in Goa. Assuming the identity of the NTC involves appropriating the dualistic spiritual worldview of the early Church and defining their mission as saving the lost, the lost being Catholics, Hindus, Muslims, and all others who are not Born-Again Christians. The identity of the neo-Pentecostals is closely linked with their idea of the mission to include urgent, aggressive proselytization and numerical expansion.

Charismatic Life-Cycle Rituals and a Life Plan

This chapter analyses life-cycle rituals of the neo-Pentecostals such as birth, marriage, priesthood, and death in the light of notions of the Born-Again Christian community being elevated to a spiritual community of believers, elevated from its biological and kinship moorings. The creation of a distinct Charismatic habitus has led to the life-cycle rituals differing from the biological clock and from other religious traditions. The rite of baptism that includes water baptism, baptism in the Spirit, and the practice of glossolalia is explained as a bridge-burning act for the new convert, who severs all ties with his or her old community and publicly declares allegiance to the new faith. The neo-Pentecostals connect birth with death through the notion of baptism being a funeral service. Priesthood in both the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) and neo-Pentecostalism is based on the patriarchal notion of only men becoming pastors and is supported with scriptural sanction.

A Semiotic Exploration of the World of Charismatic Christianity

In order to make sense of the worldview and ethos of the Charismatics, this chapter studies the symbolic world of the Charismatics—with their concepts of sacred and profane—and the structuring Charismatic habitus. It tries to make sense of the various religious symbols and their supporting discourses, which have shaped and legitimized the world view and ethos of the Charismatics. For this purpose, it draws from the work of Geertz on religion as a cultural system of symbols that shapes and constitutes reality, seen in the light of Asad’s criticisms concerning the role of power. Drawing from Bourdieu’s idea of habitus, it also analyses the underlying Charismatic habitus that guides individual believers to understand and respond to the social reality around them. Additionally, various conceptions of the sacred and profane are explored, drawing from the works of Durkheim, Eliade, and others.

The Pentecostal–Charismatic Movement in Goa Today

This chapter shifts back to the present structure and organization of the Catholic Charismatic and neo-Pentecostal movements. It draws more specifically from the fieldwork data on the Merces and Mapusa prayer groups of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) and the two neo-Pentecostal Churches, namely, the ROLC, Panjim, and the WRM, Siolim, to describe the Pentecostal–Charismatic movement in Goa today—the profile of its members, organization, structure, and activities. The profile of a typical Catholic Charismatic in Goa emerges from a questionnaire administered to them, while the two neo-Pentecostal Churches studied show lots of variations. The leadership model both in the CCR and among neo-Pentecostals echoes aspects of Weber’s model of Charismatic authority. The discussion on conversions showed that there was no single causal factor but a combination of leading factors, often mundane and set in the context of everyday life, that led to people joining the neo-Pentecostal Churches.

Entry of New Christian Movements in Goa

This chapter is a historical account of the emergence of the Pentecostal–Charismatic movements in the state of Goa. It is carried out in the revealing light of the historical encounter of the Goan people with Portuguese colonial rule, which established and expanded Roman Catholicism in the region. It commences with the entry of the Portuguese into Goa and the subsequent Christianization of the region. Next, there is a brief narration of the history of Christianity in post-liberation Goa, in which the entry of Charismatic Christianity into Goa in its proper sociopolitical and historical context is located. This is followed by a historical exploration of the origins and growth of the world wide Pentecostal movement and the chapter at the end again focuses on the local oral history of the Pentecostal–Charismatic groups in Goa.