Aliens and strangers? : the struggle for coherence in the everyday lives of evangelicals

243 Pages·2015·1.26 MB·English

by  Strhan

ALIENS AND STRANGERS?

Aliens and Strangers?
The Struggle for Coherence in the Everyday
Lives of Evangelicals
ANNA STRHAN
1
3
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Acknowledgements
Asthisstudyexamineshowareligiousworldismadeandsustainedthrough
forms of speaking and listening, so this book is also the product of my
conversations with many people to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude.
First and foremost, this research was made possible by the generosity and
hospitality of members of ‘St John’s’, whom I cannot thank by name. The
leadersofthechurchdidn’tneedtoopenuptheircongregationtomystudy.
Iamverygratefultothemthattheydid,andtoallthemanyindividualswho
participatedinthisresearch,fortheirkindnessandgraciousreceptionofmeas
aresearcher.
This book took shape while I was a graduate student at the University of
Kent,andIamenormouslygratefultoGordonLynchandChrisShilling,my
doctoral supervisors. Their example as sociologists and scholars has been a
profoundinfluenceandinspiration.Gordondeservesspecialthanksforhelp-
ing crystallize my initial interest in this field of study and helping me situate
myworkwithinthesociologyofreligion.HeandChrishavebeenoutstanding
mentorsandinterlocutors,andtheircriticalcommentsandongoingquestions
provoked, challenged, pushed me to write more clearly, and opened up new
avenuesinmythinking.SimonColemanandLindaWoodheadexaminedmy
doctoralthesis,andIamverygratefultohavehadtheopportunityofongoing
discussionswiththem.TheReligiousStudiesDepartmentatKentprovideda
stimulating and supportive environment to develop this work. My doctoral
cohortatKent—RuthSheldon,SarahHarvey,andStephBerns—havebeena
huge support and inspiring fellow researchers throughout: many thanks to
them.AsthetextprogressedfromPhDthesistomonograph,theLeverhulme
Trust has funded my research, through an Early Career Fellowship. The
Bloomsbury Consortium funded the first year of my doctoral research while
I was based at Birkbeck College, and the latter two years of my doctoral
researchwerefundedbytheUniversityofKent.
Throughout this research, I have benefited enormously from the mentor-
ship of Matthew Engelke, whohas helped put my work in conversation with
anthropology. Andrew McKinnon’s generous comments and advice on an
early draft chapter provided important insights that helped clarify my argu-
ment. Lois Lee, Ruth Sheldon, Dawn Llewellyn, and Paul-François Tremlett
read and provided really helpful comments on an earlier draft of the whole
text.Conversationswithmanyothersalongthewayhavealsoencouragedand
shaped the development of this work and suggested new possibilities, and
amongtheseIwouldespeciallyliketothank:JeremyCarrette,AbbyDay,Mat
vi Acknowledgements
Francis, Cosimo Zene, Mat Guest, Jessica Frazier, Joanne McKenzie, Tom
Boylston,JonBialecki,MeadhbhMcIvor,KatharineFletcher,TimothyCarroll,
Sasha Antohin, Chris Deacy, Alan Le Grys, Stephen Laird, Lisa Baraitser,
Jolyon Mitchell, Terhi Utriainen, Chris Baker, John Reader, James Bielo,
RachelHanemann,andMelissaCaldwell.ThanksalsotoTomPerridge,Lizzie
Robottom,KarenRaith,andAlexanderJohnsonatOxfordUniversityPress,to
thetwoanonymousreviewersfortheirinsightfulreadingsandsuggestions,and
toElizabethStoneandGayathriManoharaninthefinalstagesofpreparingthe
manuscript.
The research has benefited from the opportunities I have had to present
papers at symposia and research seminars: thanks are due to audiences at
Goldsmiths College, the London School of Economics, Birkbeck College, the
University of Chester, the University of Roehampton, and King’s College,
London, as well as at several conferences. Material from some of these
chapters has appeared in different forms elsewhere, although substantially
revised here. An earlier version of Chapter3 appears as ‘The Metropolis and
Evangelical Life:Coherenceand Fragmentationin the “lostcity of London”’,
Religion43:3(2013).OthersectionsfromthischapterandfromtheIntroduc-
tion appear in ‘English Evangelicals, Equality, and the City’, in Globalized
ReligionandSexuality,ed.HeatherShipley(Leiden:Brill,2014),‘Negotiating
thePublicandPrivateinEverydayEvangelicalism’,inIsGodBack?,ed.Titus
Hjelm(London:Bloomsbury,2015),and‘EnglishEvangelicalsandtheClaims
of Equality’, in Religion, Equalities and Inequalities, ed. Dawn Llewellyn and
SonyaSharma(Aldershot:Ashgate,2015).SmallsectionsofChapters4and6
appear in ‘Practising the Space Between: Embodying Belief as an Evangelical
Anglican Student’, in Journal of Contemporary Religion 28:2 (2013), and of
Chapter4 in ‘Listening Subjects, Rationality, and Modernity’, in Sociological
Theory and The Question of Religion, ed. Andrew McKinnon and Marta
Trzebiatowska (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2014). A section of Chapter2 appears in
‘Latour,PrepositionsandtheInstaurationofSecularism’,inPoliticalTheology
13:2 (2012), and sections of Chapter1 in ‘Christianity and the City: Simmel,
Space,andUrbanSubjectivities’, ReligionandSociety4(2013).
Family and friends have been supportive throughout: special thanks to
PetraandLouStrhan,LornaHouseman,PhilandLesleyBlock,SuzyMangion,
Anthony Braithwaite, Philip Kidson, Vian Sharif, Sophie Cubbon, Kate
McCullagh, Priya Devaraj, Vicki Smith, Tania Rocha, and Tom Dorman.
Thanks also to the staff at the British Library, and for ongoing inspiration
and conversation over coffees and lunches there to Ruth Sheldon, Lois Lee,
CharlotteFaircloth,AmitDesai,CarrieHeitmeyer,HettieMalcomson,Steven
Poole,andPaul-FrançoisTremlett.MartinBlockhasgiventimeandspacefor
this work, and been a constant source of comfort, encouragement, and
inspirationthroughout.Thisbookisdedicatedtohim.
Acknowledgements vii
Theauthorandpublishergratefullyacknowledgethepermissiongrantedto
reproducecopyrightedmaterialinthisbook:
ExcerptfromDavidFrisbyandMikeFeatherstone(eds),SimmelonCulture,
reprintedwithpermissionfromSAGE.
Excerpt from Donald N. Levine (ed.), Georg Simmel On Individuality and
Social Forms. Copyright 1971 The University of Chicago, reprinted with
permissionoftheUniversityofChicagoPress.
Excerpt from Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Phenomenology of Perception,
reprintedwithpermissionfromTaylorandFrancis.
Excerpt from Marshall Berman, All That is Solid Melts into Air, reprinted
withpermissionfromVerso.
Excerpt from ‘Burnt Norton’ from Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot. Copyright
1936byHoughtonMifflinHarcourt Publishing;Copyright(c)renewed1964
by T. S. Eliot. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pub-
lishingCompanyandbypermissionofFaber&Faber.Allrightsreserved.
ExcerptfromWaitingforGodot,bySamuelBeckett,copyright(c)1954by
Grove Press, Inc.; Copyright (c) renewed 1982 by Samuel Beckett. Used by
permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc. and by permission of Faber & Faber. Any
thirdpartyuseofthismaterial,outsideofthispublication,isprohibited.
‘Invited’ image reprinted with permission from Matthew Varah Wilson,
<http://mattvarahwilson.co.uk/>.

Contents
Introduction 1
1. Modernity,Faith,andtheCity 29
2. DividingtheSubject:Embodiment,Interrelationality,andEthical
Subjectivity 55
3. SpeakingSubjects:Difference,Indifference,andMoral
Fragmentation 83
4. TheListening‘I’ 109
5. WhatDoesGodWant?Coherence,Love,andthePersonality
ofGod 137
6. OfTime,theBody,andtheCity:Belief,Absence,and
Incompleteness 170
Conclusion:TheConflictandTragedyofCulture 196
Bibliography 211
Index 225